Playful Rooted

Happy Easter Monday! Today is a French public holiday, so absolutely no work is getting done around here. No stores are open, no restaurants are delivering, no baguettes are being baked. If there’s one thing the French know how to do, it’s relax. Which drives me absolutely crazy most of the time, but when it means Ben gets an extra day off, I’ll take it.

Ben and I spent a cool few days in Amsterdam this weekend, and I had the best time! Every city we’ve been to lately has been more beautiful and interesting than the last. I could easily have spent a month exploring Amsterdam. It’s completely fascinating. The history, the city structure, and the past and current cultures – it’s all so intriguing and at times quite surprising.

Of course, there are canals and houseboats everywhere around the city. We learned that every mooring in Amsterdam is occupied, and they aren’t expanding to include any more. So, if you want to set up house…boat in Amsterdam, you’ll have to wait until a current occupant either moves or dies. 🙂

At the Houseboat Museum, we got to explore an old houseboat, and we learned a bit more about the reality of life on the water. I assumed that houseboats would be substantially  cheaper than regular houses, but actually, they cost about the same! The one whose “roof” I’m sitting on here would be about €400,000. And on top of that, you’re charged yearly for the mooring, plus you have to have maintenance done every couple months, which apparently costs an arm and a leg. So to be honest, I don’t truly understand the appeal of the houseboat, but to each his own.

At least they’re really cute to look at, and they do add that unique charm to the city.

In addition to houseboats, there are bikes everywhere!

I read that there are more bikes in Amsterdam than there are residents of the city, which is nuts. So I guess while Amsterdammers are out riding one bike, they park their other bike in this giant lot. It holds 250,000 of them! I can’t imagine how you would ever find yours among the crowd.

Amsterdam is quite a gorgeous city – even more so than I had anticipated. We spent some time in Vondel Park, which the locals claim is super touristy, but I really enjoyed it. I haven’t seen so much open space in months!

It looks so bright and warm, but I was completely frozen. I had on three tank tops, a blouse, a button-up, a cardigan, a blazer, and a wintry coat, and I was freezing my face off. I don’t know if Amsterdam is just super cold or if living in southern France has made me soft. Either way, I was an icicle!

Obviously, the night life in Amsterdam is famed for being particularly raucous. And even on Easter weekend, it didn’t disappoint! I have a couple friends who have lived in Amsterdam, and they both said we had to check out the Red Light District just to see what it’s like. I wasn’t completely sure about it, but I’m glad we went. It was definitely an experience I won’t forget!

The Red Light District is actually quite a safe area since there are cops all around, and many of the girls employ personal bodyguards. Pictures are totally forbidden, and anyone who tries to take a picture can be arrested or beaten up! So I did what I could and took a picture down one of the streets in the district after we walked through.

It was a very intense, fun, and totally bizarre experience. And right in the midst of it all, a church!

The canals throughout the city are just as pretty at night as during the day.

Among the many fun things we did in Amsterdam was a visit to the Keukenhof Gardens. It was a bit of a hassle to get to, but worth it for the billions of tulips!

Tulip season is quite short (only March to May), so we timed our trip to Holland to coincide with the blooming, and it really worked out.

At the Keukenhof, there are fields full of thousands of tulips, and there’s also a botanic garden portion, where they have many other flower varieties as well. I loved the creativity behind some of these arrangements, like this “river” of hyacinth.

We also got to climb up into an old-school windmill and check out the tulip fields from above. It doesn’t get more Holland than this!

Despite the relatively few pictures, we actually did quite a few things in Amsterdam. I’d recommend any of these!

• Van Gogh Museum – Ah, the Van Gogh. This was really a good museum and I had a great time here, but getting in was a bit of a fiasco. Even though we had purchased Amsterdam City Passes, we still had to wait in line. Which was okay, but the administration had not set things up in any way. There were three different lines for people with different kinds of tickets, yet there were no markers, no signs, no direction at all. So no one knew where to go, and it just turned into a giant cluster. Eventually, and hilariously, a young American guy started directing everyone to the line they were supposed to be in. I know there are a lot of negative stereotypes about Americans, but at least we know how to get things done! I felt super proud of my countrymen at that moment.
• Amsterdam Museum – This was an excellent overview of the history of the city, its diverse population, and its unique culture. I really enjoyed this visit and was inspired to learn a lot more about The Netherlands overall.
• Tulip Museum – This was just a random visit since it was on the way to another destination, but it was surprisingly really interesting! I didn’t know anything about Tulip Mania, when the cost of one tulip bulb was greater than the cost of an average home! So insane.
• Canal Cruise – There are several different companies that offer canal cruises, and I think they’re probably all comparable. Ours was through Holland International, and it was very good with commentary in Dutch, English, and French. I also adored the group we were with – since there were only two of us, we were able to fit onto a boat with a huge tour group of older French people. So it was Ben and me in a sea of about 100 French grandmothers. 🙂 🙂 🙂 So much fun.

One last tip for Amsterdam: Coffee shops do not sell coffee. If you’re looking for coffee, head to an establishment that advertises koffie. (A bakery is always a good choice.) If you walk inside a coffee shop, you will be expected to buy weed. A lesson we learned the hard way.

We’ll definitely be back to Amsterdam someday. I really recommend it as a fun, beautiful, and relaxing city to visit!