Amsterdam

The entire group of 40 arrived to the Amsterdam at 7:20am local time, which is the same as 1:30am Baltimore time. I could not sleep on the flight from JFK, and in addition I was too excited to sleep when we arrived in Amsterdam. In effect, I did not sleep at all that night. Once we got off the plane, we hung around in the airport while Dr. Bob purchases different necessary tickets for our journey. Afterwards, we took 20 minute cab rides in Mercedes Benzes to our hotel, Hotel Loek Van Onna, on Bloemgracht canal/street. The canals, which were a new concept to me, amazed me.

Our first night in Europe, the group went to a comedy club called “Boom Chicago.” The show was performed in English while poking fun at Americans. I enjoyed the show; however, the dinner that accompanied the show was okay.

After dinner, Kuhn, Red, and I explored the Amsterdam night life. We found the local bar on Prinsengracht. After a few drinks and some peanuts, we walked around. We stopped at most of the bars we passed, enjoying either one or two drinks before moving on. Everyone in the city seemed to speak English because it was a tourist town, so we did not encounter any difficulty. We had no idea what we were doing, but it was a fun time anyways. Getting lost had never been that fun.

After we enjoyed wandering that night, the next morning we decided to go exploring again. We walked around aimlessly, stopping at a random bistro to have lunch. This was our first challenge. It was difficult to decide what to order when the entire menu was in a different language. If I remember correctly, I think all three of us ate sandwiches we did not think we ordered. When entering the hotel, we bumped into another group and decided to accompany them to the Heineken Brewery at 4pm. The tour is named the “Heineken Experience.” While waiting in line, a man in a chicken suit entertained us. My favorite part of the “Heineken Experience” was the exhibit called the “Day in a Life of a Heineken Bottle,” which lived up to the name of the “Heineken Experience.” We stood on a platform that shook and moved every which way as we watched from a 1st person view the making of a Heineken beer bottle. We got to send videos to our parents for free as well. Lastly, we received three beers at the bar as well as a Heineken bottle opener.

For dinner, the same large group accompanied me to an Argentinean steak house called “Toro Dorado” around 9:30pm. For some reason, everyone trusted me to lead them to the steak house. We made a good choice: the meal was very good. Afterwards, we went to our neighborhood bar, where our favorite bartender worked. Among a few other places, we went out to the “Ice Bar,” in which we wore hats, coats, and snow boots. The drinks were very cold, but not many people were there.

By this time, I think we got the hang of the city. We improved at navigating through both a city we did not know, but also one with canals and streets. Again, we walked around and visited museums. At night, we went to the local pub and played some stimulating chess games while getting ready for the night. Our night ended up well, although we had to wake up at 6:30am, pack, and shower to make our train to Paris. This was a familiar routine we would soon grow accustomed to.