June 16-17
NETHERLANDS | Tuesday, 17 June 2008 | Views [96]
Amsterdam Bibliothek (Library)
Monday morning, Dad and I had breakfast and then did laundry, packed, had coffee at Starbucks (there were many locations in Germany and it was an lazy American guilty pleasure--much better than German coffee), and headed to the train station. Dad to the flughafen (airport); me to Amsterdam. It was sad to say goodbye to Dad and be alone again, but it was time.
The train ride to Amsterdam was pretty posh in the first class cabin. The only real difference being wider, leather seats. I had to get a first class Eurail pass because the company that sells them arbitrarily requires that people over 26 pay for first class. But you can also sit in second class.
Upon arriving in Amsterdam, I had to start all over figuring another public transportation system, after 9 days of Germany's consistency between metro systems in Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt. Amsterdam has a very limited underground; mainly it's buses and trams. I much prefer underground/subway/metro lines because the stops are easier to figure out. Thank goodness for Rick Steves again because he always explains the practicalities of public transportation.
I finally found the well-located, sparsely outfitted Hotel van Onna. There are no hooks, shelves or a shower curtain in the bathroom, but I'm happy not to be sharing a bathroom,
The hotel is about 3 blocks (over a canal bridge) from the Anne Frank House, which was still open at 6 pm. It was especially meaningful to me after visiting the Dachau memorial. Somehow I got to adulthood without having read the book/diary, so the quotes the House exerpted from it were fresh to me. I didn't even know the details of the history correctly. It was another link in the chain of my understanding.
Tuesday morning, on an RS tip, I headed to the 11-story post office building somewhat near to the train station for the "best view" in Amsterdam. It was such a weird recommendation because time has not been kind to this building and it looked like it belonged in "Being John Malkovich." I got to the 11th floor and thought, this is it? The floor partially housed an uber-hip restaurant but it was 3pm so things were quiet and the view was nice; well, what you could see through the dirty windows.
The good news was that night next door to this building was the amazing Amsterdam Central library, which has many free internet-using computers, publications in English, even a little cafe. It was a nice place to hang out. I've been surprised how hard it is to find English language publications in Amsterdam; so many people speak English here, but they apparently prefer Dutch. Weird.
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