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Josh’s European Adventure: Day 10 – Amsterdam, The Nederlands

Today many of my friends wanted to go to see Anne Frank’s house.  I had already been there three times before so I wasn’t very keen on it.  I decided to go to the Van Gogh Museum, because that was the only one that I would be interested in going to more than once.  I knew it was too far to walk so I went to Central Station to get on a tram.  When I got on the one that I thought was the right one, the conductor told me that I was on the wrong one and that I should get off at the next stop and goes “1.60 Euro please.”  I gave him a look like you are really going to make me pay for this one stop, but then he said “it is good for one hour,” and so I said OK and gave him the money.  I got off at the next stop and then got on another tram which would take me to the Van Gogh Museum.  The ride was short and didn’t take very long, and when I got off I started to walk towards the museum.  This area was familiar too me as I remember going to it twice before, on both visits to Amsterdam.

When I got to the museum the line was so long.  I didn’t remember it being that long, I guess more people are traveling to Amsterdam than before.  After quickly deciding I wasn’t going to wait on the line, I then had to think what I was going to do next.  I didn’t want to take the tram back because I would have nowhere to go, so I decided to walk around and eventually try and meet up with the rest of the group later on.

So I started to walk.  Luckily I had a map with me so I could have a general idea of where I was going.  Oh and I was in flipflops as usual, and it was pretty cold out.  People were giving me very strange looks as I walked around, but it didn’t bother me.  This is also the kid who climbed to the top of the Great Wall of China in flip flops so I could care less.

After about 2.5 hours and numerous texts/calls to Sarah, who didn’t call me back after she said she would, I miraculously found them in the restaurant where they got lunch.  At one point I found myself walking in circles, but I since you can’t really be lost when you have no place to go, I wasn’t bothered by it.  At around 3PM I stopped in a small shop for some falafel.  The place looked pretty good and was relatively cheap compared to the rest of the things in Amsterdam.  It had been pretty expensive so far, just as I remembered it going all the way back to my first trip there in 2004.

After the falafel, I finally got a text from Sarah who told me that the group was eating at a place that we had been before.  But since my sense of directions is really bad, I didn’t think I had a chance to find it.  Eventually I got to a point that looked very familiar and so I decided to turn right and low and behold there the place was!  After lunch the group broke up again and this time I was with Henk, Sarah, Hendrika.  We decided to go to a café and try a local liquor.  I can’t spell the name of it, but I can say that it was pretty good.  This was the kind of drink that came in a shot glass that you sipped similar to higher quality tequilla.  So the four of us chatted for a few hours and then made our way back to the hostel in time to shower up for pre-dinner drinks with the rest of the group.

At around 730PM the entire group (14 strong), made our way to this Afrikan restaurant called Tjing Tjing.  Linda had found it searching online and so we thought that since we all met in Afrika to begin with that we should try and go eat at one.  It was pretty funny seeing all of us try and get on a tram, get a ticket validated, and get off.  But we all made it on and off both ways, and the walk from the tram to the restaurant was short, which was good considering that it was pretty cold out.

When we got to the restaurant nobody was there but us.  It was the perfect kind of place for us since we get a little a rowdy with a few drinks in us.  The best part was that the restaurant had Savanna.  It was great to have them again, the golden goodness that flows like water.  All in all the meal was great, everyone had a great time and afterwards it was time for a night cap.

Ellen then took us to the same area as the night before, but this time we went to a different set of bars.  I got to bed relatively late, similar to the night before, but nothing crazy.



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