Today was our last full day in Amsterdam. It is really hard to believe that it has already almost been two weeks and that we are getting ready to move to Delft in the morning. We started the day by sleeping in before heading to brunch at Pancakes Amsterdam. This restaurant lets you custom order huge crepes, which they call pancakes here, which might be the best thing I have ever eaten. You even get a little clog key chain after your meal to take home with you. We even had some rain here today, which was such a nice relief after some of the really hot weather the week prior.
When we take the tram and metro, it seems to be mainly during the week and to areas that are not filled with tourists. However, on a Saturday near the Rijksmuseum and Museumplien, taking the tram is not the most pleasant experience. We had nearly 75 people on this very tiny tram, most of whom were tourists that seemed to lack basic understanding of public transit manners. The tram operator actually had to stop the tram and have people move to the front to make more room for people getting onto the tram. Once we hit the Rijksmuseum stop, nearly every single person got off the tram to head to the museum. However, we learned a valuable lesson that at that point, it would have been a lot smarter just to walk back to the hotel, despite the rain.
Once we made it back to the hotel, it was time for everyone to catch up on blogging. We all went our separate ways to look for wifi that would actually work well enough for us to publish our blog posts. Since I had gotten caught up the day before on blogging, I went in search of the nearest nail salon since I had managed to break off two of my nails in a single day. After this, we all reconvened at the hotel to start packing up our luggage. Megan had checked out a couple of days before to go spend the weekend in Germany, which made packing in our very tiny room a lot easier. After a lot of organizing I managed to get everything in there and still be able to lift both suitcases without help. With our room looking very bare, we headed out to a local restaurant called Pasta Pasta and had some really good food before coming back and playing Family Feud for hours in the hotel.
This past week definitely went smoother than the first week. I had no instances of being nearly run over by a bicycle, tram or scooter, which is progress from the several times it happened last week. Our site visits were further and required travelling by train, which is something I particularly enjoy since it isn’t something I will ever do in Seattle. I also gave up on my desire to attempt to ride a bike in Amsterdam and figured that Delft would be a much safer place to ride a bike in. Perhaps my favorite part of this week is that we had spent so much time exploring the area that we really didn’t need to use Google Maps constantly to find our way around the city. However, I am especially ready to say goodbye to Amsterdam and the constant hordes of tourists at all hours of the day and move to Delft, which sounds like a much smaller and quieter city.
My overall impression of Amsterdam is that it is a weird mix of Dutch catering to tourism. I loved the opportunity to live in a big city where we had the ability to explore areas far beyond the neighborhood our hotel was in. It is a little weird to be in a foreign country yet have everyone be able to speak perfect English and interact with you as if you were in America. I still have only learned one Dutch work which it utigang, which in English translates to exit. The past two weeks have been exciting, incredibly exhausting and a little overstimulating, but it is an experience that I will never forget. I’m excited to keep exploring in Delft and see how life and culture outside of Amsterdam is similar or different.