Amsterdam lives up to its stereotypes

The weekend of the 11th&12th Feburary, Rosy and I were part of a trip organised by ESN (Erasmus network) to explore amsterdam for the day. Boy was this an experience.

Everyone met at the Central Train station at 9am to buy our tickets. Boy are train tickets expensive. Its 11euro to get to Amsterdam and back (thats like around NZ$20..to travel for 20mins. Rip off!). Apparently you can get a discount card for 55euro and then you can get a 40% discount everytime you travel. We thought about getting one, but then worked out that we wouldnt be travelling enough to save any money on it. There were about 60 or 70 students so we got split into groups.

Our first stop was the Ajax (ah-yaks) soccer stadium, just outside of Amsterdam. The dutch are really keen on their soccer and apparently the Ajax team is pretty succesful with alot of fans. We had a tour guide who was pretty amusing. He toured us around the stadium..and explained everything there was to know about it. We even made it into the press room, and into the control room (we werent allowed to play with the buttons which was sad) and even into the Royal terrace where really important people like the Queen of Holland get to go. The stadium is really really big and has really really green grass. If only i was more interested in soccer. I think the highlight of my time there was just being able to amuse myself and Rosy with the fact that Ajax is a cleaning agent in New Zealand. hehe. (photos - Rosy and I in the pressroom, panoramic of the stadium)

Our next stop was Amsterdam city centre. Its a jam packed city, full of business. We went to an irish pub for lunch (what is it with me and irish pubs) and then we went for a walk through the red light district. Half of us didnt even know we were in the red light district until we happened to glance sideways into a shop window..and HELLO theres a prostitute. We actually headed towards the Amsterdam Sex Museum. Now this was a bit of an issue for Rosy and I and we werent too excited about it. But alot of people apparently were because there was a pretty big line. But we decided that God called us to be light in the dark, and so we thought perhaps it was a good idea to learn the history and see how these people live. Personally, i was really shocked by everything. It was the most sick, perverse thing that i have ever experienced and i dont actually wish to discuss it much. It just makes me really sad to learn that prostitution has been going on here for a long long long time and it seems that the dutch are really proud of it. Rosy and I lasted about 10 minutes and then went to explore a bit of the city. (photo - a mainstreet in amsterdam)

The souvineir shops were pretty interesting. I think the oddest thing about them is that they freely sell weed...in all forms and varieties. We had some fun trying on some wooly hats though. We continued our walk through town, and were suddenly alarmed by the sound of a bang and some people running down the street with black cloth over their mouths and holding green flags and soon after some police arrived on their motorbikes. A bomb was our first thought...can you blame us with all thats been going on lately? We asked some people later though, and they said that it was just a wee demonstration to do with some cartoons that had been published in Denmark.

Next we had a tour around the Jordaan, the oldest part of Amsterdam. It really is a beautiful area,lots of cute houses and canals.We had a tour guide who was full of interesting information about it, but for some reason i found it really boring. I think the problem was that it turned really really cold, and i wasnt really in the mood. I think the most interesting part of the tour was learning about why so many houses are on a lean there. It is so when goods came on boats, people could hoist them up on a rope without them hitting the buildings. (photo - leaning houses in the jordaan)

We then took the metro to an Italian restaraunt where the 60+ exchange students had dinner. Then afterwards Rosy and I headed to our hostel for the night. We passed the famous Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum on the way and decided we would go there the next day.I have never stayed in a hostel before so this was an interesting experience. It was really a really nice one and there was a pretty mean buffet breakfast. (photo - selftake..me and rosy exploring amsterdam at night)

In the morning Rosy and I got up pretty early and went to explore both the Riksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. The rijksmuseum is a huge huge building!We brought ourselves a museumkaart which was a pretty good deal. 17euro and it allows you into any museum in holland for free. These museums were an amazing experience. It was so cool to actually see the masterpieces of famous artists like Rembrant and Vermeer and Van gogh in real life, rather than just seeing them as pictures in a book. I must admit i wasnt really inspired by the Rijksmuseum. Dont get me wrong, most of the paintings are very amazing and very realistic, but its just not my style. I was more impressed with the Van Gogh Museum. I amjust absolutely amazed by his work and his life. (photo - The rijksmuseum at night)

Rosy and i then missioned our way to Crossroads church in Amstelveen. It is an international church that we had both seen on the internet and thought would be cool to go to. We arrived late though, because we got lost trying to find the metro, and then the metro was a pretty long ride. From what we experienced in the service though it seems like a pretty good church, with a really good worship band which is quite important to me. It will be quite a mission to get here every week from Utrecht i think, but i imagine that becoming part of a church while im here will be worthwhile, so ill do whatever i can to be in the house of God because hes worth it.