Niadsfkljljgds... and Amsterdam

Marta and I left for the Netherlands (I'd been calling it Holland and that's actually not technically correct) just a few hours after I got back from Spain... I had just enough time to write a blog, repack and get 4 hours of sleep before we left for Milan to catch our flight. On our way to the airport we missed exactly one bus, one train and one shuttle to the airport, and yet still managed to make our flight. Miraculous!

We flew into Eindhoven and took the train to Nijmegen, where we met up with Marta's two friends, Teresa and Margarida. Nijmegen is a cute little country town which I never once managed to pronounce correctly. Honestly, even now I have no idea how to say it. Teresa told me about a thousand times but I always just referred to it as Ni-something or Niblahblahblah. Silly dutch.

Even though it's impossible to pronounce, I love Dutch, mostly because it sometimes sounds like a very funny version of English. Kid's bookstore? Keender booken! 5 minutes? Fiven meenooten! (Spelled phonetically, of course). There's something about the way the language sounds that's just so... endearing, I guess. It has a very energetic rhythm to it which makes me smile, regardless of what the person is saying. For example, when a waitress started yelling at us about not moving tables in the restaurant, I couldn't stop thinking about how cute she sounded.

Sadly, Keender Booken was closed (I think it's actually spelled Kinder Boeken but that's just not as funny) but I did manage to find a copy of "De Kleine Prins" in another bookstore later in the trip. The woman at the counter informed me not-so-politely that "lots of people collect copies of The Little Prince from around the world." Pshh. Stronza.

We spent a few days in Niblahblahblah, and then took a day trip to Amsterdam. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what it would be like - after all, Amsterdam has quite the reputation. As it turns out, I was completely wrong. I mean yes, there are "coffee shops" on every corner, and by "coffee shops" they mean "pot shops"... but the city itself is gorgeous, surprisingly tranquil and not at all the messy, chaotic, constant party town that I had in mind. I was very relieved.

Instead, the city is filled with tiny canals and quirky dutch architecture. At first, I couldn't figure out what made the buildings look so odd, and then Teresa explained to me that it's because they're all slightly tilted to one side or the other. They almost look like they're dancing, which is where their unofficial title comes from - "the dancing houses of Amsterdam." Ahhh, it all makes sense now!

*** EDIT: Jose's comment proves that I'm the worst blogger ever. Geez, man. How could I throw out a juicy little tidbit like "Dancing Houses of Amsterdam" without any kind of explanation? I should be ashamed. So, to clarify, the houses are slanted slightly to one side because the ground in Amsterdam is so unstable. Almost all of the houses are built along canals, where the soil is very soft. For this reason, they're built on underground wooden platforms which tend to shift and sink over time, which in turn makes the houses tilt. That's actually also why the houses are so tall and narrow. They're built in such a way that they are supported by the houses surrounding them - each one kind of leans on the one next to it. Kind of like dominoes, but potentially much more disastrous.

I had a thought when I was looking at a group of particularly smushed-together houses along one of the canals... I think those houses must be really creaky. My apartment here in Bologna is pretty stable and still makes creepy noises at night when I'm home alone. I imagine that if the houses are leaning up against each other, there must be a great deal of pressure which would create some awfully creepy noises... I don't think I'll ever go to a sleepover in Amsterdam.

Ok, there you go! You all learned something, and I feel like a better blogger. What a deal. Here's an extra picture which shows the tiltiness:

Yet another quirky aspect of Amsterdam - there are clogs everywhere. How cool is that? I was tempted to buy a pair of clog slippers but settled for this photo instead.

The two tourist attractions that I found most interesting were the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh museum. I remember reading The Diary of Anne Frank when I was much younger, and it was the first time that I really understood what had happened during the holocaust. At the time, I was just a little younger than Anne Frank was when her family went into hiding, and I also wrote in my diary constantly. I could really relate to her, which made her story even more moving for me. It was amazing standing in her room, looking at the posters that she'd described, and at the desk where she sat and wrote.



The Van Gogh museum was amazing, too. It was a different experience than the Picasso museum in Barcelona (obviously) but again, it was interesting to see one museum devoted to just one artist. We were able to see the progression of his work as he started to become more and more impressionistic, and we could see how well his paintings reflect what was going on in his life at the time of each painting. Each painting's style, colors, brush strokes reflect what Van Gogh was feeling at the time. It's so interesting to see. During periods of his life when he was relatively content, his paintings were light and optimistic. His painting of the almond blossoms, which is one of my favorites, was painted at the birth of his first nephew. As his mental health deteriorated, his paintings became increasingly dark and erratic (Starry night, anyone?). The museum also had excerpts of several letters from Van Gogh to his friends and family, in which he discussed his paintings, theories, ideas and inspirations. It was interesting reading the artist's own words about his work.

We happened to be in Amsterdam on Valentine's Day, which may have also contributed to the peaceful feeling in the city. There were hearts and flowers everywhere, but I think my favorite part was this crazy little man, playing songs for love in his little boat. I couldn't stop laughing - he would play his musicbox with one hand and a trumpet with the other, while his boat spun in circles in the canal. Then he'd stand up and wave flowers in the air, shouting to his audience in Dutch. Again, very quirky.

The best part of the trip was getting to know Teresa and Margarida. I'd met them both before but this was the first time we really got to know eachother and we had a great time, especially when taking goofy pictures...


I returned home in time for my classes on Monday - I missed over a week already so it's probably about time that I started learning something. Personally, I think I've learned quite a bit in these past 2 weeks of traveling, but my Psycholinguistics professor might disagree and I doubt that I could impress her with my newfound knowledge about Van Gogh.

I might try, anyway...