Amsterdam Day 1: Fries!

One good thing about my study abroad program is that there are a few school field trips, and along with these trips come sanctioned side trips. We were going to Brussels in Belgium for a few days to visit the European Commission and NATO (more on that later), and they suggested that we all take the weekend to check out Amsterdam!

Three friends and I booked a hostel together and thus spent the entire trip hanging out. I was really excited to be in Amsterdam, mostly because my dad managed to book a trip so that he would be in the city for an entire day with me!

It was two days until my dad showed up, however, so I had plenty of time to explore with my friends first.

We arrived at the Central Station and bought tram tickets which took us to our hostel. We were staying outside of the party zone (thank God) a little near the zoo. The neighborhood was clean and quiet, and we had a private room and bathroom. It was a really nice experience.

After we settled in, food was first on our agenda. I had looked up some good cheap options in a friend's guidebook on the train. We decided to try the local fries or, as the French say, "frites".

In Holland and Belgium, people eat fries with mayonnaise on them. Before you say "gross!" try it. It will change your life. I also recommend mixing ketchup and mayo. Delicious.

The fry stand we found was in the middle of the shopping area. They gave us fresh steaming hot fries in cones. They reminded me a bit of ice cream cones...

As you can see, my friends also enjoyed them:

After devouring our fries, we walked around and stumbled upon the floating flower market. It was so pretty!


Of course, it wouldn't be Amsterdam without illicit substances. I ask you--who is stupid enough to buy a "starter kit"? Good luck getting that through customs.

Of course that wasn't our only encounter with illegal activities. Just as we left the flower market we saw a shop that said it sold "magic mushrooms". One of my friends is more than a little naive and asked what the store sold. When I replied "mushrooms", a guy passing turned around and asked us in English if we wanted to buy any. After replying with several firm "No"s, we headed into a more innocent place: a Christmas shop.

At this point I was starting to get into the Christmas spirit. I took some pictures, even though they were not allowed:


Next door was a cheese shop. (No, not from Monty Python).

Amsterdam had their Christmas lights up already, which did nothing but contribute to the fact that I started getting Christmas songs stuck in my head that week.


The canals were, of course, beautiful.

For dinner we headed to grab some some Indonesian food. Since Indonesia was a former colony, Denmark has some of the best stuff you can get. The restaurant was really charming. Unfortunately, it was our first experience with the fact that restaurants in Amsterdam don't give you tap water with dinner. Nothing to drink with spicy Indonesian food = problem.

I had Nasti Rames (spelling?), which was a huge plate of food. I enjoyed the spicy chicken wing and the peanut-sauced chicken. Mmmmm.


We found some pretty Christmas lights down the street and found that they were near a skating rink and some fried food carts! We would be back...



We called it an early (by Amsterdam terms) night and headed back to the hostel. The next day had a lot planned and we had woken up before the crack of dawn to get to the train station that morning.