Jan 06 2010

Day 9: Lots of shopping, but not spending

This morning was a bit rough as the hotel room we were in last night had some serious problems. Firstly, the heat didn’t work, which is completely unacceptable for the Netherlands during winter. We called down to the front desk and they brought up a heater for the room. That was all fine and dandy except the heater had an insanely bright light. We said that we wouldn’t be able to sleep with the solar flare produced by that heater, so they exchanged it for a different one.

Then all was fine, right? WRONG! The electricity went out and with it, the heater. A couple hours later, it was freezing cold in the room, and there was a draft coming in the window. To make matters even better, there was no hot water. So, this morning after an awful shower, I politely asked if we could switch rooms after all these problems, and that is what happened.

With the room issues out of the way, we took the tram down to Centraal Station and boarded a connecting tram to the museum district. We got off the tram before that district though, as I saw a bakery that I had seen several times previously. We went in and had a doughnut and chocolate croissant. They were both really nice starts to the day.

From there we basically did a ton of wandering around the streets, ducking in and out of little shops. There were so many things ranging from little trinkets to shirts to beautifully ornate dishes. Though we didn’t buy much of anything, it was really nice to see all of these stores and what each one had to offer.

We went to a really neat photography museum called FOAM. They had a bunch of different newage photographers’ works on display, but the main exhibit was a Russian photographer from the early to mid nineteen-hundreds named Alexsander Rodchenko. Some of his work was absolutely stunning, especially considering the equipment he used and that there was essentially no post-processing techniques developed at that time.

From there it was the walk to dinner. Instead of our original restaurant idea, we ended up at an all-you-can-eat Japanese place. They had this system that basically came down to: 1) you had two hours from the time you sat down, 2) you could order up to ten items for a round, and 3) you were allowed five rounds in that two-hour period. We made it through three rounds of ten items each, but then alas, we could eat no more. I finished off with a double scoop of vanilla ice cream, which would have been two items in round four.

Anywho, now we are back at the hotel figuring out what excellent things we are going to see tomorrow. By the way, the weather started out sunny and fairly nice today, but later in the afternoon (when we were going to FOAM), it started snowing. The snowflakes were light, fluffy, and airy, and created a neat sparkle on the sidewalks. As I sit in the room now, I realise just how nice it is to have some heat. 🙂

Jan 06 2010

Day 8: I AMsterdam

Today we woke up bright and early to depart for the Netherlands. We got all of our things packed up and headed out of Hamburg. One thing that I had forgotten was that when we were coming into Hamburg on the A10 motorway, the opposite lanes had a lot of construction. Therefore, when we were headed back down A10, we were in that construction. Slowing down from 150kmh to 80kmh repeatedly didn’t help the travel time or the fuel economy.

After entering the Netherlands, I stopped off at a station to get something to drink. What I found was this ultimately syrupy concoction of banana, pineapple, orange, and peach juice. It was pretty tasty, but really sweet and a bit more like a smoothie than a juice beverage.

And then we saw it… the city of Amsterdam; this metropolis dissected every which way with canals and buildings spiraling outward from Centraal Station. We found our hotel, and then set out to see what we could see for the last remaining bits of daylight. We hopped on Tram 2 and took it down to Centraal Station. The ticket down there was €2.60 per person, and a 72-hour public transport pass (which covers the tram, bus, and metro with unlimited stops) was only €15.50 per person. Awesome deal!

So, after getting the public transport passes, we headed back toward the hotel. We got off at Spuistraat and decided to walk around for a bit to see some of the shops. Many of them close rather early, so much of the area was a little on the dead side. We decided to go to a traditional Dutch restaurant for dinner, and went to one called Haesje. It was excellent! I had this piece of beef with pepper sauce, boiled and charred potatoes, and some zucchini. For dessert, I had a Dutch macaroon pudding which was similar to flan and had homemade whipped cream.

Lastly, before heading back to the hotel, we found one of the smart shops. Smart shops are Amsterdam’s places for legally purchasing drugs. Though I didn’t buy anything as that is not really my thing, it was interesting to see all of the different substances. There were mushrooms that allegedly give a subtle hallucinogenic and soothing effect for about 4-6 hours all the way to this ground up leaf that yields intense auditory and visual hallucinations for 5-20 minutes.

Jan 05 2010

Day 7: Stillness

Today we woke up and headed out to see St. Michaelis Cathedral. It was an amazing church filled with beautifully done woodwork inside. Being incredibly cold today, and seeing as the wind was whipping around madly, we didn’t tour the perimeter of the church for very long. We then headed to the Museum of Photography, but alas, it was closed on Mondays.

Figuring that the next thing on our list was a bit farther outside of Hamburg, we decided to trek out there to maximise our time. We got in the car and drove to KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme, which was a concentration camp, and is now a memorial and exhibition hall. Many times people refer to a stillness or quietness as being soothing, but it was not the case on these grounds. The eerie stillness and the chill caused a hollow feeling inside as we walked around the grounds of the former labour camp. We went to see two of the five exhibition halls which explained many aspects of the labour camp, life there, the brutality of the SS officers, and the some of the known tragedies at the location. After a couple hours, we left and headed for Lübeck.

There we firstly went to see the house of Thomas Mann, author and philosopher. I had hoped that it would be something magnificent, but the tour was costly, and one couldn’t even go into the bookstore without taking the tour. Therefore, we snapped a photo of the front of the house and went on our way. I should note that I accidentally drove onto the square and felt like a fool as I realised that there were people walking all around. We then parked a couple blocks away and walked through town as well. We stopped in at a coffee shop and had a cup of tea. I had a mixed-fruit tea, and while it was good, it didn’t compare to the cup I had in Dublin—this brew was a little tart for my liking.

Next we headed back to Hamburg, and the weather had turned nasty. It took us a bit longer to get back to Hamburg than I had predicted, but nonetheless we made it back. I looked up some restaurants for dinner, and found a couple. The first place ended up being insanely expensive, and even though many people claimed it was the best steakhouse on the globe, I couldn’t justify a meal costing a couple hundred euro. We ended up at a place called Mess, and that is exactly what it was. I must remember that ordering water in a restaurant results in a bottle of water costing five euro or more. I ordered this filet as it was the only thing on the short menu that I thought I would like, but it was rare even though I ordered it well. I took a few bites, and it was essentially gone. Not the greatest meal, but there was bound to be a bad one on the trip.