Plants, Pancakes, and Beer

Today, I, Pamela Rooney, kicked the crap out of Amsterdam. Which, yes, is better than Amsterdam kicking the crap out of me.

Photos are here.

I woke up early (um, yeah, 2am is early... and I've posted a blog since then) and couldn't get back to sleep. Since the little breakfast area downstairs wasn't open until 8, I watched reruns of American sitcoms with Dutch subtitles. Such a funny language.

After breakfast, I set out for the Hortus Botanicus (because I like plants, ok?) all the way across town. And I mean all the way across town. The nice thing about walking around a place like Amsterdam at 8:30 in the morning is that I'm just about the only tourist doing so. I was even mistaken for an actual Dutch person (a lady pulled up next to me on her bike and asked me something about a street, to which I shrugged and tried to remember the words for "Do you speak English?" but failed), which gave me hope that there were only a few people rolling their eyes at the big, dumb American walking around their town. Truly, it warms the heart.

The botanical garden was cool (the tropical house being by far the coolest), but probably not quite worth the 7 Euro I paid for admission. Eff. On to Centraal Station to get ye olde Railpass validated.

After the station (which has all the calming features of a metaphorical zoo, and is under construction), I hit the alleys between Damrak and the concentric canals. Here I found Burger Bar. Glorious, wonderful Burger Bar. I ate a beefburger. I ate a beefburger that was scrumptious. I think most of you know how I feel about burgers. I lurve them. I luuuuuuurve them. I lurved this burger. There were also fries. Thick cut Dutch fries. I was the only one in the place because it opened right as I walked up. It was heavenly. And thanks be to me for packing moist towelettes.

From there, I walked to the Anne Frank House. I had read in a travel book that planning to visit in the evening hours is best because there are no lines. Being midday, there was a line around the block. My hips and feet were killing me, so I headed back to the hotel. I then slept for six hours when I intended to sleep for one... which is why I can't sleep now.

Determined to get to the Anne Frank House, I decided to try my second pair of shoes (the first pair, the ones that I thought were so great, were KILLING ME). Now, you have to understand that I almost left the second pair at home. They're effing vans slip ons with arch supports in them. And they were heavenly. I was virtually gliding to said tourist attraction and there was no line. None. Beautiful.

The Anne Frank House is remarkable. And not for the reasons I thought it would be. I thought I would be standing in an attic in this place saying to myself, "They lived in HERE?!?" But there was very little of that. The place does a good job of putting the holocaust and the war in human terms. I saw the yellow Star of David patch in one of the displays, and my blood went cold. There was a book that had the names of the over 100,000 Dutch Jews that were killed concentration camps. The thing was thick. I tried to imagine it 60 times thicker with the names of 6 million. Yipes. It was terrifying.

I bought a post card of what Anne's wall would have looked like... photos of movie stars plastered onto the walls. Then I left.

Now, having heard of a place up the street that serves great pancakes, I of course had to try that out. I had a chicken, cheese, and onion pancake and it was effing dreamy. With it, I drank two white beers, a sort of light, sweet, weak flavored beer that seemed to me to lie somewhere between PBR and the pear cider they have on tap at a lot of places. As revolting as that might seem, it was quite refreshing. I couldn't pass up a second pancake with ice cream on it. And a third beer.

After that, I went for a stroll in the Red Light District, where there were far fewer hookers than I thought there would be. I only saw a few.

I walked back to the hotel through what is my favorite part of Amsterdam so far... the uncrowded streets on the concentric canals between Raadhuisstraat and Passeerdersgracht. So pleasant.

I'll try to make my posts funnier. I think. I have no sense of humor at the end of the day and with my feets screaming at me to get some shuteye. So, guhnight.

PS: Someone must have retouched the color of the canals in Google Earth. The brown was a brutal surprise. These canals are much prettier at night.