Part III. Fulbright “Spring Break”: XXX

You'll see XXX everywhere in Amsterdam. PERO PORQUE?

Surprisingly Comfortable,
I must say!

 



“Consider yourselves lucky! Today is (proportionally) unlikely. 220 days of Rain/Unfavorable weather a year. So enjoy!” 

~ Petra, our high energy, slightly eccentric Tour Guide

A nutritious breakfast is INDEED the most important meal of the day (energy and concentration levels sky rocket and likelihood of lethargy decreases). I couldn’t agree more and, apparently, neither can the Captain of our Boat-Hostel. 

Despite the fact that our room is approximately ¼ the size of my first dorm room at UConn (use your imagination), we slept like babies in the evening and ate like royalty in the morning. Mind you, (generally speaking) when the staff in a Hostel say that “Breakfast is included” it consists of toast, marmalade, coffee and tea. But the Friesland has exceeded my expectations with: It was unreal!

Oh and did we eat! I feel as if we ate enough to last us until Dinner.

Just look at this spread!

Limitless supplies of Peanut Butter
= a problem! Peanut Butter is
1.20 Euros for a GENEROUS JAR. The city
offers a much wider selection
than one would typically see in a Spanish
supermarket. You can’t imagine
how pleased this made me.

This scene reminded me of our AM dining experience (Five Star Continental Breakfast) in Pamplona for our Mid Year Conference. It was hard to part from The Friesland that morning, particularly for two ladies who very much live to eat. 

The rest of the day was just as lovely. Amsterdam weather was certainly not typical – it was sunny and breezy; perfect for our 22 km Bike Tour  (Thanks for the recommendation, Katie!), through the countryside. The 6 of us had a blast. We learned quite a bit about the history (only 800 years) of Amsterdam. Our high energy, slightly eccentric and suggestive tour guide was GREAT. We lucked out with this one! Thanks, Petra!

 

On our way to the Bike Tour, Chels and I stopped by the famous Floating Flower Market.

Red Light District

Met up with the girls a bit later on for a bitter sweet close to the evening. After an interesting walk through the Red Light District, we finally agreed on THE bar for the Barca v. Real Madrid game.

Our last day in Amsterdam was great!

The Anne Frank House/Museum  was definitely the highlight of my day. Every one seemed to genuinely enjoy it.

Few memorable quotes:

“I know what I want, I have a goal. I have opinion, a religion, and love.”
Anne Frank, 11 April 1944

“To build the future you have to know the past.”
Otto Frank, 1967

The New York Times Raves about The “Pancake” (Crepe) Bakery.

Lyla “Pancake” Duley insisted we enter!

Pancakes or Open Face Crepes?

Amsterdam and the Netherlands, Did You Know? Amsterdam has over 1 million bikes but only 700.000 Amsterdammers When you land at Schiphol Airport, you are actually four meters below sea level. The Netherlands has more than 4,000 km of navigable rivers, lakes and canals. Amsterdam has over 300 coffee shops which can legally sell up to 5 grams of soft drugs to each person. Only 10% of the local population actually smoke marijuana. The name Amsterdam comes from the combination of the river Amstel and the Dam that was built on it in order to found the original village known today as Amsterdam. You might know the name Amstel as the name of a beer which was also named after the river because it was brews locally. Amsterdam boasts more museums of any city in the world, measured per square meters.  With over 70 major well know museums in Netherlands of which over 40 are in Amsterdam. They cover every sort of weird and wonderful topic, from famous painters to museums on the history of  sex and marijuana. The Dutch people are the tallest in all Europe and second tallest inthe world.(and the best looking) Amsterdam has 70 glass-topped canal boats. The Dutch are the world experts on keeping back the water / sea from over running their country and turning it into another Atlantis. During the hurricane Katrina disaster it was the Dutch the USA government turned to for help on how to repair the levies in New Orleans. If global warming causes the sea levels to rise even a little it could be bye bye Amsterdam as it will be one of the first cities to get flooded, because it’s actually well below sea level and most of the country has been reclaimed from the sea so it is almost entirely flat and is 6.7 meters below sea level at its lowest point. The Van Gogh collections in the Van Gogh Museum and the Kröller-Müller Museum are the largest in the world. Visiting the Amsterdam parliament building could prove difficult as there isn't one. Even thought  Amsterdam is the largest city in the Netherlands and is officially the capital it does not hold the parliament as all of the government functions take place at the Hague. Amsterdam has a house boat known as the Poezenboot which acts as a house for stray cats. A woman who had been re-housing stray cats had the idea of getting them a houseboat – after all, if people can live in them, why not cats?  Now gone, the idea lives on as volunteers now look after a boat full of cats. 75% of the entire worlds flower bulb production comes from Netherlands Over 70% of the worlds bacon (poor pigs) comes from the Netherlands The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court are both in The Hague. Holland has around a thousand original still working windmills. Netherlands is the third largest exporter of agricultural products in the world even though just three percent of the Dutch population are employed in this sector. (Tulips I guess) Holland has over 15,000 km of bicycle lanes. Amsterdam is built entirely on piles, huge stakes driven into the ground. Central station has 6000 of them keeping it up. Holland always has a coalition government, so it's a country of compromise and tolerance. Every Dutch person has at least one bike and there are twice as many bikes as cars. Holland was one of the six founding members of the European Union. Holland's highest point is 323 meters above sea level which makes it their highest mountain. Most Dutch people speak at least one foreign language as well as Dutch and English. Holland and the Netherlands are the same country. A quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level.

What’s the story behind XXX in Amsterdam (no, its origins have absolutely nothing to do with the XXX film industry). Why can tourists see buildings sporting this logo through out Amsterdam? What is its connection to the film industry in America?