Checking Out 7-12-2008

Wallet: Day 6
Jeans and Sweatshirt: Day 8

This morning is check out from the Bulldog Hostel, where we have called home since we arrived in Amsterdam. I am actually sad to leave, as it is so full of fun kids from all over the world. Pretty much everyone we met was friendly. Its been a great location to stay and would definitely recommend it to any students who will be traveling in the future.

Katie, or Canadian roommate I mentioned yesterday told us about this free walking tour of Amsterdam that leaves from Dam Square, literally a block from us. We checked out of the Bulldog and left our bags in their luggage room and headed for the tour.

As we met the tour group, the rain cods started gathering. We took a gorp picture just as the last rays of sun hit Amsterdam. Just as Sean started the tour the ran drops starting to drop and they were dropping with a vengeance. I had finally had enough of this endless rain and bought a small umbrella. Nonetheless, the tour was off to not quite the right start...

Our tour guide Sean was awesome, he mixed in plenty of history with humor. Amsterdam is a city filled with so much history. My guess is that 90% of the tourists that come here never learn about. He weaved us through the canals and neighborhoods. When he talked about the Jewish history in the city, my interests peaked. He spoke about the Sephardic Jews arrived to Amsterdam wealthy and educated, leading them to be welcomed with open arms. They were provided with a section that is known in the city as the Jewish Quarter. In fact, Rembradt lived in the Jewish neighborhood where the Sephardim lived. Amsterdam was all about commerce and business so it comes as no surprise that they welcomed these foreigners so happily. When many of the Ashkenazic Jews arrived from Eastern Europe, they arrived as farmers and desperately poor. Unfortunately, the Ashkenazim were not welcomed so easily and tended to live in the Ghettos and worse neighborhoods in town. I didn´t get a chance to visit the great Great Synagogue the Sephardim built in the city, but I will have to come back and check it out at some point in my lifetime.

The tour covered a huge chunk of the downtown area and the insights Sean provided were awesome. He showed us off-the-beaten-path areas such as the smallest house in Amsterdam
. The house is 6 feet wide total. Since Amsterdam is built on what used to be bogs and swamps they would use wooden posts to build on top of. As that wood rots, the houses start to lean and sag. The solution the Amsterdammers utilize? Pouring concrete between the building to stabilize them (temporarily) and passing on the problem, at a more expensive rate, to the next generation. Hilarious.

As we stepped through an old convent, there was a wedding getting out. It was nice to see the family dressed and enjoying their special day. I started talking to a couple of girls on our trip from Germany - Theresa and Sarah. We got along great right off the bat so once the tour ended at Anne Frank´s house we decided to go continue our tour together, walking through the streets on our own.

Before we left the trip Sean told us one more thing about the Holocaust and how the residents of Amsterdam dealt with the Nazis. When we visited Anne Frank´s yesterday I wondered how the residents just let the Nazis run amok. Sean explained that when the Nazi decree came down and said that Jews have to wear yellow stars, many of the Amsterdam residents responded by wearing yellow flowers everywhere. The locals viewed the Jews as citizens so the Nazis were disturbing the peace between citizens. The kindness and sympathy didn´t stop the terrible things that ended up happening.

The tour was absolutely amazing and we will definitely look for this company in other cities. So we headed off with Sarah and Theresa to the city library to see what Sean described as the best view of the city. The view from the Cafe at the top of the building was amazing. Outside there were bikes scattered everywhere, the wind was blowing them over. The scene was so chaotic that the picture I took could easily look staged. We headed to a coffee shop that we stopped by during our tour and saw where the beginning of Ocean´s 12 was filmed. We walked along the canals for a few more hours and headed back to the Bulldog to grab our bags and checked in to our new hostel. We fell asleep early that night but was a great day and perfect ending to an awesome stop in Amsterdam.

Off to Berlin!