I took a huge step this past week; I made my first international excursion without the aid of my parents! Now, I didn’t say the trip went entirely without a hitch…. I accidentally left my passport at the hostel on the journey back to Ireland and didn’t realize it until an hour and a half later when I was at the airport. Needless to say, I missed my flight and had to pay a hefty price for a new one, but hey, lesson learned. I will now always check to make sure I have that little blue book before I leave. It could have been worse, I could have lost it!
In just 3 days, the beautiful city of Amsterdam became my favorite place in the world (I’m sure I’ll say that about every place I go, but for now it’s Amsterdam). The city is shaped like a half moon or the smile of the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland. Canals run through the entirety of the city, and beautiful old Dutch houses line these canals side by side in seamless rows. The houses were what made me fall for the city, not just for their beautiful architecture, but also the story behind them.
I took a free walking tour the first morning that I arrived. It was so perfect, the guide picked us up right from our hostel, the famous Flying Pig where many travelers stay, and we all walked to Dam Square where the free tour leaves from every day. It was my guide who told me the story of the city and these buildings I saw. I had noticed that some of the houses were crooked, others leaned into the streets, and every single one of them was as narrow as could be.
He answered all three of my questions first with the simple answer: The Dutch do anything they can to save money. Of course, this didn’t make any sense to me, so he went on to explain what he meant. A long time ago, Amsterdam was a marshland with the Amstel river running through it. In order to make a city on top of these wetlands, the Dutch had to dam the Amstel (hence Amsterdam). To build houses on the soft soil, they took logs and thrust them deep into the ground in order to create stilts for the houses to be built on top of. Through the years, of course, some of these logs have rotted through, making sides of some of the houses sink into the soil slightly. This is what causes them to be crooked. But why don’t the Dutch fix this? Well, the houses are all so close that when one is crooked, it leans up against the house beside it. The way the Dutch see it, if the house isn’t going to fall, then why spend the money to fix it? Instead, they even out the floors and the windows on the inside to make the house appear to be straight. But if you’re on the street, you will notice their crookedness.
As for the narrowness and front leaning of some of the houses, those go hand in hand. In the old days, property taxes on houses in Amsterdam were determined by the width of the house. Therefore, because the Dutch like to save every penny possible, narrow houses 5 stories high were the result. Now, how does one fit furniture and storage into these narrow houses and then proceed to carry them up those 5 steep flights of stairs? Why, you make a pulley on the outside of the house, of course, and hoist everything up through the window. But, how do you make it so that the items being pulled up don’t break the windows when they sway? The Dutch thought the best solution to this was to build houses that tilted forward slightly so that the objects wouldn’t hit the glass. It was too late before they realized that they could just make the pulley longer.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to make it to the Rijks or Van Gogh Museums, but I did get to see the I Amsterdam sign that is outside between the two. It is very crowded during the daytime, and difficult to take a picture of it. But my friends and I found that if you go back when it’s dark, the pictures don’t turn out quite as well, but there’s no one there in the way of the sign! I also toured Anne Frank’s House and they have done an amazing job with the museum and features throughout. Definitely worth the wait in line.
My final three comments about the beautiful city of Amsterdam:
1. Try the strropwaffles! Regular cookies will never taste the same again.
2. When crossing the street, watch out for bicycles more than cars.
3. The Red Light District looks EXACTLY how you would expect.
