After taking ages, filling in the content and saving to draft. Here is what Amsterdam was all about in our trip.
A trip with no itinerary, no preplanned spots to visit, with no wish lists to fulfill. A trip completely open to any change in plans as and when needed.
We land in Schipol, lay off our baggage at the hotel and catch a taxi to Amsterdam central. Even though we were fore warned and cautioned about the cheating taxi drivers in Amsterdam, we paid no heed and ended up paying 50 euros for the taxi. When the bill might have ended at 30-35 odd if the meter was running, So much for the people of foreign origin as taxi drivers. We headed towards the central station, i saw a coffee shop (coffee as in cannabis) and that was my first taste of Amsterdam’s openness. After some roaming about in the city, we entered Amsterdam’s famed RLD (red light district). Bhaskar commented the streets looked unusually empty and then we realized we were in the wrong street.
Entering the right Sex street. And seeing the people there going about business, i realized the openness of the Dutch - something synonymous with “putting the money where your heart lies” :-P, in both the cases of legalizing cannabis and sex. After some time of roaming around and having got enough of the sights and sounds of the street, we ventured into the artery roads surrounding the main streets and i was treated to a mini castle like building. It looked like one of those castles you get in cartoons where bugs bunny and elmer fudd keep running around to blow each others head off. i never found out what the building was and neither did i get my camera along that day, so there were no celebrity moments for this building.Back to Schipol and straight to bed for a short nap. Early next morning we refreshed ourselves and headed back to the city. On the way we picked up the daily pass and headed to the city center, had brunch and by foot walked towards the diamond district. On the way we decided to stop at the Madam Tussuad’s wax museum. Entering the place, there was the was replica of ‘Jack Sparrow’ and making full commercial use of the success of the movies, a 5 euro rate was applied so that one could take pictures along with the replica. Surging off my disinterest to pay for a snap, we moved through the place and in no time had finished a tour of the place. The only moments I stopped was next to ‘Tom Hanks’ while Bhaskar stopped next to ‘Dj Tiesto’. At the shop we spent close to 30 minutes going through a collection of posters. After pondering for sometime we got 2 posters, ‘things to do in life - before growing old/death/boredom ‘ and ‘I love beer and its effects’.
We caught a tram to the Van Gogh museum and spent the evening there, looking at the painting and realizing the effect time had on Van Gogh and his paintings. After spending a good part of the evening there, we started back to the center. Me, Bhaskar and Saravanan were heading to the Supper club.
After 20 minutes of roaming around to locate the address, we found a Big steel metal door and a small bell. Something out of the vampire movies. Press the bell and the door opens, and in true ‘Terminal’ movie style the guy at the reception asks ‘Do you have an appointment ?’. Since we had not sent a reply confirmation, after some searching we got our seat. From the moment we entered, to the time we took our seats, the whole sequence played out like the scene from ‘The Matrix Revolutions’ where Morpheus, Trinity and Seraph enter the Merovingian’s club - the reception, the coat check, the stairs leading to the seats. Somehow i could not avoid drawing a comparisons to the movies.
Anyways, we had a superb experience at the so called restaurant/club. The dinner was excellent - a gourmet 6 course fare. Lounge music which transformed into trance as the time kept ticking to midnight and a violin performance along the Dj’s rhythm. The dinner left a very good impression.
After some time partying, we got held up at the central station on the way back to Schipol, as the inter city trains were canceled and we returned back using the bus service that popped up in the place of the train. Fully exhausted, we hit the sack and woke up at 1pm and decided against going to the Amsterdam and instead went to the airport roamed around for the remaining 5 hours. We spent some time window shopping and then on the top floor of the airport watching the cargo and passenger planes landing. Totally bored, we checked in and got down into some real shopping.
First up was HUGO BOSS - after a jean and a shirt, we headed to the WATCH section of the duty free area and this time it was a TISSOT. After enough of swiping the card, we took a coffee break at starbucks. After a few hours in Air we were back in Helsinki. That pretty much sums up the Amsterdam trip.
Next up is Iceland. I will be in Iceland from the 21st to 30th of December. I will be spending my Christmas there and but will be missing the New year celebration they have there. Considering the Icelandic weather i am hoping that in the 8 days i am there, i will see at least some days with good weather and explore the country. And during the time in Iceland, i also hope to see the northern lights - one of my long time wish.
