XXX

June 12

Amsterdam. How to describe? Train station...surprisingly not the seediest I've ever been to...Hostel, interesting. Shelter City...the 1st Christian Youth Hostel in Europe...not the first choice, but the cheapest option with breakfast included. The funniest part about this arrangment was that when you walk out the door, directly on the right is a bunch of girls on display...Amsterdam style (if you know what I mean). Ahhh, in the heart of the Red Light district...I'll just say that I ran into some "curious" people during my stay.

To start and to kill time I found this frites place that was AMAZZZZING! Vlaams Friteshuis since 1887. YUM! All those years of practice have made them really good...I got my fries topped with citrus mayo...sounds gross but tastes great.

I caught the Free Tour (highly recommend it) at 3 pm...which proved to be really good. Jo from England was the guide, on her last tour before moving to Stockholm with her boyfriend. We went from Town Square, through the district...learned that the housing is actually really expensive so a bunch of old retired people live in that area instead of the working girls who live outside the city...all happliy coexisting. Saw the Men's and Women's prison, learned about Nightwatch (the painting), when to The Place for tasty snacks (try the strawberry smoothie), learned about urine deflectors, went past Dampkring (coffee house from Oceans), and ended up with Ann Frank.

Crazy side note story...I met this kid in Budapest who randomly popped up again on the tour here...crazy.

Anyways, I walked across the canal to go see about Ann...and I got the CHILLS...that was crazy being in the house...you go through all the rooms and see all the pictures she put up during the time her family was in hiding...it was pretty intense, but a really good experience in Lauren's Great European Adventure!

The rest of the day? I had Wok to go...their sweet chicken...and that was that.

June 13

I had Vlaams Fritehuis fries again...for breakfast...more like lunch, so I wasn't being that horrible...this time with curryketchup...made me miss Germany.

I made my way past the Rijksmuseum...apparentely 2/3 of the museum is closed for renovations, and I just didn't care much to see the rest....so onward to the I AMsterdam sign and then to Van Gogh Museum.

Wow. Is all I have to say about that. Seeing all these important works in person has been awesome all throughout Europe...but Van Gogh was something else. It's just that your eyes are running over and over every brush stroke he made, the intensity, the depth, the texture...and it's like good food, or a good book...you just don't want it to end. That's definitely my favorite art museum so far.

They also had this exhibit from Max Beckmann, exiled from Germany to Amsterdam because of the Nazis...his paintings are really intense...lots of vibrant colors...lots of black...dark black...I really like his self portraits, and the semi self portrait...The King.

Vondel Park...immediately...unimpressive due to the construction around the entrance...but later turning into the kind of park I love.

Met up with some girls I'd met back in Utrecht...went to a few really nice bars and snack joints...blazeh blah...got some nice night shots along the river, and things were good.

June 14

Haarlem. Cute. The same as Amsterdam really, but smaller. Their cathedral is really nice too. I went to Teyler's Museum where they had just about the nicest staff ever, making sure I was all set...even after I'd walked past the entrance, when one of the guys noticed I didn't have an audioguide he went back and brought one back for me...so they were totally sweet. I found the most awesomest painter...I mean, I know he was around before, but he's new to me! Johannes Christiaan Schotel. Totally and completely sexy. Apparentely he was a leader in the oceanscapes of the period...and oh my goodness was he good! the way he painted those waves was insane! The rest of the museum was a bunch of cool inventions, etc. etc., rocks, and yeah. It was a pretty ominous day in terms of the weather...so I retreated to the train station and back to Amsterdam where I napped and then did a little night wandering. And that was that.