Amsterdam

Such a wonderful city! Right now it's on my top list, on the #2 spot (Paris is #1). I still have a lot to see there, but so far I've only been there three times, and only for a few hours. Most of the streets are divided by canals, so you can move around on land or on water, although water is a little more expensive. At night, the city lights come up, and every bridge has a set of lights that are beautifully reflected on the water.

It is a very colorful city and definitely not for the narrow-minded. Coffee shops (shops that sell cannabis, or "pot", whatever you wanna call it) are everywhere and so are prostitutes (I was greeted by one on my way to the Anne Frank Museum), although they all conglomerate on the Red-Light District. The girls all inside their little rooms, standing in front of the window, under a red light, flirting in their skimpy clothes, one window after the other. They look like scantily clad Barbie dolls on shelves at Wal-Mart (that is if you keep away from the Big Mommas section). And even though they may seem very inviting and open, DON'T EVEN THINK of getting a picture of them. They're surprisingly camera shy (the only thing they're shy at, I guess), and you could get in serious trouble.

There is this one peculiar street that is so narrow only two people side by side can go through, so there is a line of people coming and another line of people going, and there are windows with red lights on every side. Go in there if you want to see a** and ti**ies and a bunch of lame dudes who have to pay to get some... LOL! I find it hilarious, but also, very sad...

- Boating through the Red Light District.

- Walking into the seedy, dirty area of town LOL.

If the weather sucks, spend some time in the Sexmuseum (4 euros, smaller and cheaper than any other museum), filled with erotic art, gags, and the history of sex through the eyes of different cultures. Seriously, you will laugh your socks off with the pornographic photo collection from 18 and 1900's. If you thought threesomes and dildos and strap-on's were from the degeneration of or time, think twice! Just be careful when going up the stairs or walking through the hallways, you might be surprised by some moving mannequins.

- Thi is from inside the sexmuseum. The mannequins here are wearing authentic lingerie from last century.

- Oh, and one more thing! They call it the Red Light District because the lights on the bridges are red. Duh!

On my friend Marieke's birthday, we went boating around every canal in Amsterdam, drinking, listening to music and having yummy snacks. The boat was orange, even Dutchy-er! Amsterdam is even more beautiful by night, when they turn the city lights on and they reflect on the water. It has a very cozy feeling.

- This is DAM square. Most buildings here are under refurbishment right now and it doesn't look that amazing. The monument on the back is for the Dutch people who perished during WWII.

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Picture of the canal next to the Westerkerk, you can see the main triangle of the the Homomonument on the left.

- Inside the Oude Kerk, the oldest church in Amsterdam. It's located in the middle of the RLD, and it is surrounded by prostitutes. Behind it, Belle (the monument for respect to sex workers all over the world) is waiting for the next customer. Interesting facts about this church: Rembrand and his first wife Saskia got married here, and her mausoleum is inside.

- View of Amsterdam from outside the Central station.

- The children-friendly NEMO museum.

- Part of downtown Amsterdam. You can buy souvenirs here.

- The Vondelpark. It's huge and it's gorgeous. Marieke and I had rosé prosecco, cheese, and stroopwafels here while we catched up.

I still have a lot of sightseeing to do in Amsterdam, so I'll continue on this subject on another post. I'm waiting for my family to come in and go together to the Anne Frank museum, the Van Gogh museum, the Iamsterdam monument, etc. For now, I leave you with a picture of a handsome lil' elephant sailor. Knock yourself up!

A lil' more of Delft

Haven't been doing any sightseeing in Delft, classes absorb most of my time there. But here are some pictures:

- Yummy waffle and stroopwafel stand in the street. Cheap, delicious food to go!


Waffle! OOoooh! So sugary and crunchy!



- Beestenmarkt. Moo!

- Kaas (cheese) store:

- Behind the New Church, this house is supposedly on the movie "The girl with the pearl earing" about Johannes Vermeer.

- Inside the Vermeer museum. I highly recomend it. It's 7 euros to enter, or 5 if you're a student ;)

- Gorgeous view of Delft.

- The Moolen de Roos. It's under refurbishment I guess...

Delft

I'm taking classes in Delft University of Technology (DTU), in the Department of Applied Sciences. This works great for me since it's an excuse to visit another place, especially since it's so different from Rotterdam.

It was pronounced a city about 750 years ago, so you can imagine how old some of the buildings are. It has also been victim of a few disasters, like being struck by lightning in the 1500's (more precisely, the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk was struck by lightning), and an explosion of a gunpowder magazine in 1654, known as the "Delft thunderclap." But even though the damaged parts were reconstructed, it still kept that cozy, Dutch vibe, compared to Rotterdam's modern, cosmopolitan atmosphere (at least that's the impression that I get from them).

The first place I saw was, of course, the train station and the bus station. The train station is really tiny, and everything around it is under construction. There are only 3 tracks, coming from Rotterdam you get off on #1, and when you're going back, it's on #2. You have to walk some huge stairs to get to the other side of the station, where the bus stop is. The TU bus (the one that takes you to DTU) stops every half hour. It takes you about 40 minutes to get from Rotterdam Alexander to Delft, and then about half an hour to wait for the bus (if you miss it), and then you have to walk to building #22. So every Thursday I have to leave home at 7:30 am so that I can be on time to my 9:30 am class. Whew!

The University is really big, with lots of green areas to sit down and relax, canals, and awesome buildings. One of them is the Library, with a ceiling that starts on the ground and goes up in a vertical line, covered by grass and a huge white cone. So you can actually walk over it, sit down, and soak up the sun. It's actually pretty cool! The inside of the library is very different from any other library you've ever seen, and the book shelves are one on top of the other, until they reach the ceiling. The wall behind them is bright blue. If you're a guest, you just need a form of ID and they'll give you a daily pass to use the computers, but you need to be a registered student to have wi-fi access on your laptop (and I'm not, so that sucks).

DTU has a botanical garden, or Botanische Tuin. It houses very many kinds of plants, used for research purposes. You can find anything from poisonous, to medicinal, to seasoning plants. It's a nice garden and there are a lot of interesting pieces of art around every corner, bird cages, greenhouses, and an apiary. But it's only a must-see if you are infatuated by plants. The entrance is 2 euros.

After the botanical garden, I followed the arrows that pointed to the Centre/Markt (downtown Delft), and I was surprised by the Oostpoort or East Gate. I smiled from ear to ear! Finally! A monument! It was built around the 1400's and is the only remaining gate. It is now a private art gallery or something like that.

I kept walking on Oosteinde St. until I reached the Markt. There is a huge plaza, with the Nieuew Kerk on one side, and the City Hall on the other. On the sides, restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops. Gorgeous! I was instantly drawn to the Nieuwe Kerk and it's big-ass tower (pardon my French!). It's 2 euros to go inside if you're a student, and it also includes the entrance to the Oude Kerk. Perfect!

If you wish to google the Nieuwe Kerk, you'll see it has A LOT of history, so I'll just go to the basics. The inside of the church is full of mausoleums. Everywhere you step, you're stepping on someone's grave (although I thought I heard from the lady at the front desk that no dead bodies were under there anymore, phew!). The mausoleum of Prince William de Orange, father of the country, is there, and it's quite impressive. Also, the royal burial vaults are there, but that's restricted. I believe it's tower is one of the biggest, of not, the biggest, in the Netherlands, and it is possible to go all the way to the top and enjoy the view of Delft and Den Haag, which is worth it (still in my to-do list).

The Oude Kerk (Old Church) is the oldest church in Delft (duh!). It is also the resting place for many wealthy and important people, like Johannes Vermeer, and the tower leans towards the canal. Lots more facts, so google it.

I'm now going to watch some MTV (one of the few channels in English) and eat some stroopwafels before going to bed. Back with more adventures this week! :)

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is quite big and modern, compared to all those cute Dutch towns you see in pictures. It was bombed by the Germans during WWII, in 1940, and almost completely destroyed. It was rebuilt afterwards and is now known mostly for it's modern architecture (the picture in my first post is of the Kijk-Kubus, or cube houses). So although you see new buildings, the city is filled with history. It was granted city rights in 1340, according to Wikipedia.

My house is in the Prins Alexander submunicipality, right in front of the Prinselaaan metro station, and two blocks away from a big commercial center called Alexandrium (convenient, might I add). It's a pretty nice neighborhood and it's away from the crazyness, the noise and believe it or not, the smell of pot of downtown Rotterdam.

There's A LOT to see in this little town: museums, art everywhere, cool architecture, colorful people, super trendy fashion, etc. The only downside is that it might get a little expensive, especially with the metro rides (RET). I'm not very graceful on the bicycle, so I'd rather walk to where I'm going, and/or take the metro.

So far, I've visited the following places:

- the Central Station (I didn't take pictures it of because it's under construction)

- Lijnbaan, which is Europe's first pedestrian-only shopping street. Asides from the shopping, it has cool little statues on every corner.

- Pathé Schouwburgplein, a very modern and central square. It has one of those cool fountains that have water coming out of the floor where kids can play in.

- Beurstraverse, also known as the "Shopping Gutter", not because it is a gutter, but because it goes under Coolsingel St., which is Rotterdam's main street.

- the Havenmuseum. It's behind the Maritiem Musem (which I haven't checked out yet) and it's a rather large display of historic boats. Right next to it, on the sidewalk of Schiedamse Dijk St. is the "Hall of Fame" of Rotterdam, with the hands, feet and signature of celebrities like Bon Jovi, Johnny Cash, Shrek, and Gloria Estefan to name a few, engraved on cement. It's a pretty neat personal discovery since no tourist guides I've read mention it. - seen the Erasmus bridge from afar, but it's hard to get a good picture of it at night with no tripod

- the Oude Haven is right behind the Cube Houses and it is GORGEOUS! I had some tea there while I enjoyed the smell of fresh fishy water and cigarette smoke from three French girls. But it is really gorgeous

- walked around Laurens-Kwartier

- Erasmus University, of course. It's very green and quiet.
- the Alexandrium (there's a supermarket in there)


I have many more places to visit yet, but I'm trying to make the most out of my budget, so some days I just stay home, relax, and watch endless re-runs of the Jersey Shore and Room Raiders. And of course, give my legs a rest! I walk about five hours daily, just to take in the city while I sightsee. :)

I'll write about Amsterdam and Delft tomorrow. But right now, goedenatch! (Good night in Dutch)