So this weekend I went to Amsterdam to meet up with Jenn and much of the German IEP crew to celebrate Jenn's Birthday and to have an all around IEP Reunion type gathering. So my story goes like this:
Thursday. I'm supposed to be studying all day for my exam on Tuesday but I'm way too excited about the weekend that is close at hand. I leave Santander via Bus to Bilbao to catch my plane. Problem #1: My flight is at 7:30 am, but the only bus I could find that would get me there before then (my other option being arriving in Bilbao at 7:30 itself) was the 10pm bus. So I got into the Bilbao bus terminal promptly at 11:30pm. Problem #2: Public transportation has already shut down. I've been to Bilbao before and sort of know where I'm going, but can't walk all the way to the airport so I hop a taxi. Problem #3: The airport is fucking far away. 20 euro and 20 minutes later I arrive. Problem #4: The taxi driver warns me, and I ignore him out of blatant hope that he's wrong, that the airport, in fact, closes overnight and will be doing so in about an hour. My hopes of sleeping somewhere inside were crushed. My fears of sleeping outside on a bench in the cold were very much realized. Problem #5: The airport doesn't re-open until 5am. It's now 12:30am.
So after 3 hours of very cold, uncomfortable sleep I awake and stumble into the airport and get to my terminal in plenty of time. My flight gets delayed an hour due to fog in Frankfurt, but after that hings ran a little more smoothly. I made friends with some really cool Americans who also, as it turns out, were heading to Amsterdam for the weekend. Side note: They are studying in Bilbao as part of a third party travel group called ISA. For those of you who remember, this was the organization I went to Costa Rica with. I was excited. Anyways, so we fly into Frankfurt, catch our re-scheduled flights, and take off for Amsterdam. I sat next to one of the Americans, Allen, and we had a nice chat on the flight. We parted ways in the airport after some last name exchanging for later Facebook adventures and I began my search for Jenn. My search ended quite quickly when she strolled out of the bathroom next to my terminal. I guess she had also been looking for me.
So now we were together, and had a good 5 hours until the Germans arrived. What to do? ;) We decided that we would head downtown and enjoy some typical Amsterdam culture. Well, after trying to buy a map of downtown to use for the weekend, we were told we were not actually in Amsterdam, and needed to take the train. Note: Warwick::Providence as Schipol::Amsterdam. (Yea SAT's). Anyways, so we got downtown and afer grabbing a quick bite we started walking around. We accidentally (seriously) stumbled upon the Red Light District, and while there stopped at Cannibas College. They have website. Look it up. They don't sell drugs, that's illegal. It's nothing more than an information institute, and a good one at that. So with all of our new information we took off and spent the 2 hours we had to wait in a local coffee shop. Eventually we met the Germans at our hostel outside of town, and then returned to town to further enjoy the local scene. We hopped to one or two different places, but it was already rather late and we wanted to rest up for Saturday so we turned in.
Saturday we awoke rather early (9am-ish) showered, ate, and headed towards the Anne Frank house. The line was all sorts of long, and we decided that waiting would ruin the rest of the morning and afternoon so we opted to head straight to the Van Gogh Museum instead. It was far away, but we wanted to do some walking around and also wanted some lunch and make some stops along the way. So we did. It was delightful actually. Highlights include the Sex Museum and in general the architecture of Amsterdam. Note: Santander experienced a huge fire several years ago and as such the historic part of town was burned down. So I don't get to see that "typical" European architecture that you would normally expect. We finally arrived at the Van Gogh Museum after a couple hours of walking around, souvenir shopping, etc. The Museum itself was very nice indeed. Some of the art didn't really do much for me, but there were a couple pieces that I really enjoyed. We looked for prints in the gift shop, but the selection was limited. After we left the Museum, we all headed out to dinner at this nice little Italian place. It was really nice to sit down at dinner with all of those people again. REALLY nice. I am very thankful to Jenn for calling us together for this. I'm glad it was Amsterdam, but it could have been any city in Europe; I was just happy to see my friends again.
So after dinner we went out and enjoyed more of the local culture, including a nice leisurely walk in the Red Light District. We eventually mosied home and I said my goodbye's because I had an early flight and the Germans were all taking the train in the afternoon. So I departed, happy to have spent such a wonderful weekend with my buddies and having enjoyed Amsterdam thoroughly. I'd like to return, though, and see some of the museums that I couldn't make it too, and the parks as well. I might go back in the Spring when it's not as rainy and cold.The flight home was easy. I was delighted to find an All Organic Café in the airport in Munich, and enjoyed myself a beer and a coffee. The rest of the trip home went smoothly. I hopped a bus from Bilbao to Santander, and got home around 8 or 9ish.
Overall: Damn good weekend, and I'm very glad I went. I can't wait for my next set of travel plans which seems to be not this weekend but the next one, when we'll be heading to Barcelona. I don't travel internationally again until the Holidays, but man I'll be all over the place: London (1 week), Prague (3-4 days including New Years), Vienna (2-3 days), and Italy (1 week).
I can't wait!
Tan pronto,
Andrew
Santander, ESP
3 comments:
That first picture is just stunning.
so jealous that you're going to italy. where in italy?
I fly into Venice on the 4th and have a flight out of Rome on the 9th. In between, anything goes. But I'd like to hit Milan as it's close by. I want to spend a lot of time in Rome if I can. I hear there's SO much to see that you really need some time.
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