I came out of Schiphol airport looking for Hotel Sheraton. That’s what Sneh had messaged me – “follow the arrival signs after exit” … “Sheraton k paas bus stand pe hain”. It was half past 10 on the 8th day of the 8^th month. Just outside the airport was the iconic “I amsterdam” sign, welcoming tourists and obliging with selfies. After a few rounds of glances, I saw it. The name Sheraton spelled in white neon light had lit up the sky. I quickly followed the signs and reached the bus stop in front of it. But Sneh was not there. I looked around. Unexpectedly, my primary telecom provider AT&T had no signal here and my prepaid Airtel SIM didn’t have international roaming in it. So, basically there was no way for me to contact her. Where could she have been, I wondered. After some unfruitful attempts to find her, I thought of going back to the airport in the hope of getting a wifi signal there and contact her again. With dim hope, I stood on my toes and pirouetted my head to find her for one last time. Lo and behold, that’s when I saw Anshu, walking towards me with open arms. Apparently, he had seen me and was calling me. But somehow, I didn’t notice. Anyway, all three of us hugged each other. And that’s the start of Euro trip baby! 😉

We booked the cab and left for our Airbnb. The co-host was present there. He was kind to wait late night and hand us the apartment keys. We had booked a 2-bedroom apartment in West Amsterdam. By the time we reached there, it was 11.30 PM. We were hungry. We thought of ordering something from Uber Eats but our Indian account didn’t work in Amsterdam. Some stupid bug in the app. So, Anshu and I headed out to find some place where we could eat. Sneh chose to stay back and rest. We found a good Shawarma place nearby where we got chicken and lamb shawarma parceled. By the time it was getting prepared, Anshu and I chose to have a couple of drinks and raise a toast to our first Euro trip. We ate our food sitting in the balcony of this 10^th floor apartment gazing at the glinting skyline of Amsterdam. We have been dreaming about this trip for years. Finally, it was a reality.

Day 1, 9^th August 2019

First morning in Amsterdam. The day started with reading a couple of pages of “The Diary of a Young Girl”. I had picked up that book after coming to know about Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam. It is diary of a young jew girl whose family went into hiding during the second world war. I was able to peep into the head of 13-year old Anne. Her articulation of thoughts is marvelous. Her description of German-occupied Amsterdam and struggle of her family in hiding is so vivid that you would start living the era with her. It’s an iconic diary by an iconic figure who represents what could have been and what was not. I wished I could go and see that place in Amsterdam. But its tickets were sold out almost two months in advance. Some tickets are reserved and sold on that very day. I tried that but to no avail.

Amsterdam, the capital city of Netherlands, derives its name from the city’s origin as “Dam” of river “Amstel”. It earned its sobriquet “Venice of the North” because of its lovely canals that criss-cross the city, thousands of bridges connecting them and its impressive architecture.

 

We bought a 48 hours train pass from a metro station near our Airbnb. It was €13.5 per person. We took the train and reached Amsterdam Centraal. As I walked up the stairs of metro station and came out of subway, I was pleasantly surprised. It was thronged with tourists. This part of Amsterdam was totally different from the place we were staying at. In fact, an hour ago while walking out of the apartment, I was discussing with Anshu where all the people are. And then, here we were. It was a mela. People swooshing pass you, ringing bells of their bicycles and disappearing in the labyrinthic bylanes of the city. Tourists rejoicing the canal rides listening to boat guides explaining the history of this place. Café owners standing at the doors with a smile and nudging guests to come in.

We were famished. So, we went to some popular cafés that we looked up on internet. But all of them had long waiting. We then settled with a small open-air café De Haven van Texel. It a small, cozy café situated besides a canal. We ordered a classic cheese omelet, chicken satay and poffertjes. Poffertjes are mini pancakes with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. Anshu took JD while I ordered Amstel Pilsner. In fact, this is something that we did throughout our trip. We tasted different types of beer across the three countries that we visited. Anshu used to post pics of all these on Instagram, with a hash tag #BeersOfEurope.

Just beside the café was “Our Lord in the Attic” museum. It’s a hidden church. A full-fledged church built inside a house. Netherlands was a colony of Spain in 16^th century. Dutch were mostly Protestants while Spaniards were Catholics. Spanish kingdom had policies that favored Catholics. So, when Dutch revolted against Spaniards and got the freedom, it was payback time for them. They didn’t allow Catholics to have mass openly. Catholics had the freedom to pursue their faith, but it should be a more private affair. So, many wealthy Catholics built full-fledged churches inside their house. One of such churches was “Our Lord in the Attic”. From outside, the building looks like any 17^th century Dutch canal house, but its attic holds a church. This clandestine church built in 1660s is still in use today. We had to spiral our way through many narrow wooden staircases to reach all the way up to the attic where the prayer hall was present. The audio guide prompted us at the right locations and explained the details. Looking at the facade no one could guess that such a big church with seating capacity of 150 was present inside the house. This building tells the story of continual adaptation and modernization of Dutch society. The gradual changes in amenities of priests staying inside, the decors, the renovations – all have left indelible traces in historical pages of this church.

We came out of “Our Lord in the Attic” at around 3PM. There were souvenir shops at every nook and cranny of this area. Not to forget several sex toy shops as well. We were not hungry per se but wanted to try waffles. So, we entered a shop that was exclusively selling waffles. Its name was Sweetella. I loved their presentation. We ordered a single, but giant waffle. While serving, they pulled a mini stunt. They dimmed the light of the café, switched on a psychedelic disco lights, a couple of waiters made a big roar and then brought the waffle to our table. All other people including us couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Stuffed with waffles, high on sugar, we were barely able to walk. But we had to. The place is just so happening. We roamed for hours on Dam square. Sneh even did some shopping at Primark there. There are enough shops selling variety of stuffs that can keep you occupied. One can spend an entire day just strolling on the streets of Dam square and nearby areas.

At 6 PM, we went for the celebrated canal boat rides of Amsterdam. There are many agencies providing this service, we went with Those Dam Boat Guys. We carried our beer and light snacks with us. It was a small boat and we were just 6 people and 1 guide. The key to enjoying the boat rides is being inquisitive. Ask questions. Get involved. Blend in. You can sit with an air around you and listen to guide parroting his monologue. Or you choose to do some pre-reading about the place, involve in a discussion, learn something new. I try to do the latter. As the maxim goes, a tourist sticks out, a traveler blends in. It was one-and-a-half-hour boat ride where I learnt about canals, buildings, their unique structures and the ingenuity of Dutch people. You cannot help but notice that buildings in Amsterdam are narrow. One of the reasons the houses are so narrow is because back in the days taxes were charged based on the size of the building’s facade. So wider the facade, the more tax you pay. Despite that the houses are actually rather deep. Dutch have sharp business acumen. Arguably, they are also thought to be stingy who do not believe in giving treats to friends or family and that’s why the phrase “Going Dutch” originated. Stingy or not, it’s a disputed thing, but they are definitely ground-breaking engineers. Netherlands is one of the low countries. Half of its land is below sea level. But Dutch engineers have reclaimed the land from sea by building dams and dikes. They have harnessed the wind and tidal energy available in abundance and came up with innovative technique like poldering to keep their feet dry. Their sheer brilliance and foresightedness can be seen from the fact that they have already started planning to increase the height of dikes to counter increasing sea levels due to global warming.  No wonder why they say, “God created the world, but Dutch created the Netherlands”.

As the night drew closer and sun paved the way for moon, it was time for us to go to Red Light street of Amsterdam. In the oldest part of Amsterdam is practiced the world’s oldest profession. But it is well-regulated and arguably the safest in the world. Scantily clad women were peeking behind the glass of neon red windows as the horde of tourists passed by. They were trying to lure men, their prospective customers. I wanted to take pictures for my memory, but I felt it morally incorrect to go in front of one of the windows and take a woman’s picture. So, without going closer to any window, I zoomed in and took a couple of pictures. I acknowledge it is still incorrect, but I tried not to hurt anyone’s sentiment. There are peep shows on Red Light street as well. You can pay 4-5 euros and enjoy a live short strip tease from behind a glass.

By this time, it was already 10.30 and we were tired. We have been walking since morning. We picked up burgers and chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and headed back to our Airbnb. After a couple of drinks and drags, we called it a day.

Day 2, 10^th August 2019

We started the day with a hungry stomach and Albert Cuyp Market. Could it BE any better? #ChandlerStyle. Albert Cuyp market is a street market in de Pijp locality of Amsterdam. Hundreds of stalls selling fresh fruits, vegetable, local and exotic delicacies, accessories, clothes, flowers and beautiful fabrics can be seen lined up here. It’s a place that exudes the authentic vibe of Amsterdam. We started with raw herring and pickle. Then famous Dutch stroopwafles. Stroopwafle is a wafer made from two thin layers of baked dough with a caramel syrup filling in the middle. We had one with caramel filling and another with Nutella. It was freshly prepared, warm and soft. The extra sweetness of caramel syrup was neutralized by wafer giving it a very balanced taste. We hopped to an adjacent fruit shop. Anshu took a watermelon shake and I ordered a bowl of freshly cut musk melons. Then we went to a cheese shop and bought smoked cheese. At this time, we booked our tickets to Heineken experience. It costed us €18 per head. The entry was at 6.30 PM that day. That means we had 3-4 hours to spare. So, we walked to a coffee-shop nearby. We came out of that place happy and in high spirits. Literally 😉.

We roamed on the streets, ate 2-3 packets of blueberries and clicked plenty of crazy pics. Guess what, we were hungry again. We went to a café, ordered chicken nuggets, pizza and the usual (read Beer 😉).

 

At 6.30 PM, we entered Heineken building. In Heineken experience they tell how Heineken beer is made. In fact, that building in not so distant past was the largest brewery of Heineken. So, how a beer is made? It comprises of multiple steps. It all starts with mashing. In this step, malt and heated water is mixed. The natural enzymes of malt break down the starch of the malt into sugar. Mashing is followed by lautering wherein the sweet liquid is separated from grain husks. This liquid, called wort, is then boiled at a controlled temperature before hops are added. After boiling, cooling stage starts. In this step, any malt or hop particles are removed to leave a liquid that is ready to be cooled and fermented. After cooling, the process of fermentation begins where the famous “A yeast”, a secret formula of Heineken, is added and the liquid is left for fermentation. The yeast converts the sugary wort into beer by producing alcohol and some flavor. After fermentation the beer is filtered and left to mature. Once it is ready, it is bottled and find its way into the hands of people. In that tour, we were given a complimentary 2 glasses of Heineken beer as well.

After having a good time at Heineken experience, we headed back to Dam Square. It’s a nice happening place. We roamed around a bit and took a tram to got back to the hotel.

Final thoughts

Amsterdam is darling city of Europe. From golden age canals to modern dikes, from gabled roofs of medieval era to some of the Europe’s hottest clubs, , from picturesque Dam square to claustrophobic Red Light street, from vintage-filled museums to erotic shops, from chilled out cafés to psychedelic coffee shops. Amsterdam has something for everyone.