And so it begins

I am struggling a little with how often to update this blog. I posted yesterday so does that mean I shouldn’t post again today? Or should I wait until tomorrow when I will have more to add because tomorrow we go apartment hunting and I know tomorrow I will I will want to blog about that as well? As you can gather from the fact that this post exists, I decided it was not too obnoxious for me to post 2 days in a row. If you do find it obnoxious I am sorry. Hopefully we can still be friends.

So yesterday was our first day as residents of Amsterdam. We arrived at our temporary apartment which is literally next to Amsterdam Centraal station. Very convenient for travel, super crowded. There are tourists EVERYWHERE. Am I considered a tourist still though? I sort of feel like it even though we “live” here. Still waiting for the local vibe to settle in. Anyway, not only is our flat next to the train station, it is on the border on the infamous redlight district. It is a little strange smelling the distinct aroma of weed in the air. My Colorado-ness betrays me. Before you ask no, we have not had any but it is strange how completely acceptable it is here. Not a ton of people walk around with a joint in there hand but there definitely are some people that do. But back to our temporary home. The layout of the apartment is very strange. Essentially there is a giant cube in the center of the room. On one side of the cube is the kitchen. Moving clockwise around there is a small water closet (toilet and sink only – literally the smallest sink I think I have ever seen) followed by a larger bathroom (the overhead shower head is broken so we have to ben European and use the handheld one) and lastly the bed (a murphy bed that comes down into the living room). It’s a loft style which is not my favorite. I like it when there is an actual door you can close. Overall the place is very modern, well located, and will suit us just fine until we find our “permanent” home. You can see pictures below.

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After setting down our belongings we opened the ever reliable Trip Advisor App to find some lunch. Bill found a spot a short walk away called PiqNiq (get it). We weaved through some canals and strolled – we are working on improving our strolling and not always rushing places – to the restaurant. The general atmosphere felt very homey. It felt like a place I could find in the states. The food seemed to be focused on local seasonal ingredients served in small portions. You could choose two, three or four dishes. I love a good mix and match. Like tapas but not Spanish food. I went with the Carrot and Coconut soup with a spicy chicken sandwich and Bill got a salmon sandwich, cheese and tomato sandwich and watermelon arugula salad with balsamic. My favorite was the soup (Bill’s least favorite) and Bill liked the salmon sandwich the best. But honestly, everything we ate was good. I would definitely take anyone who comes to visit back there.

Post lunch we came back to the apartment before our walking tour. Thankfully we had something scheduled in the not too distant future because we were on the jet lag struggle bus in a big way. I broke one of my cardinal travel rules and shut my eyes for 30 minutes. Shockingly, I didn’t feel that groggy after. I actually got a bit of a second wind. At 2 pm we made our way to Dam Square – tourist nightmare – to meet up with the Sandeman’s Tour. For those of you who have not used Sandeman’s before, it is a company that provides free walking tours of various cities throughout Europe and a few other countries. We have done their tours in Copenhagen, Prague, Lisbon, etc. and really think they are a great way to orient yourself in a new city. They take you by a lot of the major sights and give you recommendations on things that are worth going back to and what to skip. They usually give a good history of the cities you visit as well. And they are free, well except tip. They basically tell you at the beginning of the tour they are free in the sense that you can decide what the tour was worth to you as opposed to taking a tour, paying up the nose for it and not enjoying it. If you come visit Bill and I over the next 2 years, this is a great activity to put on your list. It is also really great for the first day because it keeps you up and moving. Instead of telling you every single fact our guide shared with us I will give you 5 interesting ones:

1. The city is currently experiencing a drop in the eel population as a result of increased cocaine usage. Apparently when people expel cocaine from their system (i.e. pee), there is still trace amounts of cocaine in their urine that won’t be filtered out. The amount in the water is enough that the eels are strung out and don’t want to reproduce. Hence the drop in the eel population.
2. Eberhard van der Laan was the mayor of Amsterdam from 2010 until 2017 when he died of lung cancer. This guy was beloved by Amsterdammers. A few days before he died, a local appealed to Amsterdammers to gather outside the mayoral house and sing “Aan de Amsterdamse Grachten” (apparently super anthemic Dutch song everyone knows) so they could honor the mayor before he passed. Thousands of people showed up. When the mayor opened the window and waved to the crowd, the applause lasted 17 minutes.
3. Napoleon’s brother, Louis, was actually king of the Netherlands. In one of his first speeches, he said “Ik ben je koning” which translates to “I am your king”; however, the French struggle with the Dutch pronounciation of King so what the Dutch heard was “Ik ben je konijn” which means “I am your bunny rabbit”. Talk about first impressions.
4. For as small as the Netherlands is, that actually had a HUGE impact on modern civilization. Like Internet huge. In the 1600’s the Dutch were introduced to exotic spices by the Portuguese. They wanted to get in on the spice action but it was extremely risky. People would invest their entire fortunes in wooden ships that would take a year to sail to the far east and a year back, often sinking along the journey, bankrupting the individual. So the Dutch thought, why not start a company (the Dutch East India Company) and reduce the risk to the single individual by having them buy into the Company to buy a “share” of a ship. Boom. Capitalism.
5. Café ‘t Mandje is a bar in the red light district opened in 1927. It was one of the few bars at the time that allowed same sex dancing. It has only closed once in it’s history and it was not during WW2 when the Nazis took control of the city. Despite the Nazi’s essentially criminalizing homosexuality, the club stayed open. No one really knows why. The only time it closed was in the 1980’s when Amsterdam experienced an extreme heroine problem.

Post tour we walked back towards our flat for dinner at a local establishment named Mister Meatball – another Trip Advisor find. To say this was a hole in the wall is putting it lightly. I think there was space for 6 people to sit. 8 if you smooshed. Thankfully there was a space open and we sat. I ordered traditional dutch potatoes with sauerkraut and a meatball and Bill ordered the meatball sandwich. Though both were good, Bill won the order award this time. This sandwich had triple layers with sliced meatballs, peanut sauce (fab), rye bread, tomatoes and pickles. It was sort of like a rueben. They almost forgot to bring the sandwich and we were both very happy they remembered.

Today was pretty boring so I will spare you the details. Immigration appointments, grocery shopping, etc. Bill and I had our first train snafu though which was a little funny. One of my immigration appointments was in the Haague (about an hour southwest of Amsterdam by train). We got to the Haague with no problems but on the way back we didn’t realize we had arrived at Amsterdam Centraal and didn’t get off the train. We realized our mistake immediately and thankfully it was only about a 10 minute mistake. We were able to just get off at the next stop which was very close and hop on the next train back into the city. Crisis averted.

Tomorrow we go apartment hunting. Before you make a House Hunters International joke – yes we did apply and no they did not email me back. Those bitches. Hopefully tomorrow we can find our real new home! Keep you posted!