Our first experience traveling into continental Europe was, surprisingly, not a disaster. After a slight hiccup at the airport in London (don't trust EasyJet, that's all I can say) it was smooth sailing to the Netherlands. Most signs in the airport and train station were in English, which was good because my Dutch is a little rusty.
However, the only things not in English there are the street signs! It took about 15 minutes of us looking for Oudezijds Voorburgwal St. before we decided to follow the guidance of Manny, a South African International who seemed to know his way around the city. At first, I was a little cautious about leading 12 Americans (10 of them girls) down some strange alley with a random foreigner, but he assured me we were safe and I made sure we stuck to the main streets (or canals, rather.) Ten minutes and a nice conversation later, we arrived at the The Bulldog. Happy to have found our hostel and even happier to not have gotten robbed, I gladly tipped Manny (for the record, I never actually asked his name- Manny is just a guess) the 10 Euro he had surreptitiously told me would get him to the shelter for the night. Apparently, he had just been helping out tourist groups in order to make some money while awaiting his return home.
So now the hard part was over and we could finally relax- which, as you might imagine, isn't that hard in Amsterdam. Our hostel had its own bar and lounge on the first floor where guests could get a drink or enjoy anything they might have purchased at the Coffee Shop next door (also owned by The Bulldog!). The lounge seemed to be specially designed for "Coffee" lovers; two televisions (one for XBOX and one for Discovery Channel), plenty of comfy couches, pool tables, a bar, and a fish tank. It didn't hurt either that the kitchen was open until 11 p.m.
But after a while of enjoying that scene, we figured it was time for something a little more touristy. So we caught a tram uptown and checked out the Heineken Experience, a tour/museum of all things Heineken. The best way I can describe it is Willy Wonka for adults (if you consider 21 to be adult, that is). It was just room after room of beer appreciation, but done in a very modern and interactive way. For instance there were these camera stations you could stand in front of and record either a video or still photo, and then you could e-mail them directly to your friends who aren't in Amsterdam ( the result being them hating their lives.) And since Heineken is the Champions League sponsor, one room contained a re-play kiosk that was loaded with every impressive goal, and was search able by either team or player. But the best part by far were the free beers at the end. After walking around a beer factory with cottonmouth for almost 2 hours, you can imagine how satisfying the freezing golden liquid really was.
The remaining details I have either forgotten or omitted for various reasons (The first being I literally forgot it happened). The second though, is that no body can be told what Amsterdam is, you have to experience it for yourself. It's like seeing a picture of the Sistine Chapel: it doesn't really do it justice. So to all my friends, Go! Go now! This second-hand smoke will never compare.
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