AMSTERDAM - the city of DIVERSITY

I really couldn’t wait to see Amsterdam. So many people have told me before how beautiful is it. Although I met some people who just said it’s nothing special there, but most of them were just sure that I would definetely love it.

I wasn’t so convinced, as big cities don’t impress me so much as in the past, and generally I prefer places with pleasant, warm climate. But then I was walking with my backpack from Amstel station to the centre, and I already loved it. I was walking alongside one of the canals, next to colorful house, where everything was so peaceful. I was getting close to the place where I stayed and even though it started to be crowded, I didn’t feel like in a typical city jungle – everything was so green around, streets were so clean and of course – bikes – they were everywhere.

Even though I was staying almost 3 kilometres from the centre, I decided to walk everywhere, just to save up on the cost of public transport. But there was nothing more relaxing than daily walk by the canals which aren’t full of tourist and observe a bit more local life. Firstly I went to see „I Amsterdam” sign (by the way, how the hell do people take pictures there completely alone? It was so full when I was there!) and Dam Square. I walked a lot around these places, watching the canals, adorable boats, bikes, smelling weed everywhere, but it all seemed to perfect. One moment I was walking on kind of „artistic” street – full of art galleries and shops, just to see a street full of sex shops 5 minutes later. This city seemed perfect for everybody – no matter what you’re doing for living, no matter what is your hobby. Later I met some locals who showed me more around the city, I also went to Red Light District and well, that was like the most unforgettable experience in my life. I mean – sometimes I get a feeling that back here in Poland even talking out loud about sex is not something that you should do. No matter if you’re 15, 25 or 60. And there you can see sex shops with dildos on the display and people are living on the street where hookers are everywhere around. One person told me „People here don’t care what they are doing. If they want to be hookers, it’s their bussiness, as long as they’re just nice people, nobody cares”. Too perverse? Well, in my opinion the thing is that all this kind of stuff which for some people might be scandalous, won’t disappear just because it’s illegal or people don’t talk about it.
About sightseeing stuff, one more important place that I visited, was Anne Frank House. I didn’t know so much about her before, but I decided to go to this museum, and despite of waiting in the queue around 2 hours, I think it was pretty worth it.
So I stayed in Amsterdam 3 days. During these 3 days, I was walking all the time around canals, partying and meeting amazing people (and of course many Brazilians as always haha). Cafes and pubs in this city are just amazing. One night I also went out for the party to the club where I stayed dancing till almost 4 am, it was so much fun!

Another thing is that also everything is so so expensive. 5 € for the beer, 2,90€ tram ticket… and well, even food in the supermarket wasn’t much cheaper. I spent much more money than I was supposed to. Sometimes I also had a problem because in many places they don’t accept credit cards at all, so it’s also something everybody should know before visiting this place.

And I won’t stop talking about how amazing English everybody speaks there – no matter if somebody is 10, 20, or 50. It was literally so cool, and I’ve even heard so many little kids speaking English around.

On 4th of May Dutch people celebrate Remembrance Day. The main celebration in Amsterdam took place on the Dam Square. Even king with the queen came there on that day. The square was full as well as the whole city on that day, so I didn’t stay there to watch it, but one tradition is 2 minutes of silence at 8 pm. Can you imagine that – when even places full of tourist, full of drunk or stoned people keep completely silent? Well, for me it seemed pretty amazing.

So how can I sum up this city? Charming, great for partying, great for chilling out, and walking alongside the canals became my favourite activity. One day I even just sat by one of them and I was writing in my notebook for 2 hours. To be honest, I can imagine myself living there… Yes, another place that I fell in love with !

And how did I come back?

Well, thanks to one of facebook groups, I found a free ride from Amsterdam airport to Poznań. So let’s say it was more like online hitchhiking. I was supposed to get off around Berlin to hitchhike from there south to Cracow, but as it was already night, and it was cold and raining, I decided to take night train from Poznań to Cracow. It was around 2 am when I got there– so I was standing in the queue to buy the ticket while my train was about to leave in 5 minutes. I asked people to let me buy it first, and then the cashier commented:

„

• Who buys the ticket in the last minute like that?
• Well, normally I don’t, but I just hitchhiked here from Amsterdam…
• Oh, alright…”

But yes, I did it :) I was back home around 10 am on Saturday. And so another trip ended…