AMSTERDAM

hihihihihihihihi!!!!

i've been really super busy to just see everything ever in amsterdam. i arrived on friday afternoon to a lovely little room in an apt that is rented out by the couple that owns it. it is situated in a very quiet neighborhood, which is nice. it is also very difficult to find. every time i go out to get a drink or whatever, i am inevitably lost for at least another hour... c'est la vie, je pense...

SO. here we go. long post. lots of pictures.

DAY/NIGHT 1 - end of paris / my room.

fountain in the gardens of notre-dame. 

a bridge!

another view of notre-dame

aaaaaand another. it's huge.

from the gardens.

my room!

i didn't take my camera out the first night in amsterdam, but i just wandered. it is a really beautiful city. i got lost in the crowds for quite some time and that was stressful. i can tell that everyone comes here with other people, so being a loner kind of sucks, but i tried to make the best of it.

DAY/NIGHT 2: rijksmuseum/stedelijk museum/wanderings.

a house outside of my apt. 

amsterdam is a mix of old new.

these houses exist!! slash dramatic skies.

tram lines / clock

just a street.

 so, i went to two museums. here's what i saw at the rijksmuseum. it is steeped in dutch art and culture. no klompen or windmills to be seen though...

rijksmuseum!

creepy woodcarvings from forever ago

how did they do this back then?!

ugh i think this was a van gogh but im not sure now

sisters, sisters

a normal ornate cabinet

queen beatrix / warhol

i think i own this, actually

stained glass of dutch saints

arches

rembrandt (of course)

delft!

woodwork/ pottery

why do i keep taking photos of furniture?

probably the coolest library i've ever seen.

some ship

idk what this is

the modern wing.

the poem on the right was beautiful,
but i dont think you can see it

the building that was built to
have electronic music performed in

"wombtomb" ... exactly what you think it is.

some stills from a video of some guy crying

vintage yves saint-laurent "mondrian collection"

hazy

furniture. again.

mondrian (of course)

chairs.

 all the museums are located in the same area - so i was stuck there obviously. there was a nice lawn out front that i sat in for a while.

some modern sculpture.

a pretty tree

some orchestra was playing bits of la boheme! 

dutch parks kinda look like deserts sometimes.

rijks from behind

 THEN i went to the modern art museum - the stedelijk. it was crazy. it was modern. it was... weird. but totally awesome. also, for some reason, it was almost completely dead. so i basically had it all to myself.

kandinsky

joan baar

picasso

constant

what a cozy room

dutch people love neon

de kooning!

dekooning 

rothko

some sad looking girls

lipsz

this was an installation.

warhol

this is the museum from the outside. it looks like a bathtub.

concertgebouw!

someday....

then i went home and napped and also made sure that my feet hadn't completely fallen off. after, i went for dinner and strolling... which ended up being like 4 more hours of walking. at least it was nice.

seriously, this is like bringing back memories of
art class in holland, MI - we had to make clay houses
that represented where dutch people lived.
because it's culturally important.

people live IN BOATS. on the RIVERS

those little blue things? street signs. 

so pleasant.

i basically plopped myself in bed and passed out for the night. this morning i woke up and spent most of my day at the best place in the world : the ZOO! this zoo had everything i could ever want. it was so cool. lots of animals (duh), a butterfly pavilion, an aquarium, a reptile building, an insect building (i passed on that...), a bird building, a planetarium... im serious, it was crazy.

DAY / NIGHT 3: ZOO and wanderings.

i was greeted by these lovely birds with weird beaks

FLAMINGOS  

ducks that are supposed to be in the zoo / ducks that aren't

i have no idea, but CUTE, right?!

alpaca? or something

prairie dogs.

the ugliest birds i've ever seen

butterflies! reminds me of frederik meijer gardens.

GIRAFFES

that's a vulture. 

a WOLF.

giant tortoise.

omg. elephants. i literally couldn't hold it together.

AND THEN THE BABY CAME OUT

i think i stood there for 30 mins

a raccoon...?????????!!

wallaby!

porcupine couple

lemur! THEY WERE RUNNING AROUND MY FEET.

these two were fighting.

this giant ostrich scared the shit out of me.

zebraaaaas

a tiny owl

a reindeer with one antler

ox

CAMELS. they just sat there. all day.

a tapir!

giant anteater. it was so weird.

i cant stop watching.

still life with llamas. (and that damn anteater!)

wildebeast

look how cute this wolf is UNTIL IT ATTACKS YOU

i leave amsterdam tomorrow, and to be quite frank, i am ready. the city was great, but it is so weird to be in such a huge cultural hub by yourself. maybe it's just me. whatever. MORE ABOUT AMSTERDAM (in bullet points):

• bikes bikes bikes everywhere. they are literally as dangerous as cars. saw about 5 accidents.
• the roads are very uneven. i tripped within 10 mins of getting off my train and WIPED out in the center. of. everything. it was horrifying.
• red light district is totally bizarre. girls stand in the window/door and lure people in. i felt uncomfortable.
• most of the streets are one way - and people back up in them to get out of them.
• BOATZ - there are a lot of waterways. i thought there was only one. then i got lost and realized that i was very, very wrong. 
• so much culture! i'm pretty sure amsterdam is the most diverse place i've been. the locals speak dutch and english, and most of them also speak a third language (german or french). but i saw and heard everything from swedish, to swahili, to russian, german, italian, spanish, portuguese... 
• everyone is very nice here! probably because they are all drunk or high most of the time. drugs are very easy to come by, but if you don't want to take any, there is no pressure. the "coffee shops" are exactly like what you have heard - and always have a whiff of something that is not tobacco. . . . i plead the fifth on whether or not i indulged myself. the dutch seem to have things figured out.
• food is expensive, but worth it. had a lovely thai dinner last night. 

OK SORRY TO BLAB ON AND ON. tomorrow i head off to brussels for a few days. planning to visit the grand palace and the magritte museum on tuesday and head to bruges for the day on wednesday. also planning to be overwhelmed by beauty.

BYEBYE