Who knew there was a Queen of Holland?

Did you know there was a Queen's day in Amsterdam? Did you even know there was a Queen in Holland? I didn't, but that didn't stop me from celebrating her birthday.

When Mike, Patty, and I decided to meet up with our friend Ryan in Amsterdam for Queen's day, I thought it was going to be a bit of a crazy time. Then our friend Schwartz decided she wanted to come with us on her way home from visiting Poland/Prague, and the answer was yup, it was gonna be crazy. Combine that with our friend Conway and her friends from London, a boat rental on the canal, and the simple fact that it's Amsterdam, and you've got a weekend on par with Bay to Breakers, Mardi Gras or Carnival (maybe).

(I must apologize for the lack of pictures...everything was taken from my phone, since my camera was still in Prague during this trip)

I still can't figure out why it's called Holland, or the Netherlands, but things from there are called Dutch. Maybe people don't want to be known as Hollandese, or Netherthals, since it sounds likes a sauce and a caveman. Anyway, some things make sense. Some things make no sense.

Jumping pictures in front of the I AMsterdam sign make sense

The red light district kinda makes no sense at all. It was fascinating (and awkward) to see, but so sleezy and I felt embarassed for all the "clients" negotiating through the glass doors with creepy grins on their faces. And the even creepier grins as they walked out.

By the way, I think Schwartz is still there. 

The bikes in the city make sense...the city is so flat, and relatively small, with no parking, and limited streets (lots of canals). Bikes really are everywhere. It's strange, but it's normal to see a guy in a nice suit, on an old rickety bike talking on his cell phone. Weird.

I don't know if the legal pot makes sense or not. I guess it's nice to have the option?  Don't worry mom, I didn't have any. 

A boat rental for Queen's day makes sense, since all of the canals are like a big parade of orange, with lots of music, fun and friendly people. But a boat that doesn't work? That makes no sense at all. Of course, that's what we had. Once we were all sitting on it, the captain said "sorry, it's broken. But you can sit on it for free". Gee, thanks. It ended up being pretty fun, and it was nice to have a place to camp out during the all-day party.  Plus we go to sing "I'm on a boat" as many times as we wanted.  T-Pain woulda loved it.  It was also kinda funny to manually push ourselves down the canal.  

Boats (and people) on the canal, having to lay down to fit under the bridge

Pushing ourselves under a bridge

It's hard to see, but there are tons of boats on the canal

I'm still not quite sure if Dutch food is any good (or what Dutch food is).  But one night we went to a nice outdoor restaurant, and ate some really good steak. 

Really good steak!

Afterwards, we went to a house party for some PwC people. I ran into one of my friends from Chicago, who lives in Switzerland. Add that to the list of things that don't make sense. She doesn't believe me, but I was very happy to see her (just very surprised!).

Me and Ashley

House party in Amsterdam

We also went to the Heineken "experience". I didn't quite realize that Heineken was Dutch, and I think it's because the glass bottles are green...not orange. To me, the color makes no sense.  It feels more German to me for some reason.  On this trip, I sure learned a lot about Heinie (i like saying it that way, cuz it's like saying "butt" - hee hee), from the "smiling" e's in the name, the brewing process (the tour "ride" is FUN!), and that the largest beer you can buy in Amsterdam is the same size as the smallest beer you can buy in Poland. Really, the tour is a lot of fun. More fun than the Guinness tour in Dublin (although the beer isn't as good). Patty and I even made our music video debut.

I really need to see this city on a normal weekend.  "Queen's night" was the Friday, and everyone was out on the streets partying. I didn't last too long, but it was still a fun night. The streets were PACKED on both Friday nights and Saturday in the day...with both people and trash.

What's the saying about "take only memories, leave only footprints"?

On Sunday the cleanup effort was in full force, but the mess was unbelievable. The strangest part was the completely different feel. The streets were empty, people wore non-orange, and everything seemed normal. The city seems like a real fun, nice city when it isn't Queen's Day (when the population of the city doubles with tourists and people looking for a good party).

Empty canal the day after Queen's day

Is it just me, or is the middle apartment crooked?

Another crooked house

Overall, it was a great weekend.  Ryan was a great host (he has a great apartment), and we got to catch up with a lot of friends.  I will definitely go back on a regular weekend to see what it's really like. (I seem to say "I will definitely go back" to all the places I've been...when will I have the time????)

Czech, please!

If I said to you "I live in Prague, will you come visit me?" would your answer be different than it is when I say "I live in Warsaw, will you come visit me?"? Maybe you shouldn't answer that question. And instead, you should just come visit me. Prague is a beautiful city, and I have a lot of fun everytime I am there. But to be honest, I think I enjoy Warsaw more than I'd enjoy living in Prague. But let's not get into that right now.

Over the past couple months, I have been to Prague 3 times (twice for work and once for fun). Each time I have had 3 main goals: catch up with some friends, take in the city, and find some goulash and Czech beer.

There were some good times, such as the unexpected fireworks on the river, and a street party in the suburbs hosted by some friends that we just met (Pavla and Martin). There were also some not-so-great times, like when a piece of chocolate melted in my shirt pocket while I was at work, giving me a poop brown stain on my chest, getting locked in a fire escape with no shirt on (yea, it's related), and waking up on a tram by myself in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.

I also lost my camera for a short time, so my pictures for the past few trips are limited...but luckily the through the teamwork of a couple friends in Prague, I was able to get it back fairly quickly.

Anyway, back to my goals. It was great to catch up with some friends in Prague, both old and new. There were dinners, parties, sightseeing, and just wandering around the city. When Sherry (SF) and Jess (Houston) came to visit me, we went to Prague for Easter weekend, and we met with Alena and Irina (friends from Warsaw), and Mike (an American who is nearing the end of 19 months around the world - seriously, he hasn't been home since October 2009!!).

We met up with some other friends in the city, and it was a good time, as always.

Me and the international girls - Sherry (US), Zuzka (Czech), Irina (Latvia), and Alena (Russia)

The tradition on Easter Monday is for the guys to smack girls with a stick. They even sell the smacking sticks in stores (really!)

Jessica's boyfriend Drew also came on the trip.  He was so nice to cook for us

We did quite a bit of walking around the city, spending a lot of time in the Old Town Square, or near/on the river. It's a beautiful scene, night and day:

The Astronomical clock in the Old Town Square

Taking a boat cruise

Charles Bridge in the day

At dusk

And at night

There are also a couple very significant, historical spots in the city that I found interesting. One is the spot in Wenceslas Square where some Czech students burned themselves in protest of the Soviet occupation just at the time when (then) Czechoslovakia was attempting to liberalize. The first student burned himself in 1968, and during the funeral, another student did it. A year later, this was repeated by a third. All this was 20 years before the Velvet Revolution, which peacefully ended the Communist rule in 1989. You can't help but wonder what kind of impact those deaths had on raising awareness and opening the eyes of people in the country. To a certain extent, this kind of protest happens around the world all of the time. Sometimes it just takes us a while to realize the motivation.

The memorial spot where the Czech students burned themselves in protest



Another interesting spot is the Lennon Wall. This wall started as some graffiti where people shared grievances about Communism and the world in general, through John Lennon-inspired images and Beatles lyrics. Officials tried to cover up the graffiti, but new stuff would pop up overnight. Now it's allowed, and people write on it every day, with messages about love, peace, and happiness. Each time I have visited the wall, it looks different, but it is always inspring.

This about sums up the purpose of the wall

And of course, there's the food.

Goulash with "dumplings", which is more like bread, but still delicious. Could you imagine the meat/gravy with pierogi????? WHOA.

Roasting ham in the Old Town square

Some allegedly good fried cheese (of course I didnt eat it)

The beer sampler was mostly very good, except the nettle beer. GROSS

I'm sure I will be back to Prague sometime soon, and who knows, maybe we can go when you visit me?!!?