Amsterdam observations

I made it back home and have been enjoying my bed, my electric toothbrush, and getting back to normal life.  Still recovering from the Dutch flu/cold I caught, but feeling much better.  At this time last week, I was in Amsterdam, hanging out with friends and helping to celebrate one of their birthdays!  I had a great time, and love Amsterdam a ton.  It was my 3rd visit there, and I am always so happy to get back to the city.  It is perhaps my favorite city.  Here's what I noticed:

• In case you don't know this already, the Dutch are TALL.  Like, the world's tallest (seriously).  I get my own height from my Dutch heritage on my mom's side.  And I blend in there!  I love it.  These are my people.  We did spend some time at a bar though that seemed to be the anti-height headquarters in Amsterdam.  We went to a bar on Saturday night where I was the tallest person there for almost the entire time.  It was very confusing.  I kept waiting for my tall Dutch man friends to show up, yet they didn't.  I'm still confused.  (They did show up everywhere else, though.  WHEW.)

With my friend and fellow Coug Ryan, at the notorious short height bar

• I stayed with my friends Courtney and Karl for the weekend, and the apartment they live in (besides being really cute and much larger than I expected) was built for tall people!  The bathroom alone blew my mind.  The toilet was so high that my heels dangled off the floor.  No joke.  The countertop was tall.  The giant rain showerhead would have fit someone 7'0" under it. I even think the doorknobs may have been higher.  Reason #435 why I need to live in Amsterdam.

With the birthday girl Courtney in the "Secret Garden"

• One new thing I learned this trip is that a ton of shops and restaurants have a resident cat.  The cat hangs out, wanders around, is fluffy.  Once Courtney and Karl mentioned it to me, I feel like we saw cats everywhere.  And not stray cats, but cats that live in stores.  It was kind of awesome.
• I've been keeping an eye out to the fashion trends in each European city I've been to, as the residents all dress a little differently in each city.  In Amsterdam, I couldn't help but notice colorful sneakers everywhere.  Everywhere!  Bright, neon, so fun.  If I lived there, I'd definitely take my sneakers up a notch.  Courtney was already sporting some sweet turquoise ones (as seen in the pic above).
• One of Amsterdam's somewhat famous foods is their pancakes.  They are GOOD.  They make pancakes that are sweet or savory or both and you can put just about anything in them.  I had mine with cheese, bacon, and apple.  Court's had a huge piece of goat cheese and herbs.  And it totally hit the spot!  Mmmm.  Get some pancakes if you go to Amsterdam.

I wish I had one of these RIGHT NOW

• The Dutch also love fruit smoothies.  They were on most menus.  They were really good!
• When I asked at the short bar if they had cider, the bartender looked very confused and said, "Cider?  Like apple cider?"  I think that Amsterdam may be one of the few European cities that doesn't serve cider.  Bummer.  I think this is the first reason I've uncovered to NOT live there.
• As you may have already heard, the Dutch ride bikes everywhere.  Amsterdam is a city with more bike lanes than roads for cars it seems, and literally everyone is on a bike.  Everyone rides old cruisers, as owning a new bike is the fast way to get it stolen.  Courtney and Karl borrowed an extra bike from a friend that I got to ride, and it was fantastic!!!  I felt so Dutch.  Although my butt did not love it as much as the rest of me did; I was a little sore for a while.  We rode to dinner and the bars on Saturday night, and then rode home again afterwards (which was one of the more fun bike rides I've been on) and to and from breakfast on Sunday.

Court and I, riding home from her birthday party

I had a fun time hanging out in Amsterdam with Courtney, Karl, Ryan, and new friends!  I hope to get back there again someday soon (for more than just a weekend visit).