Van Gosh!

Written by Lindsey

This morning April, Haylee and I woke up and headed out the door by the crack of noon. Between the bus from hotel to Shiphol, train to Amsterdam, and the tram through Amsterdam it took us about two hours to get to the museum district. While on the train we met a feisty and very flamboyant Kenyan gay man who kept asking passengers "where the f*** are you from?" and "don't I look gorgeous?" He kept kissing our hands and saying "oh you're from the U.S.? OBAMMMMA!" I found him highly entertaining and could not stop giggling, but I could tell April and Haylee had enough of him by the time we arrived at Central Station.

Like I said, we took a tram to the museum district but were immediately driven into a teeny tiny café by a torrential downpour. Small Talk Café literally had nothing on the menu we could afford except for soup and a cheese tray. But, it was shelter from a cold and sopping wet rainstorm and served piping hot coffee.

After the rain let up we headed toward Rijksmuseum where we checked out very old and important pieces of history. We left thinking "what is the point of having nice things displayed in a museum and why did we pay for it?" Obviously we'll never understand the the importance of preserving this kind of history.

Around 6:00 p.m. we visited the Van Gogh Museum which featured hundreds of his paintings. As I was searching for the most famous ones I knew (Sunflowers, Self-portrait, etc.) when I suddenly stumbled across Bedroom in Arles. I literally almost started crying in the middle of the exhibit. I remember mimicking this painting in elementary school with my own room in art class. I remember my art teacher, Mrs. Stevens, explaining the techniques that Van Gogh used and why they were influential. Never in a million years did I think that I would be standing in front of the original, tearing up in its presence.

Later we visited the Albert Heijn supermarket where I bought lunch supplies (i.e. GIANT baguette) for the rest of the week. We hopped back on the tram, hopped off at a random stop and watched a group break dance. Haylee and April soon found dinner and bought sandwiches from FEBO. FEBO can be described nothing less than fabulous because it takes vending machines to an entirely new level. It is comprised of a gigantic wall with little compartments that hold various sandwiches and sides in it. All you have to do to get the food is dispense money in the correct slot and BOOM-- there's your food. We found out that FEBO has over 60 shops in the Netherlands and 22 in Amsterdam alone. We've counted three so far.

We finished the night in the hotel with a Heineken, Skyping Haylee's mom, and watching England beat out Sweden 3-2.

Pictures coming soon!