Amsterdam???

I had a 24 layover in Amsterdam... it was a bit of a gamble because I wasn't sure I knew anyone in the area when I booked it but I figured I'd find someone through HIA (The Netherlands is one of the HIA program countries). Turns out my very own Ida who traveled with us - the one that is a touch visually impaired, forgot her glasses, didn't have enough contacts - she has been living in Leiden for the past seven months! Apart from the glasses/contacts situation she is actually quite competent and gave me an amazing 24 hour tour of Holland :)

Leiden is about half an hour from Amsterdam - and Schipol, the airport, is smack in the middle of the two. Really couldn't have been better for me - we had cute little "typically Dutch" Leiden to explore first and then went into to Amsterdam for the afternoon and evening. The trains are expensive but that's expected - welcome to northern Europe!!

Since 1575 Leiden has been a University town - actuallly, THE University town of the Netherlands. Leiden University is placed on par with Oxford. Leiden tradition has it that William I of Orange founded the University in Leiden as a reward to the people of Leiden for heroically defending the town against Spanish rule during the Eighty Year's War. Leiden was besieged from May to October 1574 - the end of the siege on October 3 is still celebrated in Leiden. Notably, the siege was the first time in Europe that paper money was issued as legal tender. Cut off from the world, when silver ran out the people took paper from prayer books and stamped it with coin dies. Wiliam I of Orange gave the citizens of Leiden the choice between a university and certain tax exemptions for all time - and the people chose the University. This decision has doubtless shaped the course of the city indefinitley and remains a point of pride for natives of Leiden. Had they chosen tax exemptions it is likely that the next king would have found a way to get out of the deal... but the University has been the beacon of the city ever since. Nerds FTW!

After meeting some of Ida's wonderful law school friends and toodling around Leiden (canals everywhere!) we headed to Amsterdam. Obviously I knew that Amsterdam is famous for canals but I hadn't ever really connected to the fact that ALL of the Netherlands is riddled with waterways and canals. Flying in you can see huge canals running alongside major highways, and throughout fields and towns. The whole Dutch organization thing is pretty hilarious to me. I studied abroad in Switzerland so I am no stranger to highly anal retentive organization... but there's something a bit more laid back about Dutch organization, at least from my perspective. It's incredibly important that their organized if they want their country to exist, so it's not like they're exaggerating the stakes. The Swiss, on the other hand, just seem to thrive on details in a way that I will never get on board with. There's a healthy amount of random within Dutch discipline. Buildings at more-than-jaunty angles, excellent grafitti, random sidestreets to nowhere. I loved it. Ida claimed that the best thing to do in Amsterdam is just be there and I totally agree. It's not full of too many "sites" - although there are plenty of excellent museums that I didn't have time to see. We went to a couple cafes and walked, walked, walked. We were exhausted from waking up hella early for our flight from Belgrade but stuck around long enough to see the Red Light district at night. It was everything people say it is - though I never really understood what was being said. Seeing women standing so obviously ready to sell sex was jolting. I didn't expect it to be so very different from seeing sex workers / prostitutes in other contexts - but the openness and the obviousness was strange. In large part because of the tourists. And the open gawking.

If you haven't seen it - here is a must see anti-trafficking video shot in the Red Light district: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-a8dAHDQoo