Windmill and Calzone in Amsterdam

On my last day in Amsterdam, Lanay went out with me for an hour before seeing me off at the Centraal Station. Her co-worker couldn’t believe that I reached Rijksmuseum on foot the previous day so I was given an OV Chipkaart which was valid for the Metro only, I think.  Bedankt mijn instant vriend.

Lanay asked me what I wanted to see and I said the red-light district and a windmill.  Since red-light is closer, we went there first.  I was able to see 3 fat black woman only and one of them was busy picking her nose. Lanay said that the pretty ones come out on display at night only.  It’s like a tourist attraction here in Amsterdam. 

After consulting a tourist guide at the information center located across Centraal Station, we learned that Metro 9 and a 5 – minute walk will take us to a windmill.  I would have loved to get inside the windmill but we learned that it’s a private property and that someone lives there.  A windmill for a house?  How cool is that?

Lanay wanted to treat me to a lunch and although I insisted to be the one paying for it because I saved money on accommodation after all and most meals during my entire stay in their apartment but she wouldn’t accept my offer.  She said, “you pay it forward“.  She is off to Madrid next weekend where she will be adopted also by her other Filipino friends and be treated to free accommodation and free meals. Who needs couchsurfing indeed if you got lots of Filipino friends.

So, what’s for lunch? Calzone (filled pizza with cheese, ham, salami, mushrooms, paprika, served with minced meat sauce on top) and Della Casa Spaghetti (vegetables, minced meat and cheese in cream tomato sauce).  I love calzone so much that I wonder if I could find it in Cebu, Philippines.  A combination of tomato and cheese results to umami taste and it’s one of my favorite combo so it’s no wonder I’m into Italian foods very much.

Eating Italian pasta/pizza in Italy would be my next dream.  I wonder if I have any friends residing in Italy.  hmmm…

See you back in Philippines next month Lanay especially when Cathy gets home from Korea.  Again, thank you very much for the hospitality.

Amsterdam Walkathon

Lanay and her co-workers were off shopping for gifts to bring back to Philippines for loved ones and since I didn’t spend money to get to Amsterdam to see nothing but shops, I headed alone to walk around the capital of Netherlands instead. I posted in couchsurfing forum of course in case someone wanted to walk around with me but everyone seems hang up on partying hard until late at night so no hope from that venue.

My plan was to walk and walk only because it’s cheap and in case I do get lost, I figure that I wouldn’t get THAT far. In my opinion, the best time to see Amsterdam is early in the morning because it’s less clautrophobic. By late afternoon, city started to get packed with tourists then and I could smell weird smoke coming from shops. I don’t know if it was from weeds but it certainly doesn’t smell like cigarette smoke to me.  I don’t like them.  Air is polluted enough as it is.

I hate queues because it’s a waste of time so I made a pass on all museums. Also, I don’t have much money to spend on museums, canal tours and other touristy activities.

After 4 hours of walking and just when it started to get too crowded for me, I went back to Lanay’s place and took an afternoon nap. And nope, I didn’t get lost although I forgot to bring a map. Signs showing directions for interesting places are aplenty.

P.S.  I enjoyed the free musical rehearsal happening along one of the 1000 canals in Netherland.  Something about grachten festival.

Surfing Lanay’s Bed

There was a big change in my plans and rather than cancelling the whole thing, I thought of salvaging a part of it by going to Amsterdam still. Thankfully, my college friend Lanay was in Amsterdam for 3 months on business trip so I nagged her to adopt me for 2 nights.

Why Netherlands of all countries? There’s Lanay and it’s near to Belgium. Also, Netherlands and I have a score to settle. Let’s just say that I’ve applied for tourist visa in Netherland’s Embassy in Cebu back in 2007 but got denied due to insufficient funds.  GRRR!!  I get annoyed a bit when there’s something I wanted to do but told that I can’t do it.

After 4 hours of train ride, I finally arrived in Amsterdam. I tried drawing maps the day before but it was ugly of course so I’m happy that sister gave me a guidebook. I don’t have a built-in compass in my brain so it took me almost 2 hours to find Nieuwe Hoogstraat where Lanay lives along with her officemate, Yen. Of course, I didn’t find it on my own. I asked so many people but it turned out that most of them were tourists or not from the area. That’s when I approached a police who informed me that my map was upside down. OOPs!