Amsterdam: tourist edition

With free evenings and two free weekends while I was taking the 2-week molecular simulation course in Amsterdam, I had time to go to some of the major sights in the city. I got to see the Anne Frank house (the museum is in the actual house where the family hid), the Van Gogh museum (including the famous sunflower painting), the NEMO science museum (geared towards kids but I still found it fascinating), went with the group on a canal boat trip, saw one windmill in the city, and walked through the floating flower market (unfortunately not too impressive in the winter) and one of the big flea markets, which has everything from 80s shoes to antique scissors. I bought a cool old-looking tin that I absolutely don't need. :)

I also did plenty of wandering around, both by myself and with friends from the course. I found the city very pretty - there are picturesque canals and bridges throughout the city and tall, narrow houses lining the canals. Like I had read in my guidebook, there are bikes and bikers everywhere, and I saw people carrying umbrellas, their kids, and string basses while biking.

The weather wasn't as cold as I was fearing (i.e. not as cold as Minnesota), but it was still cold and wet/snowy, and not the most pleasant time to be spending time outside. I would love to go back in the summer and see more windmills, parks, and tulips!

And then of course, food - I enjoyed having some Thai, Lebanese, and Turkish food, as well as some of the Dutch fare: little Dutch pancakes, and pea soup! I also tried what one of the Belgian students told me is a common breakfast item in the Netherlands: white bread with butter and chocolate sprinkles, folded in half like a hot dog. :)

One last interesting tidbit is that three different Dutch speakers told me that my last name (Deeg) means "dough" in Dutch! Here's the pronunciation: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deeg

Pea soup

In the city center

Waterlooplein flea market

With friends from the course at a bar called Beer Temple