Getting Ready For Amsterdam

Tomorrow at 7pm I fly from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. I have the train ticket to Frankfurt, I have the plane ticket to Amsterdam, and I have a hostel for the four nights I’ll be staying. I’ll be arriving back in Freiburg at about midnight on Monday, so that I can catch a few hours rest before my finals begin on Tuesday. Have two that day.

So far on my list of things I need to do, is:
• cat museum
• modern art museum
• red light district
• Van Gogh museum
• Vondelpark
• Albert-Cuypstr. market

The cat museum is most likely going to be dumb, but it’s sort of funny, an entire museum dedicated to cats. Plus it’s only five euros, and close to my hostel. The modern art museum has a good collection apparently, and Van Gogh is always fun. Vondelpark is the “central park of Amsterdam”, and it looks to be quite big and nice. Albert-Cuypstr. market is a large, outdoor market on a pedestrian street, in a cool neighborhood which I want to check out regardless.

And the red light district of Amsterdam is a must-visit, naturally.

Oh, and then there are the coffeeshops:
• De Kuil
• Amnesia
• Grey Area
• Bluebird
• Katsu
• and possibly Conscious Dreams smartshop

The first three are very close to my hostel. I’ll probably be visiting De Kuil multiple times, it sounds like a really chill place. Practically every other CD they play is Frank Zappa, and they’re also one of the few coffeeshops to serve alcohol. Although I don’t plan on drinking much during this trip.

Grey Area, from what I’ve read, has a really great selection of wares. Amnesia is right in the neighborhood and gets good marks too.

Katsu is close to the Albert-Cuypstr. market, and I actually got a recommendation from someone I know who went to Amsterdam two months ago. The Van Gogh museum and Vondelpark are also in the area. This neighborhood is fairly far south – I might take a tram and hit all of these on one of my days, spend the whole day down there.

Of course, these attractions are just the tip of the iceberg. Amsterdam sounds like a lovely city, and my friend who went recently also said that the food is great. I’ll spend a lot of my time walking around, taking in the sights and sounds. The things I have listed so far are only the things that I must see / do while there.

It should prove to be a good weekend.