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Monday, March 27, 2006

We went to Amsterdam!! (3/25/06)

We went to Amsterdam today!

I drove!

Well I drove us to the Amsterdam stadium where we parked and took the train into town. That was weird! It traveled above ground and then also below. The station at the stadium is underconstruction so it was pretty confusing (+ everything is in freak'n Dutch) but we managed after asking one of the lovely citizens of Amsterdam. Thank god they all seem to speak at least a little english. Actually central station was also underconstruction, at least on the outside, I think the inside is just a dingy, dirty subway/train stop. I wasn't impressed with the city train. But I didn't expect to be either, I guess that's fair.


The architecture was amazing from the second you step out of the train station! Unbelievable!! Its amazing people live and work in a place like that! We only spent I think 6 hours or so in the city just wondering around. We just wanted to have an idea of what to expect before we go with Jason and Ashley. It's weird because it is the prettiest/dirtiest city ever.




We walked down the main street and stopped and got a bite to eat and snapped pictures. The road opened up to this 'square' that had a beautiful monument of some kind. Couldn't read a lick of it, but it was very striking. There were people and bikes and cars and trollies everywhere. Its amazing we didn't get run over. You would be walking down this LITTLE cobble stone path along a canal and all of the sudden a car would appear in front or behind you and you would swear he had lost his way!! Nope, we just happened to be walking in the road! Anyone who has ever thought the people that drive in Las Vegas were nuts... man, they don't hold a candle to the Amsterdam folk. You have trollies down the middle of the road, you can't tell where they are going or when they're coming. Then you have cars zooming everywhere, you can't tell which side of the road is which and then people on bikes driving around taking them all on! We saw a few near misses!!




Here I am being a tourist! Just trying to get back to my roots! Mark wouldn't sit in the shoe! I don't know why?



This is my love at on of the canal bridges. It really is a beautiful place. I can't wait to go back and spend a little more time there. We are going to see the Anne Franke House and hopefully a museum or two and the zoo of course! There is so much to see and do there it will be hard to pick what to do.



For more photos of todays trip check out this link:

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW!!! What a place. I'm going to have to go over ALL these pictures ALOT to take it all in. FANTASTIC!

Love you Mom

Anonymous said...

Note to Jason--went into your blog--it still says I need a password--Help!! But even if I can't comment, I'm watching your blog too!

Love you
Mom

pack of 2 said...

That is so cool Jen. Glad you are having a fun time.

Hi Mom & d;)

Shelly

Anonymous said...

Hi Shelly!

Boy isn't this GREAT---and we didn't even have to make that LONG flight!

Didn't think I would get into this whole blog thing...okay, I was WRONG!

Love you both

Mom

pack of 2 said...

mom~
I know...it's fun huh? I have met a ton of great people on the blogs & it is so great that we can keep up with Jen. I love it!

Love you,


Shelly

jakulin5 said...

believe me everyone, those pictures don't do the city any justice. While it was pretty dirty and gritty in places it was also very very beautiful. It's very easy to imagine the place 100+ years ago. I'm not sure it's a place I'd visit often (like Vegas) but I'm really glad I got the chance to see it, and can't wait to go back with more friends. Only to have found this place 10 years ago......when I could enjoy it more....

MG

Anonymous said...

The city is sure different looking.
It reminds me of Gotham City. What kind of car are you driving?

Thanks for all your hard work documenting this and keeping us all up to date.

jakulin5 said...

Right now we're driving a VW Passat. It's funny because compared to most of the other cars over here it feels huge!. I feel like I'm driving a Delta 88 around. VW appears to be very popular here but they have a great many more care makers to choose from than us. It's nice to see all of the different cars. What's also weird is that they have Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota and other brand name cars with models that aren't sold in the states. The "smart car" (small car with custom paint job in the amsterdam pics) that is very popular here is made by Chrysler but we just found out they are discontinuing them. Oh well. See you guys later.

Monogram Queen said...

I was trying to think of what the pic reminded me of and "Dad" hit it on the head - Gotham. Like out of Batman. So cool! I would be drooling over the architecture. Have you seen any stone gargoyles or am I getting Amsterdam and Paris mixed up?

pack of 2 said...

Great pictures! Hi to Mom and Dad also!

Angie

Anonymous said...

Hi, checked on the house after work today, all looks good. Worked on the yard a bit and dispensed a lot of love'n. Kuma was good but Devlin and Jacob seemed to need extra love.

Will drive your truck until Thursday.Have a great week!

Hi Shangie, you guys have a great week too.

Love Dad

jakulin5 said...

It is kind of Gotham-like, I hadn't thought of it before! I didn't notice stone gargoyls, I'll look closer when we go back! They had loads of nice architectural detail everywhere. I'll pay more attention and take better pictures when we go back. I was so overwhelmed this time - which is why we did this quick trip... :)

Thanks Dad, yeah those are the two I worry most about missing us! Kuma loves us but she is very independent - as long as she doesn't turn destructive she's doing well! Hopefully we can get those cameras working soon, I miss them terrible!!

Jen