I've been to Amsterdam before, and I don't like the culture of weekend party-ers that seems to permeate the city. On the train from the airport we spoke to a friendly Dutch man who told us that some hotels refuse to serve groups of British men because of their propensity to become so inebriated that they are unable to find the bathroom and consequently urinate all over their hotel room. I feel like Amsterdam has been spoiled by these disrespectful tourists, so that the locals are very impatient with tourists in general. I almost feel embarrassed to be a tourist in Amsterdam. Other cities in the Netherlands are much calmer, and I feel like the people are more welcoming. I also feel bad in the Netherlands because I have never studied Dutch. My Italian is dismal, but at least I've studied Italian. I've never even bothered to try to learn Dutch. The only word I learned from Lauren is dank je, or thank you. I'm planning to go to Den Haag this summer, so maybe I'll try to learn some more words before then. I saw a BBC story this morning about a boy who knows 11 languages, and I'm really jealous. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17107435 I really only have two, but I'm working on three more!
My friends and I decided to go on a canal cruise, which turned out to be a great way to see Amsterdam in a hurry. It really is a beautiful city!
No comments:
Post a Comment