Where in the World is Marta Senn-Diego? The Last: XXX, Amsterdam

Well, this brings me to the end of my grand trip. The time has come to return to America, and by that I mean my flight is tomorrow and I have to get my butt back home before my grandfather comes and drags me back himself.

It's been an amazing trip and I'm so glad I did it! Despite the fear and apprehension I faced, I was still even more excited about the trip than worried. I learned so much, met so many cool and interesting people, and saw phenomenal and beautiful places -- the most recent of which has been Amsterdam.

I wanted to end the trip with a bang, so I started with a tour of the Royal Palace in Dam Square. It seems like one of the cheesy tourist things to do. But I had a couple hours to kill in the morning and decided to see an educational museum as opposed to the nearby alternative: Madame Tussaud's. I strolled through the ornate rooms and got a kick out of some of the facts. For example, I stood in the window for formal proclamations and announcements and the occasional royal kiss. My favorite part, though, were two of the ceiling paintings. One was an angel bearing an olive branch and a single horn: This was good news because it's pure and brings peace. The other was an angel with bat wings and two horns because bats are dark and sinister and the two horns mean news travels twice as fast as good...

...or so the audio tour said.

There's even a room for formal death sentencing: it's like a sunken chamber with remarkable carvings of skulls, snakes and crying cherubs. People on the street could look through iron bars and watch the trial and enjoy the finale when the convicted was sentenced to death.

Lovely times.

After the tour, I caught a bus from the train station and within half an hour, I was in Zaandam: a historical and fully functional traditional Dutch village with a jenever distillery, a wooden clog factory, and windmills!

I walked through the town and learned a lot about the town. First of all, almost all the houses were relocated to the town, Zaanse Schans, by highway or boat! I also learned that among oil, flour, and wood-cutting, there is a mill--the only remaining one of its kind!-- that grinds minerals and earths into traditional paint pigment! It's called De Kaat and I hope it never stops working. I looked at the pigments, too! They were beautiful tones and shades, all stored in simple glass bottles.

After checking out the windmills and the town, I watched a man make traditional wooden clogs. In about five minutes, he went from a block of wood to a child's shoe! Almost all of it was done by machine with just a manual machete in the end to clip the edges.

3...2...1...

Done!

Wedding clogs!

My last stop was the jenever bar and restaurant. A nice guy taught me about the jenevers and gin their distillery makes and let me sample all the testers I wanted. He recommended the elderflower (really smooth and herbal), a few gins, blackcurrant (which I heard a lot about but wasn't fond of), cinnamon, and an amazing apple-cinnamon that tasted just like pie! They used organic and simple methods of making liquors such as putting the liquor into a jar with a few handfuls of raspberries until the sugars concentrate and the liquor takes on the red color. Done.

To finish up my day, I did a little shopping, and cooked up the last of my groceries. I still have to pack and take out my trash but soon, I'll be on my way to the airport with my back to Amsterdam. It's a beautiful and relaxed city. The people are intelligent, friendly, and non-judgmental as can be! You could walk down the street dressed as a wizard and nobody would bat an eye. Got some free time? Go have a smoke or take a nap in a park! Nobody judges anyone for their religion or race. They live and let live. And I am so glad that I got to experience that at the end of my trip.

I'll carry that with me forever.

Where in the World is Marta Senn-Diego? Part 25: Cheese, Cheese, and More!

"Cheese, Gromit! We'll go somewhere there's cheese!" Wallace and Gromit, "A Grand Day Out."

Like Wallace and Gromit, I've landed in a world seemingly made of the creamy dreamy substance commonly called kaas. Dutch black and white cows have famously high milk yields, making the Netherlands a cheese producing powerhouse.

Cheese is such a major part of the culture that a traditional peasant wedding gift was a cheese press! Try registering for one of those at Pottery Barn!


Amsterdam has earned their cheese-bragging rights. The cheese is delicious! It's so good that shops all over Amsterdam are literally giving it away because they are so confident in their sales. Cheese shops old and new now sell internationally and enjoy brisk business during high season. 

I know I'm enamored with these cheeses and the shops that sell them! This is actually for a few reasons:

1. There are so many diverse and unique flavors to try! Truffle! Coconut! Red or green pesto! Fenugreek! Lavender, for god's shake!

2. Some shops are in the beautifully styled traditional Dutch buildings with gabled roofs and shuttered windows.

3. Others dive into the tourist spirit and dress the staff in dairy farmer's costumes.

4. They sell more than cheese: there are delicious dips and mustards (fig dips, cranberry mustards, etc) as well as chocolates, cheese knives, and stroopwafels.

5. FREE CHEESE!

When you're traveling, it's a virtuous quality to be a tight wad. One of the easiest and tastiest penny pinching methods in Amsterdam is to sate your noontime appetite at the cheese shops. However, since I've been here for almost two weeks, I avoid frequenting the same places to avoid getting kicked out for being such a free-loader.

Fortunately, there are dozens of cheese shops! One of my favorites is Cheese & More by Henri Willig. Over the past 40 years, Willig has built his cheese empire from a family-run farm to entrepreneurial success. They make cheese in the traditional Dutch fashion, which shows in the overall quality of the cheese. And thank goodness they ship internationally! I need my polder!

Other shops like Old Amsterdam Cheese specialize in aged cheeses which are harder and sharper than the "young" cheeses which are aged for only months as opposed to years. Think of parmesan cheese and how sharp it is compared to something like mozzarella. They also have delicious smoked cheeses!

At all cheese shops, there are bowls of sample cubes and jars of mustards and dips so you can sample some very interesting combinations like cumin cheese and fig dip or aged cow cheese and honey mustard.

Some shops are very generous with their cheese samples. I found one in De Jordaan where you literally cut your own cheese! A very shady character could slice off an adequate chunk of truffle cheese if they were so inclined.

When you've had enough cheese, try the crackers or chunks of stroopwafel before ducking your eyes and heading out the door. In this fashion, I've been able to sample some amazing cheese, learn a lot about the process (for example, the portable stool was invented by dairy farmers to make it easier to move from cow to cow quickly) and save a few Euro in the process.

That's a lot of love, right there

Where in the World in Marta Senn-Diego? The Twenty-4th: Blue Balloons and Gablestones

Good morning, Amsterdam!

Tired feet are the sign of a good and productive day. On Saturdays, the Noodermarkt assembles in the northern part of De Jordaan, the Jewish district in western Amsterdam. Local organic vendors sell flowers, honey, sausage, cheese, olives, fish, baked goods and a flea market sells everything from homemade jewelry to antiques to old clothes, vinyls, CDs, posters, and everything else you can imagine.

I may not see Russia from my house, but I can see De Otter!

I love walking through these markets. Not only are there lots of free samples to taste, there are plenty of interesting curios and curious people to peer at.

White asparagus is famous in Amsterdam!

So I spent my Saturday just exploring Noordermarkt as well as the myriad twisting and turning alleys.

I turned a corner and ran into a wedding party!

I also took some time to hang out in Dam Square and people watch. There were several street performers, including people dressed up in whimsical costumes and posing on pedestals.

Fair warning, these guys do this as a part time job, so if you try to take a picture without dropping a few cents into their hat, they'll come at you, bro. One guy shook a handful of bells at me and gave me the most intense, green-glittery stare down! I don't even want to think about what Batman or Neptune would have done if they caught me stealing pictures!

Another performer was The Amazing Mr. Fish: an Australian comedian and juggler. With plenty of jibing and lots of wit and sarcasm, he captivated a large audience eager to see him juggle knives and ride a ten foot unicycle.

There's such a huge difference between "appropriate" and "inappropriate" touching between cultures: Mr. Fish held a girl's head in his hands and made her bow and pulled her lips into a smile, he pretended to wipe sweat all over an Asian audience member's head, and he squeezed another man's butt. I'm not saying there's anything wrong about all that, but after coming from a country of strict "no-touching" mores, it's a real shock!

But I mean, this is also the city where thong-clad women are modeling in red window frames.

It was definitely an interesting day; an orgy for the senses and a benefit for the tourist who just wants to feel wrapped up in a foreign city.

Some of the houses are so old, they've warped!

A beautiful day to chill in the park

It's not an illusion: Amsterdam is just awesome!