amsterdam.

the city of temptation.

...

my goodness. this city is a fast one. amsterdam is sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll – seriously. it’s a fend-for-yourself, hang-on-to-your-wallet, watch-out-for-killer-cyclists type place; but it is also an amazing one. the culture is work all day, play all night, with a kind of vigor that couldn’t have been experienced anywhere else.

like bruges, canals weave their way through the city. in fact, amsterdam is actually referred to as the “venice of the north.” we took a guided boat tour on our first morning there, learning a bit more about the culture and historical landmarks. unfortunately, the rocking motion of the boat combined with the warm sun shining through the windows put many of us right to sleep. i caught angelique snoozing a bit too, though, so i didn’t feel quite so guilty.

our choir had the opportunity to perform in amsterdam as well, holding a concert at an english church there. while we waited for the concert to begin, we were waited on by the kindest old scottish man. he served us tea and coffee and made sure we had everything we could possibly need. his accent was so thick and his manners so charming that i couldn’t help but fall in love with him. he will forever be my european love.

following our concert, we were bused to a nearby nursing home, where we shared songs with the residents and shared pancakes with them afterward. by each of our place settings was a card made of tissue and construction paper, constructed by hand for each of us by the residents. on the back of each card was a hand written message of thanks for sharing our musical gifts. it was such a special token, i tucked mine in my choir folder to remind me always of those residents.

later, we had the opportunity to worship with some local evangelists and pray with them about the turmoil and sexual slavery going on in their city. we learned about a few of the leaders of the red light district industry and what is being done to minimize the number of women being forced to sell their bodies. after our worship service, we took a brief walk through the district. it was a hard walk for me. seeing those women in the windows, unloved and unrespected, was heart wrenching. it hurt so much to see their suffering, so for the remainder of the walk, i kept my eyes down and simply prayed silently.

the next morning, angelique took us into the country to learn about cheese and clog making. both were such neat processes, although very time consuming ones. some of the cheeses were aged years! similarly, clogs were meant to take many months as well. we were told that when a young dutch man wanted to begin seeing a dutch lady, he was presented with two blocks of wood by the lady’s father. when he had finally carved them into a pair of elaborate clogs, he left them on the doorstep as a sign of his love, and as a request for marriage. i adored that story, and i have decided that even though i’m not dutch, i want to be proposed to with clogs of love too.

we also wandered among windmills in another neighboring village. i had no idea how big those mechanisms actually were. it was wonderfully quaint to see them up so close.

we wouldn’t be true tourists if we didn’t sample a small taste of amsterdam’s night life. two nights in a row, a group of us went dancing at a club downtown called prime. it was such fun to let loose and dance with individuals i had become so close to. the music was mostly american, so we shouted and sang along to almost every song. those evenings were delightful, absolutely my favorites of the trip.

although at times i was somewhat intimidated by the goings-on in amsterdam, it’s safe to say that the city certainly holds a piece of my heart. it is wild, and untamed, full of lust and, of course, temptation. but alongside those is also an unapologetic quality – one that claims, “this is what i am, who i am. what you see is exactly what you get.” it’s an honest place, and that, my friends, is admirable.