1 Day in Amsterdam, Singel Canal and IBC 2011

Sunday, September 11. 2011

1 Day in Amsterdam, Singel Canal and IBC 2011

We planned a very random trip at the last minute to go to Amsterdam and "any other place in Europe" - seriously, that was our criteria. Originally we were thinking Madrid->Prague->Odessa, Ukraine (mixture of fun & business reasons). In the end we settled on Amsterdam because my dad wanted to go to the IBC 2011, a conference which really seemed right up my alley since that's basically what I'm studying at LSE -- although it ended up being mostly technical stuff, new gadgets and broadcast equipment. I wandered over to the NHK area, which won an award this year. They were showcasing their new impressive 7,680 x 4,320-pixel Super Hi-Vision system. They showed us the last May 16 shuttle launch.

The other highlight - there was a "NiCT Multi-Directivity" speaker system, a globe that you circle around and the sound changes quality as you change position. It was a Japanese booth and I went up to them and asked what song was playing, then explained that I was studying the language etc etc and basically shocked him with my sudden onslaught of Japanese... I actually think I did a pretty nice transition from English to Japanese, it can get annoying you know if you suddenly speak to people in their native language, but I'm getting good at this! That's the second time I've spoken Japanese to strangers in a month... but I miss speaking it!! I'm planning to get some language partner exchanges set up in London this term.

So we really only had one day to do Amsterdam: this morning we had a delicious breakfast at a cafe near Singel canal, the Villa Zeerzicht which I randomly googled this morning. It was so good that we came back for their highly recommended apple pie. I've had gluten all day and so far I feel OK (crossing my fingers) -- I think it's because I haven't mixed it with eggs.



We walked around quite a bit, and I was so surprised at how calm, quaint and nice it is!! Amsterdam does not have the bustling city atmosphere I pictured. We walked from the hotel along the Singel Canal, saw the Flower Market and got a glimpse of the Royal Palace and music theatre area, but not much more than that. From the conference we got on the tram (a very confusing experience for my dad) and had Indonesian food, walked back through the Singel and had apple pie and port at Villa Zeezicht. I bought this amazing rose tea bath scrub that a salesgirl lured me into buying. My dad even got some - the brand is Sabon, basically the L'Occitane of Holland. My hands are so soft!!

Oh, and Amsterdam was so full-up with the conference that we ended up using Priceline for our hotel and lucked out with the lovely Park Plaza Victoria right near Centraal Station - and got it for much cheaper than the listed rates.

So, no time to get more than an impression of the city, but overall a great first visit to Amsterdam!

Tomorrow we are leaving for Malta -- it satisfies my cultural cravings (some of the oldest ruins in the world, has Semitic language full of Italian cognates, one of the settings of HBO Game of Thrones? Yes please!) and my dad has an idealistic resort experience in his head, although I'm more keen on the traipsing-through-ruins idea. Two nights on Gozo, a small island, and two nights in St. Julians, the main area. Very excited!