It is really hard to believe that this is my final blog post, which means that this is also my final week in Dublin. While this last week has been filled with trying to try as many new places around the city as possible, as well as going to some of my favorite spots for the last time, this past weekend was spent in the sunny capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam. We got up incredibly early on Friday morning to get to the airport in time for our flight at six in the morning, but I cannot complain about the timing of the flight, as the early takeoff meant that we were able to get to Amsterdam before the windows glitch that canceled a lot of flights.
The first thing I noticed about Amsterdam was the train system. There was a train station right underneath the airport that was able to take us to the city center in around 20 minutes, and there are also super quiet and efficient electric trams that go all across the city. It is funny to think about how Dublin is notorious for having subpar public transport when compared to other large european cities, but the bus/train/tram system here is miles better than anything I’ve experienced in the states, except for maybe the DC metro.
On the topic of trains and trams, the lack of noisy diesel busses was really noticeable when walking around the quieter, more residential areas of Amsterdam, and I think that this is something that is intertwined within their culture. There were a lot less fully gas cars in Amsterdam than in Dublin, the trams are practically silent, and I haven’t even mentioned the bikes. Amsterdam is often referred to as the bike capital of the world, and it definitely holds up to that name. There are bike lanes everywhere, and it seemed like nearly every resident owned a bike. Besides the clogged and winding streets making biking more efficient, I think one reason why bikes are so popular is due to how the city was built with a series of levies and dams, making the entire area very flat and easy to bike on. The popularity of bikes definitely contributes to the noticeably quieter streets, and this aspect of the culture is also made apparent by the very reserved nature of the citizens.
Aside from paying far too much attention to the way that people in Amsterdam get around, we had some really good food, like infamous Dutch apple pie, stroopwafel, and french fries, and also saw some pretty cool sites, including the Heineken Factory, the windmills at Zaanse Schans, and the world renowned Rijksmuseum. Overall, it was a really fun trip, but I was also excited to get back to Dublin on Monday night for our last week here.
