Exhausting, but liberating!
Day 2 started off with a walking tour of Amsterdam given by Ian, a Dutch localite. Ian showed us around the city, starting from the Amsterdam Stock Exchange to his wife’s Cacao & Spice store. He was a very animated tour guide, giving us plenty of jokes while walking the city streets. He was also very informative, providing very interesting fast facts such as the meaning behind the three Xs on the Amsterdam flag (water, plague, and fire, the Dutch’s worst enemies), the reason behind the popularity of prostitution in Amsterdam (sailors who had spent 2-3 months away from home would have six weeks to be “naughty” when they came back), and the reason why many older buildings in the city are tilted forward (the building tilt allows for more space inside of each building as well as easier water runoff from the rooftops; additionally, since buildings are mostly skinny and built vertically, leaning buildings made it easier for people to lift furniture up to each floor using the hook built at the very top of each building).
At the end of our walking tour, Ian led us into his wife’s chocolate shop for our chocolate-tasting session. Salome, Ian’s wife, gave us a brief history of the native origins of each different type of dark, milk, and white chocolate that we tasted before having each of us try a sample. I was pleasantly surprised that Salome had many vegan options as well, including milk and white chocolate! I must say, I enjoyed every single chocolate piece that I tasted–especially the oat milk dark chocolate from Ghana, the local oat milk and banana dark chocolate, and the local oat milk and lemon white chocolate, all three of which I ended up buying after our session!–and was very impressed by the wide variety of plant-based flavors that were offered. I had never tried vegan white chocolate before; before I became vegan, I remember strongly disliking normal white chocolate–I was very shocked at myself for enjoying the vegan white chocolate so much today! Salome also had us try multiple other notable products, such as the drink made from cacao fruit (which surprisingly had NO aftertaste at all!) and her own “hottest chocolate bar of the Netherlands” called the Carolina Reaper which was quite spicy.
After our chocolate-tasting session, we walked around the city to find a spot for lunch and ended up at Maoz Falafel which is an all-vegan Middle Eastern restaurant. My lunch of a falafel wrap and fries with vegan mayo was probably the best I’ve had in Amsterdam so far! Next, we went on a canal cruise during which we were led by an audio guide who taught us many interesting facts. I was intrigued to learn that the Oudeshans Canal is one of the oldest canals in Amsterdam, directly around which lie some of the oldest architecture in the city!
After the tour, we walked to Magna Plaza which ended up being mostly closed as it was under construction, but were able to buy multiple discounted souvenirs! We then walked towards the Amsterdam Jewish Cultural Quarter and happened through a giant flea market on the way. After our adventures, we split up for dinner; a couple of us went to a vegetarian restaurant called the Golden Temple, which was a nice sit-down restaurant with a resident cat!
Throughout the day, I noticed many interesting tidbits that gave me an insight into Amsterdam’s sustainability efforts. For instance, I went into de Bijenkorf to use the bathroom and noticed that the mall is entirely vertical. Each of its five floors have a differently-themed collection of brands–not separate stores, like typically in America–and the food court is a sit-down restaurant rather than a collection of fast-food chains. The vertical structure of the building preserves land space and the absence of fast-food chains prevent the unnecessary use of take-out bags and plastic containers as well as the mass-production of foods that will ultimately go to waste, reducing the overall carbon emissions that are used to operate the mall.
Overall, today’s journeys were very productive and exciting. I cannot wait until tomorrow’s adventures!
