Amsterdam
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
What a truly interesting place to be in. Paris was a little overwhelming so we were happy to get off the train and find out that Amsterdam is not only the first place in a while that we can easily get all sorts of food but the people are so helpful and friendly. It didn’t take too long to get a hotel, and was in the centre of the city so it didn’t take us long to get there from the station. It was right next to a square that was meant to have a good nightlife of buskers and restaurants. So after we had dropped our packs in the hotel room we made our way back into town. Amsterdam has a lot of character - within 5 minutes of being in our hotel room we could smell pot, but that is only a small part that makes up Amsterdam. The buildings are all wonky, there are constantly people performing and then you have the stoned people sitting on the river banks. It’s a really fascinating city to wander around. We walked back towards the station with the idea of calling Ties, my Great Aunt who I have only meet once and was a long time ago - I think in ‘91. The phone call went well, I was worried about the language barrier but Ties spoke very good English and we have organised to go and see her tomorrow. This only gives us one night in Amsterdam but we have both been craving being able to sit on a couch so much that we were willing to cut it short and come back in a few days time. It was starting to get dark by the time that we had found out how to get the train to Den Haag - where Ties lives. We needed to find some dinner, which wasn’t hard as there are restaurants everywhere in Amsterdam. We settled on a little Kebab style dinner in a little restaurant which was very nice over looking a canal. It was now after dark and we headed to the ‘red light’ district. First stop was a sex museum which was very cheap - so we though it would be crap, but it turned out to be quite good, slowly preparing us for the rest of our Amsterdam experience. After leaving we walked through the main red light district, popping our heads into certain places just to see what they are all about and after being shocked enough we headed home, not delving too much into the delicacies of Amsterdam other than a few drinks. It’s not quite as big as we thought but definitely caters for all varieties of ‘pleasure’.
We had bought a couple of drinks at a 7-11 style store and were walking down a street when a couple of police came past on bicycles and stopped, looking at me and pointed at my beer and said ‘THIS IS NOT TO BE ALLOWED!’ and he made me tip it out on the spot. What a crazy place – you’re allowed to smoke pot, but not allowed a beer in public… Lucky I bought two beers and still had another in my pack!
We are going back to Amsterdam so we didn’t feel the need to stay out all night and by this stage it was after midnight so it was home to bed.
posted by Maarty @ 12:00 pm,
