Following the Dream

Christian September 3rd, 2008

   After arriving late from London, we made it to the hostel around 10PM.  Luckily the check in was easy and fast.  We went up to our room and meet our fellow dorm mates.  Luckily, it was another couple about our age, who were from New Zealand.  After unloading our bags, we made our way downstairs to the bar to grab a drink and eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that we had packed for dinner.  Not the first night in Amsterdam we were hoping for.

     With only one day in the city, we decided to join our roommates in a free guided walking tour of the city that lasted a few hours.  Our walk was interesting, starting off in the Red Light District.  We passed by many empty windows where the girls are usually working it.  The last window in the set had what I thought was a fake person, until she moved and made me jump.  I was surprised at how pretty the girl was.  As we passed a few other windows, I quickly realized that she was the only one.  The rest of the girls that we had seen were for the most part pretty scary.  It was daytime, so I guess prime time is at night and that is when they put the “A” team in.  We also passed by a bunch of “Coffee Shops”, which do not sell coffee.  It is the cafes that sell coffee, while the coffee shops sell whacky tabacco.  There are also some shops that sell mushrooms that make you see funny.  As we got out of the red light district, we passed into a square that was used for public executions.  The crowds apparently used to love them.  Once the people were executed, a public autopsy was performed on the body for all to see.  We found out that during the famine at the end of WWII,  many people in Amsterdam hunted the elusive roof rabbits for meals.  These we later found out were the stray cats roaming the city.  We learned that the houses are leaning forward so that people can pull furniture up to their houses without it crashing into the front of the house.  We then passed one of Amsterdam’s most famous coffee shops, which was in Ocean’s 12.  It was packed with people and smoke.  Right after that, we learned that the businesses that have been installing urine guards in corners of their buildings to prevent the foriegners from peeing on thier building.  It is little metal shields that make the pee bounce off and shoot back onto the perp.  Apparently, some business owners were upping the anty by putting an electric current into them to shock the people.  This was banned after a few people were seriously hurt by the electrified urine guards.  After the urine guards we stopped at the East India Trading Company building.  This was the world’s first corporation.  It was pretty neat to be standing where capitalism started.  Once done there, we made our way to the city’s widest bridge and narrowist house.  The house was only slightly wider than the door, and the bridge was only about 100 feet wide.  Our last stop of the tour was to see the Anne Frank house.  After the tour, we all went into the Anne Frank house.  It was amazing to be there.  Seing how they lived for so long, only to be turned in and die before the war ended was horrible, but a very good experience.  It really opens your eyes up to how mad Hitler’s reign was.

     After the house, we grabbed a snack from a grocery store with our four kiwi friends, before going to the train station to validate our rail passes and get reservations for the next day to Brussels.  Once back from the train station we decided to go out to dinner at a recommended Indonesian restaurant.  Apparently, Amsterdam has the best Indo food outside of it’s home country.  It was pretty good and not too expensive.  I got a spicy beef dish, while Casey got a chicken dish.  Once dinner was over, we headed back to the hostel to use the internet to look at how to get to our hostel in Brussels the next morning.  After me playing a terrible game of pool with Paul, we headed to bed for our early start to Brussels.

  Amsterdam is a beautiful city, with tons to do.  It is not huge, so it is easy to make your way around.  The canals that fill many of the streets add a really nice ambiance.  It isn’t a drug and prosititution haven as many people are led to believe.  Yes there is some of that going on, but for the most part it is contained to the red light district.  There are bikes everywhere, with some 20,000 going into the canals and 80,000 getting stolen each year.  The dutch bikes are difficult to get used to, as Casey and I both almost got taken out a few times as they wizzed by.  It is great that there are more bikes than cars, keeping the city very eco friendly.  Amsterdam was a city that we could have spent a couple of more days in.  We may go back some day, and if so we will plan it around when the Tulips Bloom.  We are hanging up our wooden shoes and heading off to Belgium.

• The Netherlands
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