Amsterdam - For the Win!

(...and the occasional loss)

What a town! Prostitutes, drugs, and sex shows that would make the donkey show in TJ look like an afternoon with your reverend - this city is crazy. I'm sure I'm going to leave out at least 20 things that happened, but as for the stuff I can remember:

Day 1- Lazy - didn't do much b/c we were exhausted and still kinda tripped out by our transportation here. We just spent the afternoon walking around the canals as we forced ourselves to stay up until dark so we could pass out and wake up all adjusted...except we are so far North (like, parallel w/ Canada) that the sun doesn't set until 10:30 and rises at 4:30. For dinner we found this spectacular cafe that had a good selection of drafts and amazing food (lamb meatballs and bruscetta param) and afterwards we called it a day.

Day 2 - Kicking it up - Since we had 3 beers our first day, we decided to make it a mission to have 3 new beers every day. We decided this meant heading towards the South to the Heineken Experience. We rented bikes and took a trip by the Van Gogh Museum to see how long the line was. It was very short so we decided to do it before the HE. Pretty incredible stuff. The collection is massive (3 floors) and there are numerous pieces from every phase of his career. I'm sure if I'd ever had an Art History class I could geek out on this for pages, but I'll just mention that the one I thought was the best was a painting of a wheat field with crows descending on it. It is though to be his last painting before killing himself. Craziness. Van Gogh Museum - For the Win!

From the VGM we were off to the Heineken Experience. Let me preface this by saying I'm not a huge fan of Heineken, but every said it tastes waaaaayyyyy better over here. They're mostly full of crap. The only difference I could tell was that it didn't have the nasty finish. Otherwise it was still the same boring beer. Heineken Experience - For the Loss.

After that we decided to bike over to an old opera house that has been converted into a museum dedicated to Jews who had been held there during the holocaust years. It was pretty amazing to see how they banded together during that time (more to come in the Anne Frank house).

Finally after enough touristy stuff...into the Red Light District! Even though it was 4pm the windows were packed with girls beckoning in anyone walking by, hosts outside of sex shows were trying to make deals. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. You just have to experience it. We threw back a few beers and decided to take our bikes back and get some dinner before coming back later that night. By the time we were headed back to the RLD that night we were ready to party...and this place doesn't disappoint. Every street you walk down looks like it was ripped right out of Vegas. Fluorescent red lights are everywhere, the bars are packed to the walls, the coffee shops look like a fog bank moved in. By this time we'd averaged out our 3 new beers per day to 10. Darks, lights, ambers, blonds - we got hammered. The only details I can remember are us running into a bachelorette party and the bride being all over Greg - who she kept yelling was Ross from Friends - high comedy.

Day 3 - Peaking -
So we went from no sleep on the plane, to waking up around 10am to waking up at 2pm this afternoon. Of course when you go to bed at 4am it doesn't sound too bad :-p.

For our tourist stops this day we went up into the tower of the tallest church in Amsterdam, the Westerkerk. It had a whole tour that went over the history of the tower and then finally got the to terrace at 142 feet to look out over the city. The view was incredible and you really get a feel for how tightly constructed the city is.

Next we went down to the Anne Frank house. The walking tour takes you through every room, passed the secret doors and into the cubby spaces the Frank family hid out in. There are videos of interviews with the various people that helped them through their hiding and there are numerous original papers throughout the house. It's all pretty surreal. Historical perspective - For the Win!

So after a little more culture...back to the RLD! This place never stops. Somehow we managed to find 6 new kinds of beer and not buy a 20 mins with a hooker (I think) or get sucked into a sex show (though we got close). After meeting some Aussies that were looking for a fight and some Americans that were stuffing themselves with some fungus, we called it at about 2am b/c we had to get out of our hostel by 10am.

Anyway, I'm sure more details will come to me as my head levels back out, but until then we're off to Munich. Can't find any new beers there... :-D