For some reason which I no longer remember, we decided to wake up at the ungodly hour of seven a.m. to begin our day. Well, Abbie did at least. She woke me at around 8 when she was done showering (I had showered the night before), because she’s just thoughtful like that. We got ready and went down to the complimentary breakfast, which was pretty much cereal and bread (no really…there was no toaster. The Dutch are weird). After eating, we finished getting ready and walked around the area we were staying in for a bit before deciding to go to the van Gogh museum.
Even though pretty much everyone in Amsterdam speaks English, all the street signs are still in Dutch…making it infinitely harder to navigate when you can’t even pronounce the street you’re looking for. But, after a good half-hour walk, we finally found the van Gogh museum. And, after standing in the huge queue outside, we finally got in the van Gogh museum. It was really cool to see some of the paintings that have been revolving around my life for the past year after using that play about van Gogh for Dan’s design class and choosing one of his paintings for my scenic painting final.
The museum was ridiculously crowded and I often had to push through people just to see the painting. And, even though it had a lot of his work, only the first floor was dedicated to van Gogh. The rest was dedicated to other artists of the period who, while still pretty interesting, were not as cool as van Gogh (by the way, if you somehow get the urge to make a pilgrimage to see Starry Night, please be aware that it’s actually in the MOMA. You’ll save about $1000 by only flying to New York.)
After the museum, we walked back to our hostel to inquire about taking a canal boat tour. Turns out, the tour was right around the area where we just were, so we had no choice but to talk back. Along the way, we purchased sandwiches and ate them by a canal, where at one point we saw a guy drift by on what could only be explained as his living room on a barge. He even had a rope system set up to turn the rudder so he didn’t have to get off the couch. Truly the best ghetto-rig ever.
I don’t remember a whole lot of the canal tour, except for a bunch of pretty bridges, the Anne Frank house, and strangely enough…a pirate ship. As soon as I got on the boat, the gentle rocking put me to sleep. I’d wake up ever few minutes or so and take a picture before falling back into a sort of half-sleep where I thought I was having conversations with Abbie…but really wasn’t. So it was decided I needed a nap. After walking back to our hostel, Abbie took my computer to a nearby pub with free wifi and I took a nap for an hour and a half.
We met up and headed to the metro to go to Central Station for the Red Light District Tour (we figured this was the best option since A) we weren’t sure how comfortable we were venturing in there by ourselves, B) we didn’t know where it was, and C) It’s nice having people explain the importance and history of things as we look at them). Once again, we didn’t have to pay for the metro…though I think we may have inadvertently slipped by.
We left with nearly an hour to spare before the tour started and got there within ten minutes. It was nice to have the extra time, however, since we were able to purchase tickets to Eindhoven (the airport we’re flying out of to London) for the next day. Then…we pretty much sat in front of the tourist center where it was supposed to start.
And it was actually a pretty cool experience. Our dreadlocked tour guide, Steve, was from Australia and reminded me slightly of our tour guide Lorcan from back in Dublin…except hopped up on Red Bull (if the running across the street flailing his arms and screaming like a girl to prevent traffic from hitting us was any indication). He took us through all the parts of the District, showing us where the hardcore gay bars were (they don’t have windows…for the outsider’s protection), the Condomerie-where they had molded condoms with things like the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben, a scuba diver, etc. at the tip, and where the blue light district is (where they’re all women…from the waist up.)
In case you didn’t know, yes, prostitution is legal in Amsterdam. And how it all works is—literally—by window shopping. Girls in lingerie stand bathed in red light in all the windows of the Red Light District, trying to attract customers. Some even stand in opened doors…one even tousled the hair of our tour guide as we walked through Amsterdam’s smallest alleyway (single file line only). You may think that this sort of area would be a hotbed of crime, junkies, and all sorts of other sordidness. But it is actually probably safer than other parts of Amsterdam, since there are cameras everywhere and it is patrolled heavily by the police and independent security companies.
After the tour, we were all invited for a free shot at a bar back in the gay district (yay Amsterdam! And no, it wasn’t a gay bar). Abbie and I ordered food since we hadn’t eaten dinner and stayed to talk with Steve the Tour Guide, John—who also worked for the company and was from Wyoming, a nice couple from Australia, and two girls from London. Eventually, it was time to go to bed so we walked home (again, it’s actually a really safe place), went on the internet a bit more, and then went to bed early so we would have enough energy for our journey the next day.
Next stop: London and Adanna!
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