Amsterdamage

The last weekend, me and two of my room mates plus a friend went to Amsterdam. I have been there once before, but didn't have much time to go out and explore.

We of course checked out the infamous Red Light District and that streets nightly activities. The area has everything from bars, sex shops, hookers in windows to live "shows." It was quite the eye opener, and being that it was just us four girls, we needed a little liquid courage before we stepped into the red zone. While there, we ran into Australian business men on a break from their business trip, bachelor and bachelorette parties and over heard odd conversations. A couple of them being a customer of the legal prostitution saying, "he couldn't even walk right," while exiting the facilities, and another of a couple being turned down by a prostitute for a ménage à trois because she didn't want to "cause problems between them."

I'm sure you can guess the one other "sketchy" activity while in Amsterdam. It is known for it, their "cafes." We might as well been wearing neon bright cardigans with pearls on for how awkwardly we stuck out in there. It was a fun experience but not much to report...except for too much smoke.

The other activities we partook in was visiting the Van Gogh Museum and Ann Frank's house. I enjoyed the Van Gogh Museum but was expecting to see a little more of his famous work. It was really well put together, and tons of information about his life and how his career progressed.

My favorite by far was Ann Frank's house. It was done magnificently. The rooms themselves where they hid are kept empty on request of her father, but have miniature diagrams of how they were set up. I've read her diary and heard her story many times, but the impact of what they went through and how it was to live there really hits you while inside those walls. If you are ever in Amsterdam it is a must see.

Another must is to rent bikes and ride around the town. We had meant to do it early in our trip but ended up renting them on our last day. We also made the mistake of getting them at a random little shop. Our first thirty minuets of riding was a blast, but while going up a little hill Lauren's chain fell off. It took me about twenty minuets and the help of a friendly stranger to finally get it back on...side note you start with it on the back gear and then slowly turn it onto the big one...and we were off again... for about five minuets. I then realized that my back tire had gone completely flat.

Now Amsterdam is not that big of a city, but thirty minuets of riding bikes compared to walking is a big difference in distance plus going in the wrong direction for a little bit lead us to getting back to the store forty minuets later.

We walked in, me holding my oil covered hands up, demanding for a refund of our money. She gladly obliged to refund Lauren but accused me of riding through glass and said I would have to replace the tire! Basically, after several minuets of arguing with her, we said to keep their money but we were NOT paying for a new tire and walked out.

After that it was time to catch our three hour train back to Paris. All and all Amsterdam was a great weekend trip for exploring a smaller city and experiencing a different style of life.