Jarrettalane's travel blogs:
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Amsterdam
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Day 1
So we made it to Amsterdam after a horrific 15 hour bus ride from Prague. The trip would not have been that bad if we could have slept some, but the bus seemed to stop every two hours for either a coffee break (mostly a smoker break, which both drivers were smokers) or to pick up/drop off other passengers; So after each stop we had to make ourselves comfortable again to catch some sleep and by the time we did that we were stopping again. There was one stop in Germany that caught us off guard, in which we pulled off at a rest stop with nothing but bathrooms and an unmarked BMW waiting in the parking lot. Then in Czech or German (not really sure) the bus driver made an announcement we did not understand and then everyone starts pulling out their passports. So we are in the front of the bus and two guys in normal clothes (nothing looked like an uniform) started asking for passports and Alane and I are looking at each other wondering if that was legit. So like the others did we handed over our passports to one of the guys. Instead of them doing any checking in front of us, they took all the passports and got in this car that was stopped in front of the bus. So we were trying to figure out what was going on and another passenger notices our distress and let us know that this is the German border patrol. In plain clothes? They were inside the car for the next 30 minutes, then returned and let us go on our way.
Since Amsterdam was not in the itinerary of our trip, we decided to do all on spot, which we mean that we didn't even had where to stay. We decided to be the true backpackers and look for accommodations when we got there... what a mistake! We spent the morning of our first day in Amsterdam walking between the train station, closed tourists offices (only because it was early) and dingy hotels, while carrying our bags, looking for either someone to help us find a cheap hotel or for us to find our own. We did end up finding a hotel cheaper than the online ones and cheaper than the ones the touristic info places found, and it was actually a decent place to stay. The only negative point were the 74 steps we had to climb to get in and out of our room... simply detail. For our last night in this hotel, we had to switch rooms and then we only had to climb 58!!! After our 15 hour bus ride and after hiking trough the small center of Amsterdam to find our hotel we took a well deserved rest for a few hours.
Later we did book a trip to the Keukenhof Gardens (one of the famous gardens in Amsterdam) for the following day and then had a walkabout. Now, before I go any further we didnt smoke anything there. I am sure many of you know that would not have happened anyway, but just to make that clear. Either way, on a first day tour we did come across many weed and magic mushroom shops or as they call them "Natural Good Stores" or "Coffee Shops", but we did not find that to be a large part of Amsterdam from what we saw. But again we were not looking for it. Surprisingly we didn't see anyone smoking weed or doing any drugs on the streets...that is actually not allowed, only inside the shops. We checked out some of the main squares and the canals the rest of the day. Amsterdam has many canals, with many boats and boathouses around. Some of the boats are probably abandoned as you will see in some pics... some of the building are also crooked (it really appears that they will fall) and the most impressive I think was the quantity of bikes around. Most of the people drive bikes around and you see bikes parked everywhere.
Day 2 Finally good weather and thankfully on the day that mattered. We were headed to the Keukenhof Gardens. One of the biggest gardens in the world and supposedly the most photographed place on earth. If you're familiar with the gardens these are the gardens that have the tulip fields every spring. These fields look like fields of corn but they are tulips along with some others flowers in many different colors. There are rows and rows of colored flowers that you can spot on the way to get there. Very beautiful. We had to catch two public buses to get there which was not a big deal since the buses were full of tourists and for some reason we seemed to be the youngest on the bus, but once we got to the gardens we really felt young. Not to offend any of the older folks reading but it seemed to be nursing home day at the gardens. We had never seen so many wheelchairs in one place. There were also many elderly that were able to walk. It was crazy how many old folks were there. I guess they like walking through tulips fields and flower gardens more than the younger crowds. I guess maybe Alane and I should rethink some things. It ended up being one of the best days of the trip because of the combination of the first nice day in a long time, the flowers everywhere, and the smells filling the air (kind of postcardy, but true). There were also some windmills and there was a elderly choir group singing by one windmill. It was a really pleasant day, and Alane kept thinking how much our families would love that place. By the time we decided to go back to Amsterdam, guess what? It started raining, again. We hopped back on our bus and made it back to the hotel in a fairly dry condition. Later we went out for a bite to eat at a local restaurant called Soup Kitchen. Alane was craving soup. We also caught our first glimpse of the Red Light District!! More on that later.
Day 3 Our last day in Amsterdam. We did not have any plans and not much else to see, so we slept in and then had a long walk through parts of the city that we had not seen yet including Vondel Park (one of Amsterdam's city parks). And one other site that we could have probably done without it. A man roller blading down the city streets jamming to his Walkman, while wearing a t-shirt (more like a man tan top) and a GOLD THONG SPEEDO. It looked as if he must have had a fall because his bum was all red - or could just be the cold!! After another afternoon nap, thats right I take naps now, occasionally, we headed out for a dinner and a tour of the Red Light District. Amsterdam and Holland have many things to offer. From all the so called "Coffee Shops", to the tulips and from the Windmills and clogs to the Brothels, the brothels seem to be the most interesting. The Red Light District is classified by the red neon lights above doors and windows on certain streets in Amsterdam ,that are turned on mainly at night, a few in the day and even morning. If the lights are on and the curtains are open that means the prostitute is open for business. To set the picture, basically you're walking down the street looking in store windows, like window shopping for some clothes that your not going to buy, but instead of clothes there are red neon lights and under those lights are women dressed in either bikinis or lingerie, standing, dancing to music, or sitting on a stool smoking a cigarette (those are the classy ones) waiting for you to take the bait. There are also the red/blue lights, which means he/she in that window, we mean: a man with a beautiful woman body but still with a penis, and those are also in bikinis so it is easy to notice it was a man, despite the wow body of a woman. These places (windows) are the locals where the act is consumed between the prostitutes and clients, so thru the windows you can see their bed, sink, mirrors and toys. Some are more fancy, with granite walls around the bed and toilets.
The funny thing about the situation is that it seemed it was basically tourists walking through the streets oogling over all the girls. Which I guess makes sense but there were plenty of couples like Alane and I, many drunk guys, and even tourist groups of older folks. Groups of fifteen or so people all well into there 60s and 70s, maybe even older walking down these streets glaring into the windows at all the prostitutes. These groups are men and women, which made it even funnier seeing these couples looking into the windows. Basically that finished off the night and our tour of Amsterdam, but if your interested in either the "Coffee Shops" or the Red Light District you may want to hurry because our hotel receptionist mentioned that Amsterdam is trying to pass the no smoking laws in all public place which includes the "Coffee Shops" and they are also trying to eliminate the "Red Light District". To us this would be foolish because it would ruin their tourism economy. Oh well, Hurry Up!
PS: we didn't take any pictures of the red light houses because in our book it says that we can get in big troubles if we did that... sorry to disappoint. More thumbnails ...
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