I love waffles, it's a problem
It was our last full day in Amsterdam today. A little sad but now I''m getting excited for the next leg of the journey.
Today we had our first city tour. We got to take the giant tour bus around Amsterdam and saw some more of the city. I'll be honest, most of the sights are all together so there wasn't too much to see. We also took a canal cruise which was interesting. The water looks icky but apparently that is because of the layer of muck and bikes. I guess people enjoy tossing bikes in the canals. They end up with quite a few when they clean out the canals. Crazy world. We also went to a diamond factory. It was pretty lame. Because yes, I"d like to purchase a ring for 5000 euros and carry it around with me for the next 2 weeks. Pass.
Afterwards we skipped out on the evenings optional exursion. We could have gone out to Volendam, it's a touristy village outside of the city. However, it included another meal of traditional Dutch food. Like herring and eel. I'm not eating that. I would prefer traditional street food. Which I enjoyed more of today. I just can't say no to waffles. Especially waffles covered in dulce de leche. Mmmm. I'm glad we don't have too much of that at home. That would be dangerous.
We wandered around the area some more trying to find the red light district with some luck. Eventually Cindy's feet tired and on the way back to the hotel we came across it. That was an interesting experience. They have an old church in the area, I don't think it's actually a church anymore, but there was a circular road around it filled with windows with prostitutes in them. At 1 in the afternoon. It was really strange. It's one way of putting it out there and trying to solve the problem. It didn't seem like there were any takers today. How awkward would that be though. Having dozens of tourists watch you purchase a lady's services in the middle of the day.
We've also discovered that people are really liberal with the drugs. I did have to teach someone about Coffee shops. Let's just say that they don't exist to just serve coffee. Ha ha. I did think that smoking pot was restricted to coffee shops and private areas but wow, there are people smoking it everywhere on the streets here. So not what I'm used to. They have started to try to restrict the sale to only residents but it appears to be making people here angry. I don't think they've started in Amsterdam itself but I'm sure that will be coming soon.
I ended up going for quite the walk today. I made it down to the floating flower market. It's a series of flower shops that are built right into the canals. I was so jealous. They had dozens of varieties of tulips and other exotic bulbs for purchase. I had to pass because I really don't think they'll make it back into Canada and don't want to carry it in my suitcase only to find that out. So I just admired instead. Also, you could get 50 tulips for only 10 euros. I passed on those too.
I've been finding it amusing to see the influence of America on the rest of the world. It's strange to see the brand of hairdye I use sitting on a shelf in Amsterdam with Dutch writing and hearing Aerosmith playing from stores. Sometimes it's nice to have a little touch of home where ever you go but sometimes after finding 2 McDonald's, a Burger King and a Subway within walking distance from your hotel but few restaurants seems a little sad.
But it looks like we are having an early start tomorrow for the next stage in the trip. Tomorrow we cross into Germany for the next 3 nights. Among the fun we have coming are: a Rhine river cruise, visiting Cologne and Munich and of course Neushwanstein
So off to organize and pack up and say goodbye to the Netherlands!
Today we had our first city tour. We got to take the giant tour bus around Amsterdam and saw some more of the city. I'll be honest, most of the sights are all together so there wasn't too much to see. We also took a canal cruise which was interesting. The water looks icky but apparently that is because of the layer of muck and bikes. I guess people enjoy tossing bikes in the canals. They end up with quite a few when they clean out the canals. Crazy world. We also went to a diamond factory. It was pretty lame. Because yes, I"d like to purchase a ring for 5000 euros and carry it around with me for the next 2 weeks. Pass.
Afterwards we skipped out on the evenings optional exursion. We could have gone out to Volendam, it's a touristy village outside of the city. However, it included another meal of traditional Dutch food. Like herring and eel. I'm not eating that. I would prefer traditional street food. Which I enjoyed more of today. I just can't say no to waffles. Especially waffles covered in dulce de leche. Mmmm. I'm glad we don't have too much of that at home. That would be dangerous.
We wandered around the area some more trying to find the red light district with some luck. Eventually Cindy's feet tired and on the way back to the hotel we came across it. That was an interesting experience. They have an old church in the area, I don't think it's actually a church anymore, but there was a circular road around it filled with windows with prostitutes in them. At 1 in the afternoon. It was really strange. It's one way of putting it out there and trying to solve the problem. It didn't seem like there were any takers today. How awkward would that be though. Having dozens of tourists watch you purchase a lady's services in the middle of the day.
We've also discovered that people are really liberal with the drugs. I did have to teach someone about Coffee shops. Let's just say that they don't exist to just serve coffee. Ha ha. I did think that smoking pot was restricted to coffee shops and private areas but wow, there are people smoking it everywhere on the streets here. So not what I'm used to. They have started to try to restrict the sale to only residents but it appears to be making people here angry. I don't think they've started in Amsterdam itself but I'm sure that will be coming soon.
I ended up going for quite the walk today. I made it down to the floating flower market. It's a series of flower shops that are built right into the canals. I was so jealous. They had dozens of varieties of tulips and other exotic bulbs for purchase. I had to pass because I really don't think they'll make it back into Canada and don't want to carry it in my suitcase only to find that out. So I just admired instead. Also, you could get 50 tulips for only 10 euros. I passed on those too.
I've been finding it amusing to see the influence of America on the rest of the world. It's strange to see the brand of hairdye I use sitting on a shelf in Amsterdam with Dutch writing and hearing Aerosmith playing from stores. Sometimes it's nice to have a little touch of home where ever you go but sometimes after finding 2 McDonald's, a Burger King and a Subway within walking distance from your hotel but few restaurants seems a little sad.
But it looks like we are having an early start tomorrow for the next stage in the trip. Tomorrow we cross into Germany for the next 3 nights. Among the fun we have coming are: a Rhine river cruise, visiting Cologne and Munich and of course Neushwanstein
So off to organize and pack up and say goodbye to the Netherlands!
