Amsterdam

By now we are pretty experienced travelers. We know we need to leave early if we have to be someplace by a certain time. The folks at the hotel gave us information on the schedule to Amsterdam and sent us on our way to the station. We were feeling adventurous so we decided to hail a cab rather than bother the guy at the front desk. He was obviously busy.

We walked down the street to the corner, were we had seen lots of cabs, and waited. Okay, must of been a very busy time for cabby's. We went back to the hotel and they
called us a cab.

Once we got to the station, we are informed, it is not the station with the train to Amsterdam, we need to catch another cab. Now, less experienced travelers would be a little nervous by now because they had not left enough time for such situations, not us, we know better and have plenty of time to enjoy the ride.

The train to Amsterdam is very popular. We had to get tickets without seats. Now, even with all our experience, we had no idea how aggressive folks can be when a good seat on the train to Amsterdam is at stake. Yes, that is us sitting in the luggage car.



It was actually fun. We did get a few dirty looks as people got off and their luggage had been moved.

We arrived in Amsterdam late afternoon. The weather was about 10 degrees cooler and sunny skies. Our hotel was great. Once we got unpacked, we decided to walk to dinner. The city is so peaceful compared to the bustle in Paris. We strolled down the tree lined streets and walked through a sweet park with families picnicking and kids throwing Frisbees. We found a great little Mexican place for dinner. Everyone was very pleasant and spoke great English.

After dinner we decided to head over to the red light district. Only about 15 minutes away. We had seen lots of pictures and read stories, so we had an idea what to expect. It was actually even cooler. Very clean and everyone was enjoying themselves.

On our way back to the hotel, we realized we had passed the same shops at least twice. We were standing on a corner trying to read our map and a nice young guy asked if we needed some help. Yes please, we want to be here. He showed the direction we should be going, paused for a minute and asked if we had considered a cab, oh, now that would be lovely. He pointed us to a couple of cabs on the other side of the square and sent us on our way (thank you Christopher Robin).

The next day, Madi read that the streets in the red light district were designed to keep the drunken sailors walking around in circles. I promise we weren't drunken or sailors.

The next morning we headed off to see some sights in the city. First stop, The Anne Frank House. Did I mention this was gay pride day in Amsterdam. The festivities started early and a parade was scheduled on the canals for that afternoon.

The Anne Frank House was on the street next to the parade route. The wait in line was very entertaining watching the preparation for the parade.

The tour was inspiring. I actually cried. We finished up just in time to see the parade. I have never seen so many pink boas in one place. We took the trolley and went to the Rijks museum and The Van Gogh museum. The Van Gogh was definitely our favorite, which surprised me a little, who knew he had been so busy.

As we are leaving it is starting to rain. We bought a Van Gogh umbrella in the gift stand outside and tried to catch the trolley back to the hotel. Not as easy as it sounds. We did share our umbrella with a couple of guys that had been enjoying the festivities around the parade. They sang "Sweet Home Alabama" in our honor all the way to the next stop.

We had planned on renting bikes the next day, but the rain never let up. We stayed within walking distance of the hotel the final day. We had such a nice time and the relaxing neighborhood was the perfect end to our trip.