Amsterdam

Hey, it’s only taken two weeks and I’m back here on the next post, I’m so diligent like that, finally two months after the fact, we’ve moved on to Amsterdam, a beautiful city in the lowlands.

Clean view near the Red Light District

Amstel Hotel

Once again we tired ourselves out doing all the touristy things, and once again the weather was cold and dreary. We managed to visit the Rijksmuseum, Ann Frank Huis, a canal cruise, Dam Square, H&M (lol!), Dam Square, a wander around Jordaan, and a stroll up and down the Red Light District. It would’ve been nice if we had the time to visit a tulip farm or see some windmills or something typically Dutch like that, but the weather probably didn’t suit any way.

The Rijksmuseum is up there in terms of museums, a lot of impressive Rembrandt stuff, and a lot of other very impressive artwork. Ann Frank Huis is a very sobering experience, it’s not really that much to look at, but it is definitely well worth visiting, it’s been set up very well. I was thinking that the canal cruise would be a bit boring, but in fact it was a great way to see the city and to tour around the canals getting a different perspective of the city and it’s beautiful architecture. The Red Light District is certainly an interesting strip (excuse the pun!), with the ladies standing in the windows and the queues for the sex shows (including couples! but not us :D), it’s all a bit strange and seedy (although not as seedy prostitutes on the street I suppose).

We didn’t visit any brown coffee shops because the thought of a smokey cafe didn’t sit well with Em, it didn’t particularly excite me either, we did visit a regular coffee shop though, and it was a nice, little place in Jordaan, the walls covered in bills from all over the world. I like Amsterdam, next time some good weather would be great, and maybe we can head out of town a bit to see some of the Dutch countryside and maybe ride a bicycle. Hey, the beer is cheap, it was also cheap in Brussels (can’t remember if I mentioned that), so that’s definitely a good thing, next stop, Switzerland, let’s see how long this one takes.

ps – I’m not particularly enamoured with this new theme, but the previous one was compromised and is not available any more, I will have to continue with this one until further notice.