Amsterdamned if you do...

Copenhagen was a rad city, but after two days I was eager to move on to Amsterdam.  Stu wanted to stay - but he also wanted to stay in Stockholm (we both did).  For the sake of adventure we visited the train station in the morning and were on a train within the hour.

We arrived in Amsterdam and walked directly into what I would later learn was the red light district.  For the first night and much of the next day I couldn't believe how crap this place was.  It wasn't until a got on a boat (I'm on a boat!) and rode around a bit that I learned the whole city wasn't like the neighborhood where we were staying,

The red light district of Amsterdam is kind of like Disney Land for adults.  You can't learn how Dutch people live there, but you can learn how Americans live while on vacation in a place with legalized prostitution and marijuana.

Walking the streets was actually pretty hilarious.  People go to the coffee ships (which don't sell coffee, by the way) and smoke way too much weed.  Then they come outside and wander the streets like zombies, which are full of donut shops, pizza stands, and other like snack carts.

The food is made to look delicious, but it is the worst food you will ever taste.  A slice of pizza (4 euros) tastes like inflated cardboard with sun-ripened cheese that has been sitting out for weeks.  With so many high people walki around, ibguess there is no demand for food that tastes good, only food that looks good and doesn't come close to filling you up.

I was also surprised that all the food stands were selling the exact same food.  You could go to Bob's pizza shack or Bill's pizza shack, but both had the same pizza, and neither of them actually made it.  There must be one warehouse in town somewhere that comes and supplies all these shops with the utter crap that they sell.

The next day, as I said, I boarded a tourist boat that said it would take us around the city.  Being in the canals seemed like the best way to get as far as possible from all the high tourists, so I was glad to pay the 24 euros to hop aboard.  Once we were out of the red light district, it was a whole new city with amazing architecture, an awesome canal system, a people who looked sober.

We hopped off near Anne Frank's house and I got in line for the tour.  It was very interesting to see the original diary and a bit eerie to see the apartment where Anne had decorated the wall.  Overall the experience confirmed what I already felt: I don't like Nazis very much at all.

Does it seem odd that after you go through the house and see all these images of bodies piled up in concentration camps and all these horrible things there is a cafe and a gift shop?  Who has an appetite after experiencing something like that?

After the museum Stu and I visited "Adrian's" which is a little clothing boutique where apparently Brad Pitt and wealthy grandpa's shop.  It was a wonderland of murdered 70's couches - skinned and made into shirts and slacks.  Stu bought two very loud pairs of shoes (which we both later wore in Frankfurt - picture coming soon).  He also bought a shirt.  It was pert expensive so I didn't buy anything - also, I don't think I could pull off the style.

We missed the boat back to the red light district, where we were still staying, so ended up walking which was okay because we got to see more of the city.  I sent the evening in the lounge chatting up some girls from Ireland who were there vacationing.  Apparently Amsterdam is their Vegas.

While in the lounge I saw a kid at the bar start hitting on another guy who was sitting their - very obviously drunk and very obviously not gay.  He just sort of sat there while the gay kid talked to him and bought him a bunch of drinks without responding much.

When the bartender asked for payment, the gay kid started nervously shuffling through his wallet.  It became apparent that he could not afford the drinks he had purchased for the other guy - and as soon as the other guy realized it he grabbed all the drinks and walked away from the bar, leaving his pursuer with the bill.

The bartender said "you need to bring those drinks back if you can't pay for them!" to which the kid responded "oh I don't know him.". The bartender ran after the kid who had taken the drinks and as soon as she was gone the gay kid booked it out of the bar.  It didn't appear that the bar got paid or got the drinks back.  Woops.