Day 10 - 5/27

Day 10 – 5/27

Arrival in Amsterdam

The boat was wonderful. I think that was the best night's sleep I've had since I've been here. I wish I could have had time to look around but I just went to bed. We also moved into a different time zone. We are another hour ahead so I lost an hour of sleep.

After breakfast we got on the bus to Amsterdam. On the way to Amsterdam we stopped in two little dutch countryside towns. The first one was called Zaanse Schans. There we watched a cheese making demonstration and tried a few samples. It was so delicious that I bought some Gouda cheese to enjoy when I get home. We also watched a wooden clog making demonstration. They use a machine to make them so it only takes about 5 minutes to carve a shoe. The use a very wet wood to make the shoes so they have to dry for weeks before they are done. I tried on a couple pairs and they are surprisingly very comfortable.

The second town we went to was called Volendam. Its an old fashioned fishing village. We walked around and looked in the shops.

When we got to Amsterdam we were relived to check into our beautiful hotel. Most of the rooms were triples but I was fortunate enough to get a double with the same roommate I had in London. There was even free wifi in the rooms.

We went to the center of Amsterdam we went on a boat ride through the canals. Amsterdam actually has more canals than Venice. The city is bellow sea level. Without, human intervention, all of Holland would be underwater twice a day at high tide. They say, “God built the world except for Holland. The Dutch built Holland.” They used to use windmills to pump out the water.

The canal cruise was an hour long. The commentator talked about the history of the city and the architecture. Because the city is below sea level, houses have to be built on raised concrete slabs. Some of the older houses lean to the side. They call them 'dancing houses.'

After the canal cruise, I went on a walking tour of the Red Light District. I figured I probably wouldn't see it unless I went on a tour. In Amsterdam prostitution is legal and marijuana is so decriminalized that it is almost legal. Prostitution is a chosen profession here. The women are proud and do not like to be pitied. They charge 50 Euros for 20 minutes and pay 80-100 Euros per night for a window. If they are under 18 years old or forced the owner of the window gets in trouble. They can also refuse any man they want. It was pretty funny to watch groups of men act like idiots. As our tour guide put it, “It is the women who are doing the monkey watching, not the other way around.”

After the tour I walked around with a few of the girls from the tour. We picked up pizza and dessert for dinner. I got a strawberry cheesecake for dessert. It was so good!