Amsterdam Adventures

Amsterdam is one of my favorite places from this trip. It is also the youngest European city. I think I enjoyed it so much because it was the most "out of my comfort zone" I have been on the trip. 

From stepping off the train and smelling the "Pot-pouree" (Brian and I's nickname for the pot smoke smell throughout the town), to walking through the Red Light District, my eyes were opened to a whole new world. Let's just say I learned a lot. 

We arrived in Amsterdam by train in the late evening and promptly went to our hotel. We were exhausted. As we began our walk to the hotel, which was .3 miles away, we passed 3 "coffee shops". (In case you didn't know in Amsterdam a coffee shop is not a place to buy coffee, that would be a cafe, but a coffee shop is a place to buy and consume cannibus items from drinks, edibles, and forms to smoke.) The coffee shops are everywhere. When you think about it its just be like having Starbucks here. They sell coffee, treats, and tea at the coffee shops too but some are "special".

When we made it to the hotel, we realized it was our least favorite hotel. We were on the basement "garden" level and had no wifi, and no ac and a very tiny window to open that didn't help much. The room was very tiny compared to what we were used to so far. We were thankful to only be staying two nights. 

Our first full day in Amsterdam we rented bikes to get around because people here treat bikes like cars. 

We then took them on a really great Bike tour with Mikes Bike Tours and again it was awesome! 

This was our third bike tour of the trip and honestly they were all great in their own ways. 

The views of the buildings and the water in Amsterdam is so pretty. Each road is its own set of houses that are connected, some tilting forward, and their own little canal. 

We had a really great tour guide who we really enjoyed. Everyone, including him, from Amsterdam is so laid back and nice. 

During our safety talk for the bikes, which we all needed because driving a bike there is crazy, he had so many funny jokes. 

Tour guide: "if you happen to look up and realize you are no longer with the group do not try to come and find us, stay where you are."

Group: (all listening intently)

Tour guide: "I'm a firm believer in the Stop, Drop, and Roll method"

Group: (puzzled states)

Tour guide: "Stop where you are, drop your bike, and roll a joint"

Group: laughs

Tour guide: "I'm serious, that way you have a gift for your tour guide when I find you"

Very funny guy. It took us all a few seconds to realize that he wasn't necessarily encouraging us to smoke but to be prepared because he would need a smoke. Lol

On the tour we got to see a lot of cool places and learn the ends and outs to Amsterdam. 

One of the most interesting stops we made was in Vondel Park. This park has a ton of history. In the 1960s when Amsterdam first legalized pot all the hippies flocked to Amsterdam, and because they didn't have any money they would just camp out all over the town. This made the locals made so the city said all the hippies had to go to Vondel park. This park had tent after tent pitched during the 60s. There were so many people they formed their own mail carrier system. After the hippies started stealing the local people's milk from their porches in the early AM, they kicked them all out of the park. When this happened they went to abandoned buildings and claimed squatters rights, which went to court and was passed and they were all able to stay rent free. To this day there is still squatters laws in Amsterdam. 

The park has two very interesting laws. The first is that there is not allowed to be any drum playing in the park EVER, the hippies ruined that one. The second is although there are no drums allowed, public sex and nudity is allowed, only in the park. (Weird) 

We went to Anne Franks House (it's the one on the middle). The line was at least 2 1/2 hour long. We had no interest in going in so it worked out, we just wanted to see it. 

There was a cool church next to Anne Franks house. 

We did make a quick stop in at the Red Light District during the bike tour. It was really hard for me because my heart ached for those girls. Whether they were there by choice or not it's still so sad. I learned a lot about prostitution in Amsterdam. 

1. It's a legit profession

2. They pay taxes

3. They are part of a union, which requires them to go to the Dr once a month.

4. They have a pension plan

5. They get benefits

6. The union owns a hotel, clothing store, and restaurant for the prostitutes to work in so they have an opportunity to get out of prostitution someday. 

The bike tour was very informative and well worth the money and time. We really enjoyed it and our tour guide. 

We finished our night off with a fun pizza cruise along the canvas. We met some really nice people that we say with from LA. Their names were Amy and Chaz. They seemed to be very similar to us and after Brian and I both had the thought that we wished they lived in Indy instead of across the county.