5/25 Monday
We spent about an hour this morning doing a little laundry in the sink! I'm not sure its going to dry before we go to Belgium. Oh well. We'll see.
Went over to the Anne Frank museum around noon today. Was interesting to see the actual house and how the secret annex was set up. Afterward we walked through the Jordaan district and found a great little cafe off of one of the canals. Probably had my best meal yet -- a giant meatball atop a garden salad for only 4.5 euro.
Figured out what Sara does in her free time when I'm not around. I'm on to you Sara....no more lies...from now on, you better make some serious pancakes for me and all my friends, and they better be how we like them or else there will be consequences. After lunch we walked northeast towards Dam Square. Went down a few streets we hadn't been down yet that were filled with shops --mostly clothes and souveneirs. Then we picked up a 6 pack of Heinekens at the local grocery store for some R&R back at the hotel. Around 7:30 we headed over towards the Red Light District. We found a small little square just outside the really interesting (read racy) part and sat down to enjoy some beers. (seems to be a theme, right?) Wish one of us had a camera, because the view was spectacular --the sun was setting on some canal houses just in front of us. Speaking of...it doesn't get dark until nearly 10pm here. We stayed at the outdoor table until about 9:30 then started heading through the Red Light District. INTERESTING. At this hour there were all types of people, mainly tourists just there to see what it was like. We ducked into a small kabob place for some eats. Not 5 minutes later it started pouring down rain...I mean really pouring down rain. The start of a solid thunderstorm. Cleared the streets out pretty well. After eating we dashed over to a pub down the street where we met two Americans from Phoenix. They were near the end of their Eastern European vacation. Amsterdam was their second to last stop before London. They said there were several places where they managed to live (and drink heavily) off of $40-50 a day!! They were mainly doing hostels and said they'd met quite a few like-minded travelers. Something to consider for later in the trip.
Being near midnight, we only hung out with these guys for a short while--wandering through the Red Light together. Around midnight it was quite a bit seedier than a few hours before --more ladies of the night "graced" the doorways, the drug dealers were out selling on the streets, and there were less tourists and more customers. We never felt unsafe, but it seemed like a good time to get outta there. Our Phoenix friends were staying near the Rijksmuseum and needed to catch the last tram. We walked back to our hotel, ducked into a nearby pub for one last brew, and called it a night.
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