Amsterdam, Netherlands

May 9th, 2008

We arrived at the hotel in the early evening and had about an hour to unwind in our room before the first included dinner of the tour. The rooms were fairly nice, again without air conditioning. This time the setup was rooms of 4 with two bunk beds and a locking tower if we needed it. The other nice thing was that the room included a decently sized LCD screen. On the downside the toilet did not flush very well and the sink seemed to leak all over the bathroom floor. Oh well.

The first included dinner was buffet style and had no real relevance to Dutch cuisine. Some of the things on the tray was buffallo chicken, beef stew, fries, noodles without sauce, salad, and some watered down orange juice. This made me worried for the included food on the rest of the tour, but dont worry, this was the one exception of bad food.

After dinner we had a chance to go into the Red Light District for the night and an optional excursion that is not included in the documents, a live sex show for 26 euro. Almost everyone on the tour signed up for it, however I sat it out to walk around the red light district instead. Most everyone enjoyed it and there was audience participation, however I couldn't justify 26 euro to watch people (a lot did not get into it at all) have sex.

I walked around with one of the only other people not going to the live sex show. The red light district at night is rather seedy with all the drug addicts walking around and you could witness drug deals in the middle of the street. I saw 3 for sure. No one comes up to you and bugs you about it, but its easy to find it if you want it. I didn't bother taking pictures, mostly because you are told the pimp will throw your camera in the canal if you take one of the hookers. I don't see why anyone would though, theyre ugly anyway. Our tour manager told us how to say '50 Euro is way too much' in dutch just in case though. The best part of the red light district was the bakeries that cater to the people who enjoyed the coffee shops. The two most notable items are pizza hot dogs (hot dogs with pizza toppings on top) and covered waffles. I had to buy a chocolate and strawberry covered waffle at one to try for 5 euro. They weren't bad, but if I would have known it was 5 euro I probably wouldve passed. Some people on the group tried the hot dog and said it tasted like its been there for a week, which it probably was.

After wandering around for about 2 1/2 hours we caught public transportation back to the hotel for 2.50 euro a ticket. It was really easy to get back alone as the tour manager gave great directions.

May 10th, 2008

This morning we had the first included breakfast on the tour which had a menu that was recurring for the majority of the trip. Most of the breakfasts included ham and cheese sandwiches, cereal, juice (some good some bad), and maybe a fruit assortment from a can. Notable breakfasts in the future will be talked about although this was fairly common for majority of the trip. After breakfast we headed out of Amsterdam on a 30 minute drive for the included 'cheese and clog demonstration' which was nothing more than taking you to a store saying 'buy our stuff.' The clog demonstration was only good as the person giving it is a crazy dutchman that hits on all the girls and is quite funny. Once the obligatory sales stuff was over we got to go on an included bike ride around the tiny city of Edam on Claudia's Granny Bikes. It was just a couple mile ride around the city, but we got time to stop and take in the scenery and get pictures infront of a windmill. True Holland is quite beautiful on a different level than Amsterdam (which is actually quite nice during the day).

Once the bike ride was finished we got dropped off in the city center or the Van Gogh museum around 11am to have about 6 hours before the Canal Cruise and Sea Palace Dinner if we signed up for them. A large group of us went to the Van Gogh Museum (10 euro) and walked around there for about an hour. However majority of us got separated and the remaining 3 or so walked around with me hitting up the Hard Rock for another pin (8 euro) and buying clogs (5 euro) and a shot glass (4 euro) on the way to the Anne Frank House (7.50 euro). The line for the house was about 30 minutes and went by rather quickly. I recommend both exhibits in the city, although if you are not a huge art fan you could pass on the Van Gogh exhibit.

After we had to run back to the meeting place and grabbed a quick bit of food of just a sandwich and water from a grocery store for 4.95 euro and hit the first excursion of the Canal Cruise. The Canal Cruise (19.50 euro) was awesome. About an hour and a half floating around the city getting to know everyone and taking in the beautiful architecture with a few drinks. If a lot of people are signed up, I definitely recommend it.

10 or so people went to the Sea Palace afterwards, and a lot went back to the hotel to get ready to go to the Red Light District for the evening. Since I had already experienced the Red Light District I stayed in town with a few people to grab dinner before calling it a night. We stopped at a random Italian restaurant where I purchased an amazing Salami and Ham pizza for about 14 euro and picked up a pre-packed Tulip Bulb set for about 4.50 euro.

We got back to the hotel around 8 and emailed home for free (rare occurance) then relaxed for the rest of the night until the roommates got back from the Red Light District with their Ben & Jerrys, chips, and watched Bob Ross painting and other random TV with them for a few hours and called it a night.

May 11th, 2008

The next morning I woke up at about 6:30 to catch a 7:15 breakfast (same as the day before) and a 8am departure to Berlin. We made a 45 minute rest stop in Germany (beautiful scenery) at about 10:15 where there was a 50 cent restroom charge (a coupon of equal value is given to be spent at the store when you pay for the toilet at some places) and purchased a 1.50 euro chocolate bar with strawberry yoghurt filling. We drove until about 2:30 and had another 45 minute stop where I got a small salami sandwich and strawberry cream pie dessert for about 6.10 euro (with another restroom discount) and finally arrived at our awesome hostel in Berlin at about 5:30

Pictures: Attached are a few pictures from around Amsterdam, the included bike ride in Edam, and a few detailing the accommodations and excursions at the Amsterdam stop for all the pictures I took in Amsterdam check out the following albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2089631&l=0214d&id=21902759

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2089633&l=11518&id=21902759

Jun 2, 2008

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