Withering away in Amsterdam

Well at the moment I am lounged on a sofa with a state of the art Mac at Amsterdam's awesome free library/mutimeddia center located close to the central station. Allen and I have been walking all weekend discovering Amsterdam and its unique features. Needless to say we are exhausted and need a break while we wait for our train back. To begin the trip our 1st train go canceled so we had to take one 45 minutes later that was slower. That was disappointing. Next on our new train to Amsterdam we proceeded to get off on the wrong stop and ended up in Utrecht. So we then had to take a 100 euro taxi ride 30 km to Amsterdam.

When we arrived the luxurious hostel Anne Marie, we were greeted by a fat orange cat named Andy that I promptly renamed Garfield. I'm not a picky guy so the hostel was not the best living conditions, but I did't mind because we were in the famed Amsterdam. We quickly drropped off our backpacks and began our exhilarating journey.

We did all the typical museum stuff such as the Van Gogh museum and Anne Frank house. However the best was the science museum called Nemo. It is full of hands on experiments and exhibits that made feel like I was 7 years old and watching Power Rangers again. There was a sex/puberty exhibit that I found quite puzzling at a museum aimed mostly for kids. The Dutch are obviously extremely liberal because there were giant tongues teaching kids how to French kiss and different models of sexual positions. As an American I know this would NEVER see the light of day as a children's museum exhibit on American soil. It just goes to show the complete openess of the Netherlands. However I found it quite amusing watching the kids swordfight with the giant tongues. And yes I took many pictures.

Also Allen and I cruised the city at night. The stories are true, Amsterdam is completely insane. The first night we walked around the city and happened to end up in the Red Light district. It was quite frightening every time a girl tapped on the window and beckoned you inside. I feel sorry for them. The second night we befriended some Canadians, Austrailians, and an energetic Brit at the hostel. We then talked at a pub for a while and got to know each other. To end the night we went to a club and danced the night away. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my new friends from all over the world.

Amsterdam was awesome. We did everything we planned to do and learned so much about the Dutch and backpacking in general. I highly reccommend this crazy city.