We left the house 200am Sunday morning, heading out to the airport. All went well, and quickly. We had tons of time in duty free, during which I bought some Bicardi Rum and Smirnoff's vodka. We forewent the JW Black Label for ds, it being 45$ a bottle, and a bit rich for our likings. Not to mention that the allowance is 1 l. per person, and we already had our two liters.
I spent some time trying on Adidas but didn't find a cheap-enough pair that fit me. The more expensive pairs I can manage without and buy a perfectally suitable pair in the country. I got really lousy service; I guess the salespeople realized they wouldn't be making tons of commission of me.
So off we went on the plane. I slept alot of the way. Breakfast was served and we arrived in Schipol around 9am, if memory serves me correctly. We had already figured out our route to the hotel, and thus, even though a girl with some "Israeli connection" tried to tempt us for "only 10 Epp" a minibus ride STRAIGHT to our hotel, we made our way to the train station area. There, there was a tourist information, and we ended up buying a 72-hour "I am Amsterdam" pass, which, by the way, above-mentioned girl told us was a waste of money. (It wasn't!!!) We also bought our train tickets there (4.10 Epp), realizing that that included a 1E "fine" by not using the machines. However, at the beginning, all the machines we saw did not take cash, only credit cards. Later we found the cash-taking machines.
We made it to Amsterdam Central easy as pie, and found our hotel really WAS a 1-minute walk from the center. The Barbizonne NH is a lovely hotel, a great location, large room, all the amenities --including a bar with "automatic billing" if you take any item out of it for more than 10 seconds. Before I read that little notice, I saw the mini-bottle of Johny Walker Black Label, and held it out for dh to see that it was "only 9.70E." Luckily for me, I must have returned it within 10 seconds, as we were never billed for it!
Holland is just like everything you read and hear. Bikes everywhere, those great dutch-style facades, bikes, coffeeshops everywhere, more bikes and tons of people on bikes. Our hotel was right near the old city, with a huge supply of coffeeshops. The smell was all over.
After depostiting our luggage, we started with a tour of the old city area. We actually started our museum experience with a "sex museum," which actually was quite nicely done, and included some erotic sketches of Yoko Ono done by John Lennon! It was five stories. (It was not included in the I-am-Amsterdam pass, though...we had to pay extra!)
We broke in the Pass at the "Oudekirk" which had a great photo display of refugees in a Karin village in Myanmar. Plus which, of course, it is a grand old church, filled with tombstones all over the floor. Weird to think we are walking over skeletons.
We headed back for a nap. Later that night we went out to explore the "red-light" area. We had, actually, gone round it during the afternoon walk, and had seen the occasional hooker standing in her window. Frankly, we were amazed at all the hype we had heard. It didn't seem so impressive.
It was later on, however, that we realized the extent and the validity of the moniker. Streets and alleys, lined with tall, rectangular windows looking out of a little room, barely large enough for the bed and the entryway. The scantily clad lady, some much more attractive than others, stands in her window waiting for a customer. Those windows that we passed that had the curtains drawn, were those where "business" was being done.
And truly, the window frames are painted red, and a red neon light lies along the top.
Well, we had our eyefill and returned to the hotel to "sleep."
