Amsterdam...wow. It's been a long couple days, filled with touring, walking, museums, coffee shops, and cheap hostel beer. The first day we got in around 1:00 in the afternoon and had a pub crawl planned for later on in the evening. Saving ourselves for the pub crawl, we tried to walk around and get our bearings in the city before setting out on a binge likely to confuse and frusterate each of us trying to return to our nice, warm beds. It was a fun night, unfortunately, Tyler set down his jacket and camera and within a few minutes it was gone. Everyone is really to blame: Tyler set it down and we didn't think anything of it.
The next day we wanted to get to know the city on a little deeper level. We dabbled in a few of the local coffee shops (Greenhouse was a favorite, apparently a lot of celebrities have gone there). We ate pizza for lunch and headed back to the hostel. Tyler wasn't feeling too hot, so we dropped him off and left for a few beers at some of the less touristy bars. The lady working at the hostel gave Gruby, Windus, and I a few suggestions and we set off on a leisurely journey to intoxication. It was completely gradual, but by the end of the night when we were ready for bed, it was nearing five in the morning and we had gone through countless pitchers before finaling retiring for the night.
Saturday, we tried to be a little productive and see things in the city that we'd be ashamed to not have seen. Anne Frank house was our first visit, a somber and sobering experience. Her struggles and that of the seven additional inhabitants hiding from the nazis makes you realize how good we've really got it. That may sound cliche, but it's the truth. I mean, right now I'm sitting in the hostel using free internet, reading a good book, and spending money that I saved for the last few months. Anyway, after the history lesson we took off to sit in a coffee shop for a little while and relax before embarking upon the Van Gogh museum. The area of the city housing all of the museums is spectacular. There's a huge grassy area, with the "I am amsterdam" sign surrounded by cobble stone pathways and towering gothic architecture. The museum itself was very modern, encased in glass and was three stories tall. The space within the gallery was used extremely inefficiently, with crowding around partiular pieces of importance and popularity. The second floor was dedicated to Van Gogh's influence at the time when he was transition from traditional impressionistic painting, and his experimenting with pointalism and aspects of color. Many of the artists given mention I'd never heard of, and found that part of the museum a quick walk through. Really only the third floor was dedicated to Van Gogh's work; I wish it would've been the entire museum...but it was fun. Realizing there's not much to do in the city besides walk around, check out shops, and spend money, we just decided to take the walk through the red light district and the "alleyways of filth"...mom, don't be mad. The girls were everywhere and were really hot. We had gone through during the day when they have the "C" list selection in the windows and were not impressed, but at night is when they make they're real money, and I can see why.
Today has been a completely lax day. We woke up way too early for our liking (apparently there were mice in our room) and couldn't fall back asleep. We waited around for breakfast, gathered our things together, and set off to rent bikes and tour Vondel Park that occupies an expansive amount of area right next to our hostel. On bikes, we made good time and conquered all the park had to offer in less than two hours and were faced with the decision of "what to do next?" We had already gotten to know the city pretty much inside and out, went to quite a few local bars and coffee shops, and saw a few of the tourist attractions. Basically, we ended up sitting around most of the afternoon reading. If the weather had been nice (it's rained everyday), we could've sat in the park and enjoyed a good book and occasional nap, but instead we were forced to scower the town searching for covered areas where we could buy a quick beer and milk it while reading.
Spending hasn't been a problem, but conserving is a quality that I'm going to need to acquire here if I want to come home with any money at all. Hopefully the weather changes and we aren't forced to seek refuge inside.
