May 3, 2010
Day 34 Amsterdam
Even though it was raining, we decided to head out of the hostel after eating and changing rooms. Today we decided to check out the Van Gogh museum. At first it looked like we would be waiting in line for a VERY long time. I went to line up while Trevor checked out what we could do to bypass the mess. When he finally met up with me in line (which was probably 15 min later) I remembered that you could purchase tickets at our hostel that would let you bypass the line. So Trevor ran to the hostel while I continued to stand in line in the rain. Trevor finally came back with the tickets and we went in. Trevor had to give his backpack to coat check (stupid regulations) which meant that he ended up carrying his laptop around the entire time. After standing in line there (thankfully inside where it was dry and warm) we went into the museum. I have to say I was a little disappointed by the amount of Van Gogh paintings. They made it seem like they had a lot of paintings because the museum was three floors, but in the end there were a lot of paintings by people that were influenced by or influenced Van Gogh. It was interesting seeing Van Gogh's paintings, though. It's funny how all painters seem to paint the same things early on in their career, but thankfully at some point they are able to find inspiration to do their own thing. After finishing up in the Van Gogh museum, we wandered around and grabbed some food at an Italian place which at first glance appeared to have great deals on pizzas and pastas (only 5 Euro!) Once we got hooked on the price, we found out that you have to order a drink to get the cheap food. Now, thankfully, it ended up being cheap for us even with the purchase of a drink each, but many of the other people that came in after us ended up getting a little upset because the restaurant wasn't up front about the fact that you had to purchase a drink. Plus, one of the waiters even told a group of young guys (probably 18 year olds just out of high school who were from Canada) that they didn't have to buy a drink. We weren't very happy that we were told we had to when they didn't. But a few minutes later another waiter came and said that they had no choice and had to buy drinks. It was stupid, really. Very tourist unfriendly! Anyways, we ate and then headed out toward the Red Light District to see the Sex Museum. This was an interesting museum, even if a little crude (they had paintings on the walls that farted and a mannequin that flashed you when you walked by). The museum had a lot of artifacts with sexual paintings or carvings and of course porn and it explained the progression of sex in the public eye. It was definitely eye-opening. After this we went and grabbed some street vendor fries because they looked so delicious, and finally made it into the Red Light District. We wandered around a bit. Some of the ladies were out in their windows even though it was pretty early. I got myself a burger at Febo, which is a place that looks like a giant vending machine McDonald's. You put coins into a slot and select your burger and take a nice warm burger out of the little window. Apparently it's not a good place to eat at because the high school kids pay for a burger, open the little window and spit in the burgers, but I wanted to try this novel thing anyways. Hopefully no one spit in my burger. After wandering around a bit more, we headed back to our hostel where we spent the rest of the night hanging out in the lounge, meeting new people and watching TV on the laptop.
Look 'em in the eye: FREE Messenger video chat Chat Now!
No comments:
Post a Comment