July 7

7/7 - Amsterdam

Day 2 in Amsterdam started early (8:30 a.m.) with a trip to the train station where we had to reserve a spot on the overnight train from Amsterdam to Copenhagen.  

This is the largest bike garage in the world! It is located right by the main train station in Amsterdam!

After waiting for our number to be called, we told the woman what we needed, and she looked at us like we were crazy!  She told us the next overnight train with seats was on Tuesday... well we were surprised and annoyed but decided to leave early on Sunday!

I appreciate Maryanne's euphemisms above, but let's be real.  This woman made me CRY.  She was not nice AT ALL.  Lesson learned: Reserve overnight trains well in advance.  ... Well, sort of learned... To be continued...

After that was worked out we began walking to the stunning main branch of Amsterdam's public library.  On the way there we ran into a couple that was staying at the same hotel as Karen's family (Uncle Jim, Jennifer, Jimmy, and Stephie). Side note, I call Steph Stephie because my grandmom did when she first met her... so now Maryanne refers to her as Stephie!  This inspired us to skip the library and see if we could meet up with her family!

We called up to the room and soon after Uncle Jim, Jimmy, Jennifer, and Stephie were all chatting with us in the lobby! 

After they had checked out we ventured out to find a glass floor... 

  

Child.

...Some time later we still didn't discover the floor, so we all walked to the Anne Frank House.  It was a fun walk because the Adams family is great fun and you could tell everyone was happy to see each other.  The walk from their hotel to the museum took us right through the heart of Amsterdam.  Karen made a lot of jokes on the way, and some of us occasionally pretended to laugh. (Rude.) Once we arrived at the museum we took some pictures together, and then parted ways.  Karen and Maryanne went into the Anne Frank House and the Adams family returned to their hotel to prepare for their cruise.

Side note, it was so wonderful to be able to see my family at this point in our trip!  Familiar faces are one thing, but seeing the faces of your family is even better!

 

The only reason we were able to head straight into the Ann Frank House was because Maryanne had the brilliant foresight to purchase tickets in advance, so we did not have to wait in line. She's so humble. The museum was amazing.  We are so glad we got to go, and were really impressed by the quality of the museum.  Many of the rooms were still preserved from the time the Franks lived there.  It was very touching to see where they lived. The Anne Frank House is a must-see when you're in Amsterdam!


                                                

Once we finished at the museum, we walked to a place called Paradox where Karen and Maryanne enjoyed more of Amsterdam.  Maryanne noted that this place had really good juice and sandwiches in addition to its main course. 

From Paradox we walked back to our hotel to make sure our backpacks were still there.  Then it was off to the Van Gogh Museum, not to see the paintings, but so Karen could have a photo with the iAmsterdam sign.  

All of our pictures here were fails...

After we took our pictures we stopped to pick up onion and cheese bread, and then we took a 25 minute nap in a really nice park.  Although we were tired, we got up to go to the library.  Sadly, the library had already closed, but we managed to sneak in for a moment.

From the library we walked to the Grand Victoria Hotel where our Red Light Tour was leaving from.  The tour ran by Kimberly was very enlightening.  We saw the doors where the prostitutes stand.  It is such as different atmosphere than what we are used to.  Maryanne was surprised that the area was so safe, and [insert inappropriate and rude comment that Maryanne actually wrote in our journal here.] 

Walking through Amsterdam on our tour!

The oldest coffeeshop in Amsterdam!

Also, a few side notes on the Red Light District - It was very interesting to see how normalized prostitution is there.  Like Maryanne said, it was so different than what we were used to, but learning about the history of it kind of put it into perspective.  In many ways, it was sad for me to see, and I often can see judgment on the faces of the people I tell about our tour, but I'd actually recommend it because I do feel that it is a learning experience.

Oh! And it's funny because the previous night, we had be trying to find our hotel and passed three or four windows and were SURE we were walking through the Red Light District.  After our tour we realized just how wrong we were...

At the end of the tour our group stopped in a bar and Kimberly paid for a drink for each of us.  We sat at a table with three older people all from California and Kimberly (the guide).  One of the guys from CA bought our whole table another drink, so we had a fun time sitting and chatting.

Once the drinks had ended we found ourselves walking back to the hotel (after eating McDonalds for the second night in a row).  Not proud, just practical! Once we arrived at the hotel, we settled for a long night's slumber... in the lobby.

I love how nonchalantly the above sentence was written... When we found out we'd be staying another night in Amsterdam, we were still SO BITTER about our overpriced hotel (and now the mean train lady), so this is where the payback comes in.  We asked (ever so nicely) if we could just wait in the lobby for our train that would be leaving at 8 in the morning, and the person who worked at the front desk said we could! We took turns sleeping on the not-so-comfortable couches in there and had yet another night of free accommodations!