Amsterdam!

We eventually escaped from husky prison and make a break for Amsterdam.

Its Sukis second time in Amsterdam and Travs first. We spend the first day cycling through the city on fixies- the city is very well equipped for cycling! We head to the local brewery for a few bevvies and wander around the Jordaan and the canals. A great steak for dinner, then off to the popular "Wynard Focker" bar to sample the local liqueur Jenever, and a few of the cocktail concoctions made by all the local liqueurs- our gay bartender Andre is hilarious and gives us loads of free tastings :-) We walk away with 2 bottles of the "Half and Half" liqueur. Then of course the obligatory walk through the red light district to check out the "working girls" in the windows and the numerous coffee shops selling marijuana. Being a Monday night, most of the girls looked quite bored sitting in their windows, although the "sexy librarian" look (high ponytail, glasses, neon underwear) seemed to be the latest fashion trend. There is a lot or stigma attached to Amsterdam, the legal marijuana and the prostitution, but we found those aspects to only form a small part of the city (probably because we didn't partake in either of the above!)

Day 2 we took a day trip out to Zaanse Schans, a cute little village with a bunch of old fashion dutch windmills set along the river. We discover that this must be where old people go to holiday- the average age of most of the tourists we saw must have been over 60! Its a nice walk and we pop into a little cheese factory and take advantage of the free cheese samples.. Yum!

Back to Amsterdam that afternoon and we make a visit to the "Red Light Secrets" museum, which gives us a behind the scenes insight into "the oldest profession in history". It was very interesting actually, and we discover a few cool facts- there are 400 plus windows in the district and the girls pay 150euro per 10hour shift to hire the room. The going rate per visit is 50euro. The average visit lasts just 6 minutes!

Its an early night for us as Trav is feeling a little sick and we have another long travel day ahead of us. We pick up some groceries for dinner and also stumble across the cheapest Hoegaarden beer we have ever seen- normally $20 for a 4 pack in Australia, we pick up a 6 pack here for 3.80euro- Bargain!!Read more