Checked in to our hostel, "Stay Okay" (there is actually 3 of them in Amsterdam but from my understanding they are all pretty much the same), and dumped our stuff in the room before taking the car to a nearby "Park n Ride" (places designed for long term parking and which provide transport back to city free, largely required due to the complete lack of free parking on the outkirts and no parking at all closer in) and then exploring a bit of the area around the hostel. Found dinner then headed back to our room to plan out the rest of the trip as Macky's only allowed to be in Europe for 3 months due to not having organised his visa. Thank god for dual citizenships. The hostel is a very large place and reinforced our growing belief that smaller hostels are definitely better, charging for every little extra, over pricing food and their bar and with a very controlled atmosphere.
Slept in then headed in to central Amsterdam with passes we bought which allow for unlimited tram/bus transport for a set time period. Jumped on a tram in until we saw a cool looking open air market and jumped off to explore. Market (and indeed Amsterdam in general) had a very hippy vibe and all sort of interesting (and often weed-associated) stalls. Then headed in towards the center vaguelly while looking for a place for lunch and to sit down and make a plan for our exploration of Amsterdam and it's sights. Managed, without even trying, to stumble our way into the red light district. It is a very odd feeling to be walking along a random, normal street then peer into a dark window and suddenly have a scantily clad, overly large woman with one hand holding her phone while the other clutches a cigarette suddenly lurch forward to beckon you over to sample her "delights". Apparently the day time hookers are taken from the pimps B team. We managed to escape out the other side of the red light district (because hey, we were there, might as well laugh at the fatties) and find our selves in the equally explicit gay district. "Out of the frying pan, into the fire". There were also a lot of the infamous coffee shops around, instantly recognisable from actual coffee shops by both the type of patron and the "18+ only" signs.
Finally found a place to eat at a Belushi's (the same place we found in Bath) and had cheap tourist food and made our plans. After lunch started heading south, amazed by how crowded the streets were for 2pm on a weekday, even with Amsterdam being a major tourist destination. Walked past a square filled with people dressed up as all sort of historical and pop culture figures posing with tourists for photos and a surprisingly skilled break dancing troupe then found Madam Tussauds but it was very expensive and had a line going around the corner so skipped it and made our way to the America Cafe which had awesome architecture of levels of balconies and awnings, each level decreasing in size but increasing in quantity. We then headed on to the Van Gogh museum via a really nice park, pausing only to watch a clearly tripping hippy lieing on a log waving his arms expansively at the sky. The Van Gogh museum was surprisingly impressive (given by my usual lacklustre feelings for both art and museums and could easily occupy 3 hours. It also had an excellent view out over a park and the city centre behind it.
Headed back after that at about 6, went out and got a picnic dinner (which, after spending all day making fun of Lewis for wanting a picnic, was actually very nice) then went in to hostel bar which was meant to be having a big 4 year anniversary cheap drinks thing but was impressively lacking in both cheap drinks and people to enjoy them so we figured we would utilise our transport tickets and head into the red light district to see it at night. As people who weren't inclined to partake in its $50 for 20 minute, chlamydia free of charge, pleasures it was disturbingly full of people who clearly were, although there were definitely also a lot of people like us just there to gaze in an awestruck combination of horror, amazement and confusion. Couldn't find anywhere we could get a beer without also having to deal with scantily clad women asking us for money so we headed back to the hostel where we could.
The next morning I woke up feeling like the cold I had been ignoring for a couple of days had sensed, and been bolstered by, the vast array of ailments that probably surrounded me the previous night and was making its move so I spent the day in the hostel room updating my blog, watching some TV off the laptop and making a couple of minor excurions for nourishment. In the evening Macky and Lewis went out with one of Lewis' old friends and found a place called "The Watering Hole" which did 10 jager shots for $10 and got back in around 2-3am very drunk.
Woke up the next morning feeling much better and jumped on the tram to get back to the "Park n Ride" to reaquire Cumu.
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