Well, that's it in a nutshell! What a beautiful city though. I can't upload my pics here in the internet cafe, but will as soon as I get internet (in a week or two). They say Amsterdam in the Venice of the North as it has lots of canals and quaint bridges, and row houses, etc. The architecture is amazing! We stayed at the Pulitzer Hotel which is a Starwood Luxury Collection property. We were really up in the air as to whether it was luxurious or not. We were upgraded to an Executive Suite b/c of Mike's status there--Our room really reminded me of Aunt Marty's attic where Stephen and Brian's room was! We werein the gables of this row house and had REALLY steep steps up to our room. Was it cool to stay there, yeah, but it was a bit tight, and certainly not 'luxurious'!
When we got there it was around 7 or 8 o'clock and we went to grab some dinner. Mike wanted to show me the red-light district as well. We ate at an Argentinian Steak House...there are tons of Argentinian steakhouses there--I thought that was weird! The food was good, as was the price! From there we went to the red-light district which was certainly an eye opening experience. Girls--some really young girls--rent windows along either side of the street and stand in them scantally clad in either bikinis or bra and underwear trying to sell 'their wears'. What's funny about it is that all the prostitutes have to register, and all charge the same price and they pay taxes and everything. It really bothered me how young some of the girls looked...I would say they were all between 15 and 25 years old. Along the road going to the red-light district there were also lots of 'coffee houses' that don't sell coffee at all, but rather pot. In this area, I'm sure you could get a second hand high if you stood on the street long enough! It's perfectly legal to smoke marajuana, and really quite acceptable-even in restaurants!
On Saturday, I wanted to go to this antique toy store that got a great review in my travel book...what a let down! It was really a junk store with used (garage sale type) toys! From there we went to the VanGogh Museum. I didn't think Mike would like it, but he really got into it. It was really laid out well, and gave you the story of VanGogh's life along with the paintings. Mike thinks it's terrible that the public feels that VanGogn had such a tragic life. In reality, he mooched off his brother his whole life, never worked a day in his adult life, and just travelled all around painting. Then, he decided to off himself and cut off his ear. Nothing really tragic about it! They also had paintings of other artists there as well, so we got to see some Gaugin, Picasso, etc. From there we went and had lunch in a charming outdoor cafe and each had a couple of beers while we watched the street performers. One street performer in particular came and set up this huge pole with roles dangling from it. He then proceed to strip down to a thong--did I mention he was about 70 years old?--and then do acrobatics on the ropes...He really was quite good, but I have to say, I think the whole crowd was a bit disturbed by the thong! We only had a few appetizers for dinner that night and then went to an outdoor beer garden right in the heart of the city. It was great for people watching--especially since we were located on the road to the red light district.
Sunday morning we got up and headed right for the Ann Frank Museum--we tried to do that the day before, but it was Yom Kippur and closed. The line was all the way up the street, but it went quickly. I think we only waited about an hour. This was quite possibly the best museum I have ever been in. I was surprised that Mike had never read 'The Diary of Ann Frank' in school--especially being from Marlboro, but it was good because they gave a synopsis of the book as you went through. We were even able to go to the hidden apartments behind the bookcases and up the very steep steps where Ann and her family lived. I was very interesting and very well done! On Sunday we also hit a Christmas shop, got my wooden clogs, and visited a diamond factory. What a day, right? We were exhausted!
We still don't have internet in the house yet, so my posts may be a little sparce still. They say we might be up and running in a week or 2. Things go so slow here!
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