Amsterdam Day 1

Norman:

So we arrived in Amsterdam, slightly tired (Mandy: EXTREMELY EXHAUSTED). First impression of Amsterdam is not good - the people we've asked for help were not very helpful and fairly condescending. I'm sure it doesn't represent the overall Dutch population, but still a rude awakening to the friendliness I was expecting. We showed the tram lady the map to our hotel and she decided not to tell us that we should get off two stops after the one we said we would... We wandered for a good 20 minutes with our luggage until we found our hotel. We were still fairly exhausted from Hackney weekend so we bought burgers at a restaurant next door called Burgermeester and chilled out at our hotel until the next morning.

Trio of mini burgers: 1. Tuna 2. Beef with mango salsa 3. Beef with truffle egg

Day 1:


After waking up way past the time we were supposed to, we first went to the Anne Frank Museum. We heard numerous warnings to make sure we get there early or be prepared to queue and those warnings were 100% correct - we arrived around noon and had to wait in line for more than an hour before we got in. I think it was actually well worth the wait; the museum does a pretty good job at emulating how it would have been to be hiding from the Nazis during that era. (We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house.)

Mandy in front of the Anne Frank Museum with a very large queue waiting to get in

From then on, we wandered the streets to end up at Noordermarket and checked out a local coffee shop called Dampkring. It was a popular coffee shop and we understood why.. Good music, atmosphere, freshly squeezed orange juice and the service was good. The second coffee shop we went to called Bulldog was not nearly as good.

Coffee Shop

After that we continued to wander the streets and ended up in Dam Square, which is a central area in Amsterdam. It was still fairly early out, and we went through our itinerary much faster than we anticipated, so we thought we'd check out the Red Light district (despite it being blatantly bright out). We were trying to check out the many Amsterdam prostitutes but so early on, there were only a few that were scantily clad behind the glass doors. Eventually, we checked out Casa Rosso, which is a live sex show. Thirty-five euros each and we could stay there as long as we wanted! It was fairly entertaining when we first entered, but each act subsequently became less entertaining as the night went on. Eventually, we left and decided to retire early and replenish our batteries for  Day 2.

Me at Dam Square