Amsterdam and its horrible late night buses (Jeremy)

The days in Amsterdam blur together (as I guess that days in Amsterdam should..). We spent a lot of time just wandering the city and taking in the sites. We found Anne Frank’s house and the accompanying long line to pay 8.50 per person to see it and continued on towards a large flower market on the south side of the city. Near there, we found the crowded shopping district where they were distributing free bags of Lays Paprika flavor chips (tasty!). We spent the afternoon playing card games, picnicking, and lounging in one of the large city parks. There was one entertaining disturbance where a guy on the other side of the river was running from police (we think..) and was tackled. A huge crowd formed around the ensuing tussle and although we couldn’t really see, everyone on our side of the river was also standing up trying to catch a glimpse of the action. Police cars quickly arrived and everything quieted down again.

As dusk arrived, we made our way back to the cheap bar district for some pizza and beers. In the home of Heinekin, they sometimes serve it from the tap at 0° C in frosted glasses which they intuitively call “Heinekin Extra Cold.” This process actually makes Heinekin taste pretty good. We tipsily made our journey back through the red light district where we overheard gems of conversation such as “I asked her if she’d love me long time and she said she’ll love me twenty minutes.” Amsterdam brings out the classiest.

We were too late to catch a tram back that night, so we got on the night bus. This would, in theory, be a helpful service allow late nights downtown followed by safe transit back home. However, it’s more of a tax and punishment for being out late. First, our tram tickets weren’t valid on the bus, so instead of ~1 euro, we paid 3.50 each. And then it proceeded to take the most circuitous route through the city with sudden stops, lots of bucking, and hot, crowded, standing-room-only accommodation. All this left me feeling a bit queasy and Becky feeling bad enough that we got off about half way to the campsite and walked the rest of the way.