A Morning Walk in Amsterdam

Pam and I slept over 12 hours last night. We were so jet-lagged! This morning we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast of granola, hard-boiled eggs, apples, and toast with chocolate sprinkles on it. This is a Dutch tradition that I like! We left the hotel in cool weather. It was very enjoyable. We walked to Vondel Park and passed the Heineken brewery. Also went to the museum district, but did not take in any museums. In this area we found the Hard Rock Cafe and an open air market to browse. We had lunch in an Irish cafe of all places and couldn't even drink a beer for being on Ibuprofen. We couldn't see the Ann Frank house without a reservation. After lunch, we came back to our hotel and learned that my luggage had arrived from the airport, but Pam's did not. The hotel concierge was kind enough to place a call to the airport to see what was happening. While he was on hold with the airline, a carrier delivered Pam's luggage. That was perfect timing! Next we had to figure out how to get our suitcases up those dreadful stairs. We have already planned to slide them down the steps tomorrow when we have to check out! After a little rest and recharge Pam and I headed out again, this time to a section of town with small shops. Of course we found nothing that we wanted to buy. I then convinced Pam that we needed to see the red light district, which was nearby. The closer we got to the area, the sleazier things became. We walked down a street with prostitutes soliciting from the windows and doorways and saw many sex shops, bars, and porn theaters. The funniest thing was to overhear a group of college boys discussing whether or not to pay the price. There seemed to be an abundance of Argentinian restaurants in this region as well. We were getting hungry, but decided to get out of this environment. Every tourist in town was there! We walked back to our hotel and tried pancakes at a local cafe. These are similar to crepes with a variety of fillings. Pam ordered one filled with spinach and goat cheese. My selection was filled with ham and cheese. Our table was between a young dutch couple and two other young women. One of the girls was Chinese. Her friend was American, but was speaking Chinese to her friend. This is such an international city. Everyone speaks English, of course. I think we both have decided that Amsterdam is an interesting city, but not our favorite. Tomorrow we will catch a train for Enschede.