More Day 2 (I just woke up)

So we were supposed to write together, but I passed out during the process. Less than five minutes in the room and I completely blacked out then waking up at 11:30 because Arika bonked me for snoring. I have been up since, but now she passed out. So I am writing my thoughts. I guess we are taking shifts.

So the all women nightclub Arika wanted to go to got skipped - one because I passed out, two because she passed out and three because it would mean we had to walk 14 blocks round trip. Oh well, I am sure you can imagine our disappointment as you know we are dopplegangers for Paris and Lindsay needing to hit the hip clubs across Europe :-P

Today was fantastic. The breakfast was quaint. The cheese is very good. And thanks Michele - told Ari about the purpose of the chocolate sprinkles in her REM state and she got all excited for tomorrow morning with a big smile.

After breakfast we went to the Anne Frank House which was just a few blocks away. No line at all, though there was a long one when we came out. It is a nice exhibition and extremely depressing. It was weird looking from the window she did and seeing the beautiful canal and row houses and knowing they were looking at a world gone mad. It is really freaky to remember that insanity all happened just several decades ago(Anne was like 11 years younger than my grandmother), and makes you ask yourself "how do things get that crazy and out of control so quickly in the modern world?". And then I went into a gift shop and saw the tin of "Embarass Mints" with GW's pix on it and quickly remembered how easy these things do happen. Also, I forget sometimes how many people are truly ignorant, as a 50 year old woman and her husband were in front of us looking at the display cases and she actually said to him "look honey, they made them sew those stars to their clothes." Of course she was American, and as she was in shocked that the halocaust really existed, I was shocked that she did. We then each placed a virtual leaf on the Anne Frank Memorial Tree insuring that we would get dutch spam for all eternity.

I really have to say we could not have asked for a more perfect day. It was clear, crisp, perfect temperature, and all of the trees lining the canals have turned colors for fall. Truly stunning.

The interesting thing about this city is how quiet it is. For as many people as there are here, it is almost silent because there are little or not motor vehicles. I never really thought about it before, but it is kinda cool not hearing the low hum of a thousand cars. The bikes are so quiet to their own detrament as you don't realize they are coming up behind you until you feel the breeze of them going past you four inches away. They are really brutal. It it amazing there are not bike accidents everywhere for as many times they have almost hit people. We are terrible peds here as the streets are as narrow as normal sized sidewalks and all cobblestone, so you don't feel like you are in the street when you actually are. Arika actually nearly got hit by a tiny golf cart size electric car as she was playing with a local cat in the street (not realizing it was a street) and not hearing it coming barreling 30mph towards her because it was silent. We have opted not to rent bikes in the city as we have both agreed that we would end up floating in the canal from an accident dodging other bike or people. We are going to try to rent bikes in the park instead.

Another thing is that nearly every store and restaurant only takes cash (including the hotel) and we have been standing in line from ATM to ATM. Let's all hear it for under the table tax evasion!!!

Mom, I am sure I will have a positive drug screen with as much passive inhalation we have had. It bellows from huge clouds as you walk down the street past bars and coffee houses. Ari and I agree, it smells better than the cigarette smoke. Europe is doing its part to keep the North Carolina economy strong fear not. These are times I miss LA and the no smoking laws...

We visited a cat rescue boat. It was the dutch verion of valley cats, and the little ancient asian guy that ran it was very sweet and cute. Seeing identical twins of Libby and Rex, I am now thinking our cats are Dutch. Wait till you see the pix Mom, it will freak you out. It looks like I teleported them here.

We then stumbled upon all of the hookers in the red light district. It was interesting. There were different flavors of women together in different sections. All of the blondes were together in an area. Kinda outside the red light district and they seemed to fancy Arika waving to her as she passed by. There was even an area of octaroons. Which having done some research on Storyville, I found interesting that this was still an actraction. In fact I imagine a lot of this was a little like Storyville was like back in the day. They were behind glass and the rooms they were in where plush with chandeliers and red velvet. There were women as young looking as teens and other who were in their fifties. None were thin and they were all very much full figured. Very interesting and very sad. They all had a deadness in their eyes. As we wandered in the center of the red light district, it got eerie very quickly. There were not many tourist, a few dozen fifty year old couples, and packs of scummy looking men who looked like they where casted for "Heroes" as Peter Pettrelli's new gang members in Cork. Needless to say we got out of there quickly.

The boat was funny, though Arika fell asleep twice. It was nice seeing city from that vantage, but the canal water is definitely disgusting. The narrator sound just like the one from the Norway boat ride in EPCOT and I suddenly felt like I was at Disney. Also, we were here during some rowing. Race that followed us all through the tour. Very hot dutch men rowing beside us in teams - I know would have excited many of you, but it put Arika to sleep.

We also managed to find a 3 story mall and Amsterdam's third street promenade, so we did some shopping and got some cool stuff. Arika did not find new boots yet though. The hemp store took only cash - hmmm interesting. They sold seed there of 80 varieties of marijuana - who knew there were that many. It appeared like the stereotype is true, the dutch are good botanists. They had some fine tall plants in the window.

We tried to go in a few museums and churches, but they were closed. We did manage to go into this one exhibition in Neude Kierk - the church was nice, the exhibition was lame. It was abotu Dutch heroes. Though the 1000sqft mosaic of Lara Croft was interesting, especially seeing it on the floor of a church in front of the tomb of the 18th century architect. I think I did see some turning movement in his coffin.

Proof that everyone should get a pair of my new shoes MBT's. I walked many many miles out of the way because we took many wrong turns, and my feet are not dead. Let's hear it for the Swiss. They really saved me, and although my feet were dead from our lost excursion, they are not injured. Yay!

We ate indian for dinner - food was good - service was terrible, and if he is still alive a man that looked extactly and sounded exactly like Buster Poindexter was sitting next to us killing my lungs with his cigarette.

All in it was a great day. But I was exhausted after. I definitely recommend staying in the Jordaan for anyone coming to Amsterdam - it truly is the nicest area and we have seen them ALL today.

I am fascinated by the people and the language is hilarious. BTW-Ace, the "S" makes sense but what does the "C" mean in German. I was told on the US Mercedes that the toggle is S/W for summer/winter?