We arrived in Amsterdam at about 9:30 this morning. It took forever to get checked into our hostel. After we finally got everything done with our hostel, I finally got thro to Amanda on the phone and we figured out a place to meet. I had to walk about 3/4 a mile to meet here, it was a little over a mile and haft from my hostel to the train station. On my way to meet up with her I walked pass a store that was called "American and British Food" or something like that, anyways they had Mountain Dew in the window. So I marked it down on my map on where it was so I could come back and get some. After that I kept walking and finally found Amanda. The first thing that we did was to go sign up for a boat tour. We decided to do it on Saturday since Friday the weather was a little gloomy. After that we went to the Foam Museum. It was a photography museum, I don't it was worth going to after we went through. It was not what we were expecting. It was all black and white pictures and they were all portraits of people, most of head and shoulders only. After that we got something to eat. We walked around for a little bit and finally found this little restaurant that had a big breakfast selection. Amanda had eggs with ham and cheese on toast. I had a Pannekoeken, which is a Dutch pancake, with ham, pineapple and cheese. I was really good. I loved the pineapple.
After we got done with lunch we went back to my hostel for a little bit to drop off my bag and finish warming up. When we left we started wandering around a little bit. The sun finally came out so it was a little bit warmer. We walked around; Amanda pointed things out that she had been shown on a previous trip to Amsterdam. It was kinda like having a person tour guide so that was nice. I got to learn some stuff that I would not learned otherwise. Before I left for Amsterdam, I looked on the internet for interesting things to do while there. I had heard about touring the Heineken brewery but it was basically $20 to tour it. So as I was looking I ran across this micro brewery that offered free tours on Friday afternoons. So we walked to it. It was a long walk to get there and for a little while we did not know if we would make it on time. We did end up making it there finally with about 5 minutes to spear. The brewery was called the Brouwerij’t IJ. That was really interesting. We got to see how the beer was made and how and where each processes took place. It was a small place but it was really cool. I am glad that I found it instead of paying to go to the Heineken brewery. Afterwards Amanda and I stayed there for a little bit and tried a couple of the different beers that they made. We had one that was called a Columbus which was 9%. It was alright, it had a tangy taste to it so it was not the best. We also tried one called a Natte which was 6.5%, that was the best beer I have ever had. It was really good. Amanda even liked it. I really wish I could get that more often. The brewery was one of the high lights on my trip other than seeing Amanda.
After we left the brewery, there was a windmill right beside it so we took our pictures with it. Then we decided to just start walking again. Amanda showed me some more little things here and there of stuff she had been shown. As we walked we walked through the red light district. It was interesting to say the least. One visit is more than enough for me. On our walk back to my hostel we grabbed a quick bit to eat, then walked the rest of the way to my hostel, go my bag and we left for the train station. We went back to Amanda’s place in Leiden so I could see it. She showed me a few things on our way there. It had gotten dark by that time so I was not able to see much. We made a late supper when we got there and then went to bed.
Sorry this is taking me so long to get posted.
Rick
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