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| Glenn's Journal for 9-14-02 - Amsterdam Our first night sleeping at the campground was not as restful as we would have liked. Each hour throughout the night a group of campers would return from town (a little tipsy and noisy) and wake you as they passed by our tent. On top of the fact that our bodies woke us up in the middle of the night due to the time zone conversion. Reicka and Chihiro were up early and on there way well before us. We went back to sleep until 9:30 am before awaking, having breakfast, and preparing for the day ahead. We had no real agenda except to go into town and become familiar with Amsterdam. The bus dropped us off around noon near the Central Station where our first agenda was to have lunch (breakfast was a muffin left over from the plane ride) and send an e-mail home to the parents letting them know we made it safely. Upon checking our e-mail we found out that friends from Seattle (Paul Roney and his wife Kim) planned to be in Berlin on Tuesday and Wednesday of the coming week. We replied that we would see them there and asked if they knew where they were styaing in Berlin so we could meet up. After we had accomplished these 2 things we grabbed our map and took off to wander around town. One of our first stops was Hostel Stadsdoelen where we checked on availability for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights. We could not make reservations but we could stop in in the morning to verify availability. Typical with most hostels. Next, we found our way to the Museum district including the Rijks Museum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum. By the time we had arrived at the Rijks Museum it was due to close within 1 1/2 hours so we decided to wait. We then found a park bench where we relaxed and people watched for a while. We also ran into Reika and Chihiro while we rested. We skipped the museums due to the lack of time and headed off to the Anne Frank House. The Anne Frank house was vey interesting and provided our first insight into the history of Germany during the Hitler era. After our tour through the Anne Frank House we stopped for dinner at a local Italian place (Not as good as Italy). We then headed over to the "Red Light District" around 9:00 pm. It was a little early for all of the windows to be open and the "real" action to begin but there were enought windows open to get the idea. (Sorry boys but no pictures allowed!!) There are also plenty of sex shops and shows for everyones pleasure. Erin and I wandered around the district for about an hour before catching the 10:00 pm bus back to the campground. Upon our return we chatted with Reika and Chihiro for a little bit before calling it a night. |
| The Rijks Museum in Amsterdam on a sunny day!!! |