Ahhhhh, Amsterdam- We Conclude Our First Trip to Europe

The ship arrived and docked at Amsterdam during the night. We usually would wake up when docking, because of all of the noise and vibration.

The master and his subjects

We missed this one, either due to the captain’s expertise, or most probably due to the drinks the onboard ship credit purchased, as we were trying to use it up! We arose early and got ready to disembark, having made arrangements for a taxi to pick us up at 0930. We had breakfast with Dayne and Pam and Leo and Agnes.

Wooden carved doorway

Like us, Dayne and Pam were going to spend two days touring Amsterdam, but our hotels were not close together and hooking up again didn’t seem likely. We said our goodbyes and gathered our bags.

Amsterdam's canals

Jane checked out only to find we still had a ship’s credit, but it was just enough to buy Dayne, Leo, and Capt. Larry Viking Cruise Line baseball caps, and that is what she did. We left the ship to find our taxi waiting for us.

We arrived at the Hampshire Hotel on Rembrandtplein, or Rembrandt Square. We picked this hotel because

A canal and interesting architecture

 we knew we would be walking the streets of Amsterdam and thought it had a good central location. Our taxi driver told us this was a really nice area. We were too early to check in, so we left our bags with

Another canal shot

the concierge in a luggage room and decided to take a walk to see the sights. First we explored Rembrandt Square. The square is home to a number of sculptures and other works of art, but the main attraction is a very large bronze statue of the master painter surrounded by life-size sculptures of the subjects he painted. This made for a very interesting outdoor art display and was constantly being photographed by visitors and climbed upon by children. Besides the artwork, the plaza is surrounded by architecturally interesting buildings.

A canal boat

Another canal boat

We left the plaza and strolled along some nearby canals watching the numerous canal boats leisurely transport their passengers throughout the city’s canal system.

This maze of canals has earned Amsterdam the moniker of

 “Venice of the North.” We continued our self-guided walking tour while trying to follow a map that highlighted the city’s main attractions. We entered the main business

Flowers at a flower shop

 district and were admiring the scenery when we spotted Pam and Dayne who were doing a guided walking tour. We were so excited to see them that we momentarily disrupted their tour with our hugging and squealing. We exchanged information and decided to try and hook

Porn star wheels!

up the next day. Pam pointed out Amsterdam’s famed red light district to us and sketched out how to get there. Off we went.

WOW! The district certainly lives up to its reputation as a free-swinging area. But taking pictures of the offerings is prohibited.

Museum of Prostitution

As we walked through different sections we were somewhat shocked at the explicit, unabashed displays of raw sex and sexual offerings. After Capt. Larry’s third round trip (that’s a joke!), we decided to check out the offerings in some of the sex shops…not that we were looking for anything! We hesitated to go into some of these places, but finally

A major landmark

 figured we’d never see any of these people again. Maybe we are getting old, but there were many things that we could not figure out what they were or how they would be used, and none of the items had instruction sheets!

Still having about 2 hours before check in,we wound our way back to Rembrandtplein and decided to have some lunch and people watch at a sidewalk 

Jane with the subjects

café. We found a café, but it was situated very close to a coffee shop and in very short order the cannabis-laced fumes emanating from the entrance were starting to have an effect on us. Marijuana is legally sold in Amsterdam through a network of coffee shops and one can always  identify these popular establishments from the atmosphere that surrounds them.

More interesting architecture

Not wanting to eat our lunch in these environs, we moved to another café on the other side of the plaza. We ate our lunch, drank some beers, and watched the people and street artists moving through the square. After a couple of hours of people watching and a great lunch, we returned to our hotel.

We checked in, organized our things, took a short power nap, changed clothes, and decided to take a walk back into the city (and the Red Light District again!). This trip was closer to dusk and the

The beautiful canals

sights were much more enticing. We went into a couple of the sex shops trying to do some Christmas shopping and jokingly thought about buying some of the more bizarre items to see if the people on our list would know what they were.

Another canal shot

But after serious consideration we thought better of it. It seemed like it might have been a good idea! It was certainly a very interesting atmosphere. We grabbed a bite to eat and returned to our room and crashed for the night. We were also contacted by Dayne & Pam and it looked like we would be able to hook up tomorrow before we returned to the states.

Our last full day in Amsterdam found us sleeping in a little later than usual. After enjoying a light breakfast we killed some time walking the canals and the Rembrandt Plaza waiting for our tour of the Anne Frank House at 1340. We had been advised to purchase our tickets online so that we could avoid the tremendously long

On the way to Anne Frank House

line to get into this venue.

Canals and bicycles

Jane received a text from Pam suggesting that after our tour of the Anne Frank House, we meet and go to some café for lunch. Sounded good to us! We headed out for a fairly long walk to Anne’s place. As we were walking along one of the canals, we noticed that several people were in swimsuits and were wet. Investigating further, we found that there was some sort of canal swim event in which children and adults of all ages had participated. Many of the swimmers had trophies and we witnessed the unabashed modesty

Canal swimmers

of Hollanders as they were changing from their swimsuits into clothes right along the canal, making no attempt to conceal their nudity from passerby eyes.

We arrived at the Anne Frank House and waited for our tour time. At the appointed time we entered a side entrance for those that pre-purchased tickets and immediately started our tour.

At the Anne Frank House

The Ann Frank House is about 8 Jewish people who hid from the Nazis, during their occupation of Holland, in a secret annex behind Anne Frank’s father’s warehouse for his business of making and selling jams. The four family members and four family friends hid from the Nazis from June, 1942, to July, 1944 when they were finally discovered and sent to Nazi concentration camps. What was striking about this ordeal was the level of discreetness the family had to endure in order not to be detected. While in hiding, Anne kept a diary of her

Singing competiton

experience which became a widely read and translated historical document. Anne died of a typhus infection in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March, 1945, just a few weeks before the camp was liberated by British forces in April. Only the father, Otto, survived the camps. Going through the museum and annex which has been restored to its original configuration, was a very sobering experience.

We exited the museum and found Pam & Dayne waiting for us.

Spectators at the Cheese Museum

They had visited the Van Gogh Museum instead of waiting in the long line at Anne Frank House. Again, we were excited to see them. We walked along the canals until we found a café to have some lunch. After lunch, we started our walk back to our hotel. Along the way, we happened upon a street singing contest of local amateur singing groups.

Singing competition participants

We were told that these groups regularly compete, not so much for prizes, but for the drinks they consume during the competition. Capt. Larry and Dayne visited the Cheese Museum while Pam and Jane window shopped at shops near the singing competition. We were impressed with the groups’ performances, and finally parted ways when Pam & Dayne hopped on a tram that would take them back to their hotel. We feel pretty certain that we will encounter them again on some future travel.

We can’t leave Amsterdam without commenting on all of the city’s museums that we saw. Most of these are

Tulip Museum

tourist-trap sideshows and should not be considered actual museums, but the diversity is interesting. Except for the Cheese Museum, we didn’t go into any of these establishments, but saw the Museum of Prostitution (naturally), the Sex Museum (naturally, again), the Erotic Museum (there’s a theme here), the Hash, Marijuana, and Hemp Museum (go figure), the Torture Museum (what a pain!), the Tattoo Museum, the Amsterdam Dungeon, the Tulip Museum, and the Houseboat Museum.

Hash, Marijuana and Hemp Museum

There are also some really legitimate museums such as the Van Gogh Museum and the Rembrandt Museum. We guess where there’s a tourist with a buck… But these attractions add to the sum that makes Amsterdam so interesting. There was a Sunday afternoon art show in Rembrandt Square which we viewed.

Some have it easy!

We arrived back at our hotel, got our bags ready for tomorrow’s departure, and just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

The next morning we caught a taxi to the airport and flew first-class for our very first time back to the states. And that was our first trip to Europe!