February 18, 2009: Wow . . .

We got up at 4:00 and were out the door by quarter to five. We caught the 6:20 train from Paris Nord to Amsterdam. A sleepy train ride brought us to Amsterdam at 10:30, note this is still an hour and a half earlier then the previous day started. Anyways, we got out of the train station and were greeted by the splendor of Amsterdam.

First stop was the hostel. I had heard that the uptown location of the Flying Pig Hostel was the nicer one so that is where we headed. We took the tram to the area where the hostel was, which by coincidence was where the Hard Rock Café of Amsterdam was, and walked to the Hostel. It turns out that the hostel was under renovation for the winter so we decided to head back to the downtown Flying Pig after a visit to the Hard Rock Café. Kate procured another pin for her dad and brother; we ate a lunch of nachos and fries and hopped on the tram back to where the other hostel is.

We rang the doorbell of the hostel and were buzzed in through the magnetically locked door. We were greeted by a reception area with a pool table, dark wooden furniture, a bar, and a light smell of a peculiar variety of smoke lingering in the air. Our bags were safely locked away in the lockers under our beds and we headed out to explore the city. Kate’s eyes had been lit up by the plethora of clothing shops around the hostel since we arrived in the area and now she let loose and visited shop after shop after shop. This continued for an hour so with Eric looking in places, with slightly less enthusiasm, for a jacket and pants. I however really had no need for more clothes so I half heartedly flipped through racks of shirts until it was time to move on. I really did however enjoy checking out the architecture of the area and watching workmen haul windows up the outside of buildings with suction cups, ropes and pulleys. The canals in Amsterdam are also really quite beautiful and really made me happy. Anyways after a while Eric and I decided to pull in the reigns on the shopping machine that is Kate. “OK Kate, only two more stores.” Kate agreed and we headed onwards to the next objective of the day, the botanical gardens. On the way whenever we would stop for more then a breath Kate darted into an adjacent store right after shouting “this one does not count.” Eventually we stopped for some food and Eric and I picked up some cake at a local bakery before going to the botanical gardens. Before we got there we stopped for some Haagen Daz ice cream.

I recommend the Amsterdam botanical gardens to anyone who has the pleasure of visiting this city. Eric and I wondered for a solid hour and a half between tropical rainforest, temperate forest, desert, and the outdoor garden. All the different climates were housed in different greenhouses separated by sliding doors. Above some of the gardens there were catwalks that looked down on the gardens. This really was a highlight of the trip for me. We eventually left this garden paradise to go back to the hostel for a nap.

Three hours of blissful sleep and we were up again ready to take on the town. We decided to check out the red light district. This was a good time, I will not go into great detail but the highlight of this part of the night was Kate eating a piece of banana off the bare chest of an Amsterdam stripper after beating her at meringue dancing. All that action made us all hungry so we grabbed a baguette sandwich before getting to bed.