May 18 Amsterdamn it!! Part 2 & May 19 I AMsterdam

Continuing
After Anne Frank´s house, I decided to try my luck in getting to the Tropanco museum before it closed. No such luck. And what made it even better was that the last canal bus was what dropped me off there. So I took a few pictures of ducks and walked back to museum place where the hostel was located and stopped at the first pedestrian bridge in Amsterdam. I was essentially exhausted by dinner and headed over to a nice Chinese place located in the RLD (which I hear is being closed down). Fortunately, the Brits had left only to be replaced by NAZI saluting, goose stepping drunk Germans and I promptly got the hell outta there by tram (I still hadn´t figured out the secret to making them stop. I just got lucky that someone needed to stop at museumplatz.).

May 19
I woke up around 9:00 to the lovely sounds of one of the owners telling me that I had to checkout soon even though I explained to him that I left the next day. I left the hostel around 12:00 mainly to take some pictures of the American International Hotel which is built in the Art Noveau style and where can have a cup of coffee that costs as much as a pair two toned spectators (Birthday present. Hint, hint.) (in English, no place I would ever eat without going Dutch with the bill.). I went back to Rembrandt square to see if I could get a better shot of me being strangled by one of the guards but no dice. From there I went straight to the Heineken Experience which I did not get to experience because it is being renovated until Summer 2008. Disappointed, I headed to lunch in some restaurant where the waiter made me eat my vegetables (I´m not joking.) I also got to eat a Dutch something or other. I can´t remember the name but it´s basically a meat pastry wrapped in bread and dipped in mustard (The description is the result of a very hungry and tired student. A better one will be posted later in the trip if I can remember.) After lunch, I went to the House of Bols which is basically you going through a small history of the company while getting a free cocktail of your choice at the end. (Cool fact: Rembrandt donated a painting to the tavern in order to pay off his tab.) I tried eading to the Tropancoe museum but as luck would have had, the place would be closed by the time I had arrived there and decided to enjoy the canal bus back to my hostel where I later went for some more Chinese at the RLD.

Thus, ends my Amsterdamn Adventure.
Next: Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Salamanca

Term: Canal Bus
The canal bus is essentially a form of transportation that you pay 18€ for a day pass that expires at 12:00 the next day. It travels to the most famous museums and monuments. Think of it as the DC metro system but with a tour guide giving explainations in various languages. I used the canal bus to get me to the central station when I left my hostel.

Tickets
From my experience in Amsterdam, buying tickets seem to be optional. The officials don´t check to if you have them and don´t seem to care if you do or don´t. I´d recommend them for the trains that take you from the airport to the central station but I´ve managed to get away with free riding on public transportation since I´ve been putting myself on a tighter budget after I´ve left.

Show me the €€€
Museums are not free. Nor are they cheap. Neither are ATM machines or pretty much anything here in Europe. Spain has been kinder to me because student discounts are offered but compared to the subsidized places we have in the States, there are still not cheap (Private museums such as Newseum, International Spy Museum have been excluded for this comparison.) Furthermore, never use a vending machine in European airports. I´ve been screwed over twice without any warning and I don´t like it one bit.)

I´m also feeling a lot better now and can cut back on things like drinking juice and water which are also expensive.

PS
I still never found out how to stop the f*cking tram.