May 18 Amsterdamn it!

From the writer
Unfortunately, there were a minor details that I left out from the previous post which I would have liked to include. First, in the Red Light District which covers pretty much all of Amsterdam's center has public urinals located near canals every few yards or so. I'll post a picture when I get my cell phone to cooperate with me. Second, future posts will be summarized giving the broadest of possible details because I really don't want to write everything down and give away everything that might be interesting. Third, there is no third minor detail. Now back to Amsterdam.

About the Dutch
The Dutch are some of the nicest, beautiful people in the world. And I'm not exaggerating either. They really do look like magazine models who wear all fashionable clothing that gives a sort of unreal appearance. But, we all know how beautiful the Dutch can be so let's move in. Everyone in Amsterdam speaks either German, English or French or and sometimes Spanish. So if you get lost and can speak in either in one of those tongues, you should be okay, the Dutch are more than willing to help a lost tourist find his place. Furthermore, the preferred mode of transportation here is bicycle or moped. The streets have areas marked for bicycles but unsuspecting tourists are liable not to notice these and may be run over.

May 18
Sharing a room with someone who has sleep apnea is not fun. The experience can be compared to trench warfare during WWI. First, there's the loud bombardment followed by a moment of silence which is closely followed by the sound of machine gun firing in short bursts until everything is quiet again and repeats as needed. Fortunately, my headphones are noise canceling (dampening more like) and I managed to get at least three hours of sleep. The three Canadians and Australian were planning to check out the following day and move to a better hostel. Personally, I was happy with the location and given the free wifi and breakfast, it was cheapish. After taking a shower, I ate a small breakfast (a sweet multi-vitamin drink that tasted horrible) and headed off to the Van Gogh museum. Unfortunately, there was long line and I figure I could always come back later.

Double Dutch Filling
I headed to the Rijk Museum which was the museum of Dutch culture. In other words, Dutch art and sculptures or sculptures and art owned or created by famous Dutch people such as the fine China owned by William and Mary of Orange (yes, those people). Don't let the tone fool, I actually liked the museum especially the Rembrandt exhibit which featured his famous portrait, The Night Watch. I have a written version of the audio tour in my possession so if you wan to see it, feel free to ask. I returned to the hostel to drop off my purchases and then had lunch with my hostel mates at cafe that was nearby. After lunch, I headed to the Van Gogh museum to see if the line had gotten shorter, which it hadn't. Fortunately, there was another tourist had accidentally bought an extra ticket and was willing to sell it to me at a reduced price of 5 Euros. Now, you may be thinking that the story ends with the ticket being a fake. Well, it wasn't. Once inside the Van Gogh museum, I did what every American tourist would do. I searched for Starry Night. However, I couldn't find it and forced myself to look at his earlier work which was interesting. Especially his work with the peasantry. However, his pointillism era would've been more interesting if I was high.

The Secret Attic (Or better known as Anne Frank's Diary)
After having my fill of art for the day, I left for Anne Frank's House which was located on the other side of the city and the only way (that I knew at the time) to get there was by tram. Fortunately, someone else had to get at the stop nearest the house so I decided to hoof it on foot from there. Apparently the numbers on houses are sort of weird. On one end of the canal are all the evens but on the other side of the canal aren't the odd numbers that go in-between them. Luckily, I know how to use map and used my trusted Black-sense to get me in the right direction.

I hate to say this but I was largely disappointed with the Anne Frank museum. This may have been because the place was under renovation but it all was bare rooms with display cases filled with reproductions instead of the originals. there was also the overpriced gift shop which didn't help any with my expenses. The thing is that the place felt bare and sterile compared to the other museums. There were a few pictures and documents about the Franks as well as the people who helped them but it felt empty to me for some reason like there was so much more that could've been said and done. (To be continued some other date and post.)