Day 159 to Day 163 - Why is it so hard to find a coffee shop that sells coffee?

Amsterdam - Swissotel Amsterdam

Once again we're falling behind in our blogging, so this post will be a wrap up of our time in Amsterdam. Since reaching Europe we've actually had trouble getting decent free internet, it's hard to believe that it's been easier to get free internet in Africa and Turkey than in Europe!

Day 159 - On our first full day we took a boat ride through the canals, apparently something everyone does. We took one of the larger "tourist" boats, with a recorded commentary in four languages, but we saw a lot of people doing it in much smaller boats, which we think might have been a better way to do it. After the canal ride we visited Anne Frank's house, the queue was very long, apparently it is always like that. The house (which was in an annex of the building behing the business) was actually bigger than expected.


Day 160 - Next day was a cultural/museum day - we took in the Rijksmuseum (lots of Dutch art, many painters including Rembrandt) and the Van Gogh Museum. After seeing so many paintings we were feeling a little too cultured, so we took a walk through the streets and amazingly found ourselves back in the red light district, not sure how that happened..... The red light district is quite surprising as it is all quite in your face, the girls are literally everywhere standing in the full length glass doors with red lights over the door. We were a little surprised that most of the girls are quite attractive and young (but not all of them ....). The smell of marijuana is everywhere, but surprisingly less than 5% of Dutch use it, much less than other countries where it is illegal. It is also interesting how many families with young children do the tourist thing wandering the streets of the red light district. The whole Amsterdam city area is chock full of tourists making it quite difficult to walk down the streets.

Delft

Day 161 - Our hotel is in such a great position it is easy to become lazy and just wander around Amsterdam but today we decided we needed to go further afield. First up we were surprised to find the city square outside our hotel so empty, we are used to having to squeeze through so many people and bicycles, maybe everyone had a big Saturday night. We caught the train to Haarlem and wandered around the quiet streets, such a contrast from Amsterdam. Not sure how much of it was related to it being Sunday. Being only 15 minutes from Amsterdam it is easy to see why it is a cheaper, quieter option to staying in the city. The town was cute but hard to get excited about after the buzz of the last few days so we boarded the train again this time heading to Delft. Once again we were surprised at how few people were around but enjoyed having lunch in the large, pretty city square before wandering the canals and catching the train back to the big smoke. We had been told before we arrived that the canals could be quite smelly but we didn't find that at all.

Day 162 - The weather before today had been a little disappointing - overcast, and at times cold and raining. However, today when we left the hotel the sun was out! Amsterdam had been transformed into a gorgeous city for sitting and enjoying the sights and that's what everyone seemed to be doing - so we joined in. Lunch was some of the Vlaamse frites (Flemish fries), which are sold all over town in cone shaped containers, which must be what the "Lord of the Fries" places in Melbourne are based on. Today we decided to take in the Jordaan area of town and walk further afield however like everyone else we end up finding a nice place to sit in the sun and watch the passing parade of tourists.

Day 163 - Another beautiful day but we really must start moving on so we spent some of the day researching Germany. We decided to book a train to Dusseldorf the next day, which is just over the border. It was tempting to hire a car but petrol is so expensive and most citys so far are pretty much car free making it very difficult to get around, with parking also quite expensive. Transport in Amsterdam is mainly bikes and trams, so it is quite rare to see a car. The other thing that is tricky in Amsterdam is finding a genuine coffee shop where we can get a decent latte or cappucino, there are lots of "coffee shops", just not the type we are looking for! It is also interesting how often we are mistaken for locals and asked for directions, they must be disappointed when we say sorry but we don't understand. Quite a number of times on this trip we've been taken as Germans for some reason, so we will see if that is the case when we hit Germany!