Strolling along the canals of Amsterdam

Well today was another busy day of sightseeing! It’s interesting how Amsterdam can in many areas be so classy and nice but in others be the sleaziest of all sleaze. Anyways I went to the nicer area today and had quite a bit of fun. I went by the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum but decided just to look at them from the outside cause to be honest I’m kind of getting sick of touring through museums! I also went by the Anne Frank’s sight which was quite nice but very commercialized. I went by all the other famous attractions here like the Nationaal Monument, Muntplein Tower, and Koninkliijk Palace. All of them were quite nice. I also went by the Hash Marihuana Hemp Museum and Sex Museums but opted not to go to them cause um, they didn’t seem too interesting for me! I also went by a monument called ‘HomoMonument’ which I had thought was a play on words or a bad translation but surprise surprise it wasn’t! I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked considering how tolerant Amsterdam is to that kinda stuff though. Basically it was a triangle of ceramics built on the canal to remember those who were persecuted for their way of living. After that I walked around the shopping areas for a while (very tempted to buy some things but didn’t) and then slowly made my way back to the hotel. I also tried some of Amsterdam’s famous (and delicious) French fries with mayonnaise. On my way back I went through the Red Light sleaze and oddly enough walked by a gang of Japanese tourists! Oh man these guys travelling in their HUGE groups are everywhere hahaha. There’s nothing wrong with Japanese tourists or anything, in fact I think they’re great, but they stand out soooooo much when they travel in such big groups! It was a little weird though seeing them taking pictures, given the distasteful area in Amsterdam we were in. Now the girls there were VERY good looking don’t get me wrong! BUT taking pictures of them while they were looking for um I guess you can call it “work” really didn’t make much sense to me. Anyways I had a nice dinner at a Tibetan restaurant I found (I love Tibetan food!) and then went back to the hotel (eventually!) to do some work. Another day done and we head for Rotterdam tomorrow. I must say though it’s really interesting to see how Amsterdam some how is a mix of great class with lots of arts/culture and at the same time filled with low life sleaze. Oh yeah -- I forgot to mention that there are hoards of pigeons that fly around near the Koninkliijk Palace and walking by there without getting hit by THEM has been a real adventure everyday and also not getting run over by the MANY bikers here has also been fun.