Advertisement
Published: September 29th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Note: I wanted to keep a daily journal here, but my days and nights have just been too busy, or with limited internet, so I'm going to be abbreviating by location instead of day.
I've done a fair amount of crowd sourcing for things to do in Europe, so my list is pretty packed. So I was a bit worried when I arrived in Amsterdam and it was monsooning much like it does in Portland. So I spend the first afternoon/night resting.
The next morning I took the bus into Central Square, and of course traveled down Damrack. Here, I came across
Maos - a fast food vegetarian Mediterranean chain that serves huge falafel pitas with as many toppings and sauces that you want for $5. Remember this place because it was awesome!
Then The Red Light District - I first went immediately to the
Prostitution Information Center which is a sex workers right organization and infoshop. They also have a cafe, but unfortunately it was too early for them to be open. I then went to
The Prostitution Museum, Red Light Secrets, to learn about "
the world's oldest profession" in Amsterdam where it is still legal.
After walking around for hours, I finally
got smart and rented a bicycle, where I rode around for hours up and down streets, along canals, and finally came upon the
Torture Museum . This 5 story original Amsterdam house turned museum is a historical account of the devices from Medieval times up to the late 1800 century. Devices varied but were all intended as additional punishment to confinement, or public humiliation devices to be worn permanently for the duration of punishment. Others were ways of execution. Many of them were ways of controlling or torturing women who were outspoken or deemed to be witches, which made me a bit ill. So after that, I decided to get a drink at the closest place with outdoor seating.
Next I went to
Vagabond Cafe - a vegan diner and store by the Anne Frank house- where I had a great tofu scramble sandwich and stocked up on some breakfast foods and snacks for the next few days. I learned tofu isn't common here, so definitely go to this cafe for your soy fix.
I wanted to hit up an awesome formerly squatted space called the
Vrankrijik that was holding a benefit show for the
Blackmail 3, and they were going
to serve vegan food. But that meant me killing time in town for another 4 hours, and I was exhausted from walking/biking all over town. Not quite caught up with the 9 hours ahead of time.
Then I biked back to my hotel which was way out of town, out past Westerpark park, so I (literally) got lost in the park for a while, which I'm happy for. Beautiful park!
Next day I packed all my shit and headed across town on bike to a the diviest motel ever, the Paganini Hotel. However, the location is excellent and the cost was cheap. Plus it had a huge window that opened all the way, and I could sit on the ledge and smoke my expensive joint (from
Goa coffeeshop, a chill yet divey place serving a good variety) while people watching. I was super close to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, which were way out of my budget with lines too long, but the Museum Square is nice. They set up a flea market on most days.
I decided to hop on a
canal tour which was the best decision, however I picked the one that didn't serve
East Indiaman Amsterdam
A replica of a Dutch trading ship, docked at the NEMO building booze and so for that I was sad. You can open carry booze in bottles here.
Took myself out for some fun night life in Leidseplein. Went to
Eat at Jo's - which is attached to the
Melkweg music venue- for dinner, and made quick friends with the couple who run the restaurant. They are from Wisconsin, and they had a lot of advice for moving out of the States. They closed up shop and allowed me to stay for one more beer. Then on my way out, the owner suggests I head next door to check out the Surf Rock show, free of charge. After the show, all the bars were completely packed, so I headed home.
Next morning hopped on my bike and headed back into the Central. This was my last day, so I first visited the
Botanical Gardens, then went to the
Erotic Museum (wow!), got some more groceries, and then had dinner at
de Waaghals, a cute vegetarian restaurant walking distance to my motel. Good food, cute restaurant with cat and owl art, and a sweet restaurant cat :D
On to Frankfurt, Germany....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0586s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb