Amsterdam with Kat

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Yay! After 5 some-odd weeks apart, Kat's made it across the pond for a week-long stay. After picking her up at Schipol Airport, we went up to Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank house, Heineken Experience brewery tour, and of course walk around the 'scenic' red light district. Kat was less than impressed with the quality of the ladies who were out and about during the mid-afternoon hours, but hey, I guess if you're particularly lonely, the friendly lady with poor dental hygeine and fat rolls on her forearms might be the kind of company you're looking for.

The Anne Frank house was markedly crowded, but well worth it. The museum does a good job of relating the differnt parts of the house and relevant artifacts to the war history and personal story of the house's inhabitants. Of course, you get to crawl into the Secret Annex through the trick book shelf and see where Anne and 7 other had to hide. It was quite sobering, as one of the last exhibits you see after touring these people's living quarters are videos of the concentration camps and the actual index cards used to track their arrival and eventual deaths.

Needless to say, we were a bit bummed after the exhibit, and so we opted for the Heineken brewery to lift our spirits! At first we were a little taken aback by the lofty 10 Euro entrance fee, but then after realizing that the price included 3 Heinekens and a gold-rimmed glass in a tin case, we were pumped up and ready to go! The Heineken experience is an old brewery turned into a museum tour. Aside from being able to see all the massive beer-brewing facilities, one of the coolest parts was an interactive 'ride' where you get to see the entire bottling process fromt the point of view of a bottle. Lots of fun. Point of interest...did you ever notice that the 'e's on a Heineken label are slightly rotated to the cause them to look like they're smiling?

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Photos

Home of the smiling 'e's
So this picture is before Kat and I did the Heneken experience brewery tour...imagine how much more we were smiling 3 stout red stars later on the way out!

Inside the Heineken Experience
Imagine all those huge copper vessels full of Heineken...brings a tear to the eye doesn't it? Talk amongst yaselfs..I'm gettin' vaclempt.