My Life in London: lovely amsterdam

the amsterdam red lights

ok so i've been home a week and i totally forgot to blog. i've been busy trying to pack and arrange the return to canadia!

so last weekend, i went to amsterdam. i hadn't been there in ten years, and my memories of the place are restricted to the red light district and eating lots of fries with mayo and ketchup. you do the math.

this time was much different! and tons was done, so i'll break the blog down into 2 posts since SOME of you prefer shorter posts. i capitalize with love.

we got there quite late but as you know amsterdam, the party was just getting started. at our hotel by 11:30 pm, we head to the red light district and then down to dam square. if you're going to see the town and have little time to do it, these are probably your staples. all the tourists go there, but trust me when i say, this is not what amsterdam is about.

weaving our way through the red light district, our eyes were bombarded with many things...and i'm amazed at how so little has changed in the decade since i've been there. i saw the hotel beursstraat where ten years ago, me, heather, jasona, kelly and nhaia called 'home base' for the first few days we were there back in 2000. i can still remember the conversation with heather while sitting in the hotel courtyard (yes, there is one in the back) contemplating our ten year high school reunion. oh have times changed (for us, not amsterdam). we passed coffee shops selling any type of 'legal' high you can think of...and yes in quotes...technically its not legal, just tolerated in small dosages. there are sex shops, like nana's selling all sorts of paraphenalia to help women out if they need a bit of release, and shows where you can watch what i'm sure are unspeakable things whilst on stage.

of course though, there are the ladies in the red light district. clad in the tiniest of lingerie, they show the public their stuff waiting for someone to take them up on their offer. i'm always shocked to see there are some doors with the red light put out, indicating she's a busy woman. just because its legal, still doesn't make it right. another think i noticed was that most of the women looked like immigrants (not sure why i didn't notice that before) and they were at minimum, a size 14 (in US Sizes).

all this in the shadow of the old churches of amsterdam. it all made me feel kind of sad.

Sausages at the Midway

on our way out of the red light district we grabbed some fries with mayo and ketchup (i have no idea what their mayo is made of but its amazing) and we made our way to dam square. i anticipated seeing the war memorial and the palaces BUT...there was instead a midway with games and rides. i've never seen so much packed into such a small square...and then the surrounding environs was literally row upon row of bikes, who's owners were probably feasting on sausages, cotton candy, the amsterdam version of those little donuts...or playing impossible games that you just can't win, or maybe riding one of the few rides, getting ready to upchuck said sausages on the poor unsuspecting folks below.

the swings were amazing. so imagine going on the swings in calgary, only before you really get going, the swing arm raises about 25 stories off the ground.

i bet the view was amazing.