Finally, we GET up at a decent hour (thanks to the ol' wake up call trick)! We leave the cozy cloud bed to go be tourists. We had plans to purchase an Amsterdam Pass in order to tour the musuems, see some historical buildings, and take a canal boat ride through Amsterdam.
We took Tram 4 on Damrak to Centraal Station. That's where they sell those passes: across the street in the Amsterdam Tourist Office. We wait in a short queue, paid € 32,00 for 2 passes and soon we were on our way.
[sidenote: check out this Yorkie we saw driving a really tiny miniature car]
1st stop: Breakfast.
We wandered around Prinsengracht looking for The Pancake Bakery, but to no avail...couldn't find it. Little did we know, Anne Frank's Huis was across the canal. Anyways, on the corner of Leidsestraat is this amazing cafe (sorry, don't remember the name) where we had dope caramel & bacon/cheese pancakes.
My hot chocolate was rich & delicious. I sipped it slowly as I fell more in love with the city. My girlfriend sipped her coffee as we mapped out our plan of action for the day. But the first thing we have to do (naturally) is SMOKE! We previously had arrangements to meet a friend of hers from New York at the Greenhouse Effect. We were supposed to take a "special trip" to the Van Gogh museum, but no more psilocybin for the both of us...so we figured we'd meet up for a 'moke.
Met a couple of silent blokes along the way as well...
2nd Stop: Greenhouse Effect
This stop was brief, but potent. Waited a half hour for my girlfriend's pal to show, but no luck. Its pretty hard meeting up without a cellphone. We smoked furiously, trying to rid ourselves of the Cannibus Cup winning buds we had accumulated, for we would be going to London tommorrow. Didn't want to have anything to "declare".
3rd stop: Amstelkring Museum
This museum is located in the oldest part of Amsterdam (which just so happens to be The Red Light District). Basically, its a church inside a house on Oudezijde Voorburgwal preserved since the 1800's.
We managed to get some nice shots inside:
And through the window:
4th Stop: Oude Kerk
Oude Kerk is the oldest building in Amsterdam. It was built in the 14th Century and has amazing architechural value. The organ inside was massive. The stained glass windows were very vibrant & colorful. The floor was comprised of these huge black stone slabs ingraved with religious etchings dating back to 1366. And let me not forget to mention, the reverb acoustics in there was splendid. Check it out:
5th Stop: Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is located in Vondelpark. Here's a part of the museum & park to get a feel for what it looks like:
We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Van Gogh Museum, but here are some of the famous paintings we saw in real life:
After intaking all of that wonderful famous artwork, we were hard pressed to come up to try and find something as picturesque. The only thing we could fathom was a sunset canal boat tour through the city. Here are some of the views we captured:
After the hour boat trip, we were famished so we made our way to the one Italian restaurant that gave us a discount for using the Amsterdam Pass: La Madonna @ Nieuwendijk 33. We were treated to more of a Turkish spin on Italian food (our garlic bread was pita bread). And the spices were more exotic that the normal palatable fare you come to expect from Italian, but we didn't care.
At this point, it was getting a little late. We managed to walk past 100 coffeeshops on the way to the hotel. We had a big day tommorrow...we would be visiting London for the first time. We had an early flight, so we retired early & turned our room into a makeshift coffeeshop. Goodnight Amsterdam...these first four days have been truly exciting and overwhelming. We hope London can compare in greatness and look forward to returning to Amsterdam for New Year's Eve! :-)
