Word of the day!

Smakelijk - which means savoury, tasty or appetizing

People say this to me everyday when I sit down for a meal or when the server at a restaurant is leaving us with our food.  They say "Smakelijk" and it is like saying enjoy your meal.

Valkenburg

A couple months ago we went to Valkenburg and went into some limestone caves and did a mountain biking tour and then to the ruins of an old castle.  Here are just some pictures of our trip. 

Amsterdam

 Jared and I went to Amsterdam for the first time six months after we got to the Netherlands, but better late than never.  We loved it.  The city is very busy and there are tons of people.  We stayed in a hotel just outside the city and our hotel was amazing. We had a comfy bed, nice bathroom with a tub even Jared could fit in, cheap parking, and just a quick ride into the city on the tram.  Once we dropped off our bags we met up with some friends that lived in the area.  We met up with them at Leidseplein, a nice square at the top of all the shopping streets. 

Our friends, Gideon and Minke, showed us around the city bringing us to see the canals, shopping streets, and even the red light district.  The canals were beautiful with lots of nice bridges and there were a few big open squares with thousands of people.  There were so many boats and the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm.  Walking through the red light district was quite a bit different than I expected.  I was told all about it before we went.  They told me all about the girls standing in the windows trying to get men walking by to come in for a quickie.  Now my thought was the windows were like old broken down shop windows that the girls stood in and lured in men and then I don’t know what.  But in reality I was so wrong.  There are doors specifically made for these girls with red canopies above them.  There were rooms with beds behind them or up a set of stairs or right behind a door in their room.  The girls wore skimpy bathing suits that didn’t leave much to the imagination and danced and showed off in their doors. When men came up they told them how much and they did their business right in that room and there’s a sink to wash up and everything.  I couldn’t believe it.  You obviously are not supposed to take pictures of the girls and all that but I did snap this one below to show you all the actual doors. 

Red Light District doors

Jared and I read up a little about what the red light district before we went and we found out some interesting things.  Here are some of the things we read:

It was legalized in 1810 in the Netherlands.

The prostitutes can pay anywhere from €75 - €150 per every eight hour shift for their spot, depending on the location.  One thing Jared and I found was that the “prime real-estate” which must cost more money was where all the pretty and young girls were and the windows that were farther outside the center had the older and much less attractive women. 

The typical cost for a quickie is about €50.

The duration of a typical encounter with a prostitute is about 15 minutes.

Most clients come from Great Britain.

The prostitutes pay taxes, have a union, and it would be rare to find a prostitute that doesn’t use condoms although it is not the law to wear them.  

They are not required to have a medical check-up, and it is illegal to pimp or traffic prostitutes.

If a patron gets violent, the prostitutes quarters are equipped with a button that activates a light outside and if the police get there before the Hells Angels do, I would say they're pretty lucky.   

Lastly, the red light came from women carrying them to the ports where the sailors came in, in the early 1300’s.  The red light is flattering - makes your skin and teeth sparkle.

 

Anyway, after walking through the red light district we went through Amsterdam’s Chinatown and walked around a bit more and stopped at a cute café for a drink.  When we sat down, Gideon sat right next to a cat that what on his bench sleeping and he didn’t say anything - like it was normal.  About 10 minutes later I noticed it and he said it had been there the whole time.  Crazy.  Gideon and Minke had plans that night so we walked them back to the Leidseplein square and said goodbye. 

 

We walked around a bit more and then headed for the Heineken Brewery.  We got to see how they brewed the beer, how it has changed over the years, how they bottled it and how to properly drink a beer.  We saw a bunch of the movies where they had used Heineken  and a bunch of the commercials. 

Their different labels

The bottling process.

The tasting room.

Made from bottles with lights behind them.

With our free beers we get at the end.

 

After the Brewery we met up with another friend, Kawin, and we headed back to Chinatown to a Thai place for dinner.  It was very good. We headed to a comedy show at a place called Boom Chicago where they did all improv.  It was very similar to the tv show "Whose Line is it Anyways".  They have specific skits that they do probably every time but they use everything the audience gives them.  So they asked for occupations, hobbies, places and a bunch of other things and you yelled out things.  If you gave a great answer, they gave you a shot and then they used your topic in their skit and it was hilarious.  I hope that before we leave, we get to go again.  Jared sometimes was laughing so hard he was crying.  It was great!

At Dinner at a place called Bird

 

Because of the great weather and our friends we ended up having a great time. 

The next day the weather was not as good.  It rained and was a bit cooler but we walked all over the city.  We took a canal cruise which ended up being better than expected.  You get to see all the pretty bridges, other boats, house boats, and even the floating Dutchman which was a real bus floating in the water.  It was incredible.  You get to see everything in a different perspective from the water as well.  We also saw the skinniest apartment which was about 2 meters wide or 6 ft wide… what can you even put in that! After that we walked in circles all around and then headed back for our drive back.  We had a great time!! 

Facts are thanks to our Lonely Planet Amsterdam City Guide.   

Lovers was the canal we went on... how cute!

The floating bus... The floating Dutchman

 

The smallest apartment was 2 meters wide... crazy!