Europe Day 3
Europe Day 3
Well, I got up bright and early, checked out, and made it to the rondeveus point on time. I met up with others on my trip, and got everything straight for the departure. We got on the bus headed for the Dover port so we could get on a ferry. During the bus ride, the group had some time to bond – at least the more rambunctious part of the group that occupied the rear portion of the bus. So that was good, we got on the ferry and bought some “American” food. Definitely not American, they named their sandwiches after American cities (I guess trying to exemplify that city). The sandwich wasn’t good and definitely did not make American food some worthwhile.
After eating, we got back on the bus and awaited our chance to get off the ferry. We were on the road again, headed to Amsterdam. After about four more hours of driving we reached our hotel in Amsterdam, checked in, had dinner, and then went out for a little cruise around the canals. The cruise consisted of a little over an hour of open bar on a glass covered boat navigating the canals of Amsterdam. This little cruise was not informative at all, but was lots of fun and a great time for the whole of the group to bond a little. Several members of the group managed to get a bit wasted during this time. This made for an interesting rest of the night. We were given about an hour to explore the city a little before the bus would leave to head home. But myself and others determined we would pay for public transportation to get back home because we wanted to stay out and see the city.
So of course we headed to the “Red Light” district. Apparently world famous. I also learned that there are pretty much no laws here in Amsterdam. We first went to a place called “The Grasshopper” – this place was simple an establishment that sells weed and hash. Quite a big place with a decent selection of the various varieties of weed and hash. Others in my group were looking for “brownies” which the Grasshopper didn’t have, so we left for a “Coffee Shop” a block away. It turns out that “Coffee Shop” here is actually a place that sells weed and other drugs, while a “Cafe” is actually the place that will sell coffee. We made it to this coffee shop where others promptly ordered “brownies”. We sat down and waited for those people to finish the brownies. After the brownies were finished and we said goodbye to the potheads we met in the place, we headed to the Red Light district. This I thought was very intriguing.
Walking past the buildings along the canal, I would look into glass doors and windows so see girls in bikinis beckoning myself and other guys I was with to come in. Considering, I have never seen a prostitute in real life before, this was something new to me. I could walk down a block and have my selection of 15-20 prostitutes. All I would have to do is walk up, get right in the windows and take a look what is there, I could even ask a price I believe (I never got that close). Above all the windows and doors was red light of sorts, that the sluts would turn on if they are available and would be off if they were currently “occupied”. So after seeing what the Red Light District was like, part of the group split up where two guys wanted to stay in the prostitute area while the rest of us wanted to go to a club.
Being a Sunday night, there wasn’t a lot going on, but we found a club that was supposed to be good. Turns out we got there early apparently and we were the only people there. The girls (and their respective men) danced for a little while, before Star’s weed and alcohol began to take over. After a little while she got up on the bar and started dancing, and I must say she is a pretty good dancer. This went on for a while, and eventually she took off her belt and threw that down. Then she began to tease a little by pulling her shirt up slightly. This could be seen through the windows outside causing the bouncer to come in to watch as well as a few more customers. But, Star calmed down before she got too risqué and got off the bar. She then was in a really drunk/high state and didn’t know what she had done five minutes prior. This is when we thought we should probably head home soon, plus the night wasn’t that exiting otherwise.
After much trouble we found public transportation. We were at the wrong bus stop at first and then had to pay 4 Euros to ride the bus. The bus was packed with Contiki people from our tour and other tour that was staying at the same place. We got off at the right place, walked for a little while in the cold, the immediately went to bed. An interesting first night in Amsterdam I must admit, but tomorrow will be a lot of fun considering we get the whole day to explore.
