As I was walking through a shop I noticed that they had a bottle of absinthe, which is illegal in the US. So I grabbed it and headed back to my hotel room. Green in color this drink is often associated with green fairies and is rumored to lead to mild hallucinations, so I had to try it. It is also very strong at about 75% alcohol. I had a couple of glasses of it and I must say that it was disgusting. Hopefully the maid liked absinthe because I ended up leaving almost a full bottle when I left the hotel the next day.
The next couple of days I stayed closer to the downtown area in the King Hotel. Amsterdam has plenty to do and I spent most of my time just walking circles around the streets near the train station enjoying the canals, the people in the squares and street performers, and window shopping. I went to a store that had over 1000 varieties of beer (otherwise known as heaven), ducked through the red light district a couple of times, and enjoyed all sorts of street foods most notable fries with gobs of mayo. I did some constructive things too, the first being going to the Amsterdam Dungeon. About 5 years ago I had visited the London Dungeon and really thought that was fun so I would give the Amsterdam Dungeon a try. Basically it is like an informational haunted house. As a group of 30 or so you get shuffled around to different rooms where there are different stories told and things to scare you. Just like in London the characters interacted with you, frightening you and generally making people laugh with discomfort. It was really fun and at the end the Amsterdam Dungeon had something that the London Dungeon didn't, a roller coaster!
Later that afternoon I went to the My Dream Exhibition, which honestly at first I thought would be kind of lame. About 200 Van Gogh paintings had been retouched to show their original color and 7of them had been rendered in 3-D. Unfortunately I have lost all my pictures from this experience, but it was very cool. Besides seeing the bright colors of Van Gogh the 3d booths were neat. They looked like large photo booths so you would pull back the curtain and step inside. Once inside you put on your 3d glasses and view the painting with soundtrack which would play in a 2 minute or so loop. I found this video, but it doesn't do it justice. Van Gogh's My Dream Exhibition
After having seen the exhibition I thought I would then go and see the real Van Gogh paintings. I have been a fan of Van Gogh for a very long time and kind of felt like I was going to a concert where my favorite band was playing. The paintings at the museum were beautiful and I was very glad to spend the rest of the afternoon just shuffling from painting to painting.
As the museum would soon be closing I thought it best to move on to the Heineken factory. I joined a tour group and they showed us how Heneiken was brewed along with a couple of beers at the end. There were lots of neat things like a 4D experience of how Heineken makes their beer, an area where you could customize your bottle, where they keep the horses (apparently Heine has horses?)The experience was enjoyable and since I have recently started home brewing myself it was neat to see the industrial version of the 7 gallon buckets I use.
Having had a few beers it was time to go see Anne Frank's house. Unfortunately by the time I got there the line was very long and I didn't think it worth it to wait to see what would basically be an old house. Sorry Anne Frank, you were a brave little girl but there was a dinner/beer special around the corner from your former house.
More or less that encapsulates my time in Amsterdam. I really enjoyed it and would like to go back again some day to see a bit more of the city and perhaps take some day trips to the surrounding country side. Onward to Norwich, England!
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