I'm trying to think where I last left off.
Okay, so we were staying relatively near the Central Station, conveniently bordering the red light district. Or not convenient, depending on your view on things (I was not really a fan, I must admit). After dropping of our things we went out in search of food, just wandering around in alleys trying to find a place that looked decent. And by alleys I suppose I mean roads. Everyone rides bikes in Amsterdam because there's just no place to actually take your car. It's honestly amazing that anyone would even attempt driving there. So about two canals later we are walking along and start seeing the infamous women of Amsterdam in their windows. This wouldn't have been too weird except I wasn't expecting to see them. And to suddenly find myself so close to them. I should also note that in this particular neighborhood, the majority of people on the streets (by far) are men. And groups of men. Lots of groups of Englishmen as far as I could tell (I'm pretty sure there were more Brits in that part of town than Dutch people, by a substantial amount). So yes, there were women standing in windows with little red lights above them. Some looked bored. I felt bad for them.
Eventually we found food in the form of an Argentinian restaurant. There are a lot of Argentinian restaurants in Amsterdam. They outnumber Dutch places at least 10 to 1. But we went there and it was basically a meat and potatoes enterprise, but it was quite tasty. After dinner we managed to take a very long confusing walk through the city over some more canals to, well, I don't know where we were exactly, but it was much less seedy. We went into one place and there were two other people in there. They asked where we were from. They were from Seattle (although one lived in Everett). What are the chances. Anyways, a bit later in the evening, back in the seedy part of town I couldn't help but notice that my purse had managed to disappear. So then we got to go to the Dutch police station. By the way, they carry guns. And they all speak English!
That was my first evening in Amsterdam.
5 comments:
i would just like to add that there about 4 argentine steak houses and that the groups of englishmen were intertwined with shocked looking middle aged women with their forty year old husbands going 'crap' where do i look! as well as the numerous american youths who were there im guessing as they can drink and smoke pot legally.
Also just to say that this story gets a lot more interesting...
I'm waiting for the whole story, but she just keeps dragging me along! I'm not a play thing.
So... what were these women wearing?
Should I take Amsterdam off my "must see" list?
Kelly--I hope you had a nice trip over the pond.
talk about a cliffhanger...hurry up with part 3 :-)
The women in general were not wearing much. Generally they were wearing lingerie of varying skimpiness.
Post a Comment