Diary of Rob Szumlakowski

So, I checked out of the Amstel Botel, and pulled my heavy suitcase into town and checked into the Hotel Winston. This hotel was cheaper, but had bigger rooms, and included breakfast! The room also had a balcony, but it was shared with the all the other rooms on that floor, which was kind of wierd. If you looked over the edge of the balcony, you could see an alleyway down that below that was part of the Red Light District. You could often hear lots of shouting and laughing down there at all hours of the day. The view out the window is kind of scummy... but that's the Red Light District for ya!




Here's the view of the street right outside the front of my hotel. You probably can't make it out in these pictures, but that yellow sign in the second picture is the Gay Cinema. Classy.



I tried to make change for my second 500 Euro bill today. They must not have trusted me, since they wouldn't change it for me at the hotel. I just wanted smaller bills! The suggest I go to this travel agency thing at the train station. They changed it there, but they charged me 5 Euros for it. That sucked. I like it much more in Cologne where they just took it at the CD store.

Anyways, I would continue my scheme of museums and stuff during the day and drinking and stuff during the night. The first place I went to today was the Maritime Museum. The inside of this museum was okay... the cool part was the full-scale replica of a 17th century V.O.C. ship, The Amsterdam, outside.



SWAB THE DECK!



It's crazy how small some of the decks are. In the captain's quarters, I had to watch my head, or I would bump into the timbers in the roof. (ARRRRR!) In the captain's dining room deck, I had to walk crouched over!


SHIVER ME TIMBERS!


AVAST YE LANDLUBBERS, OR I'LL KEELHAUL YA!


Continuing with the theme of boats and stuff, I took a canal cruise. It was an hour long. As always, there was a collection of screaming children right beside me.





For dinner I went to this Italian food restaurant and had Penne with this creamy sauce and pieces of sweet potatoes. I'm really into sweet potatoes lately. Whether they be in sushi or pasta, they are good. They're like candy... in potato-form!!!

That night I found my way to The Absinthe. This bar had six types of absinth on the menu, and apparantly they make it themselves? I tried a few of the kinds. They did the whole ritual with the fancy spoon, and the sugar and the fire. They were definitely tasty... much better than the absinth I bought in Prague. That stuff tasted like some kind of mix between windshield washer fluid and turpentine. The bar was pretty small, filled up quickly, and played good music. Unfortunately the absinth drinks were REALLY expensive. After a while I decided to stop wasting my money and got out of there!

Finally, some comments on the Red Light District. It was an interesting place to walk around at night. It's extremely crowded.... filled to the brim with tourists staggering and gawking around. Many of the streets have these tiny little apartments rented out by prostitutes who stand in the windows and beckon to the passers-by. Often, there's crowds of young male tourists shouting at each other and clapping on each other on the back and encouraging each other, saying things like "Go for it, dude!" Much of this shouting can be heard from my balcony window. It was tiresome after a while... maybe it is a sign of age! The district is also a den of coffee shops (places to buy and smoke marijuana), sex shops, and other questionable places. It's a pretty seedy place. During the mornings, there was so much garbage on the streets that had to get cleaned up.

So... the Red Light District is a pretty unique place. It has to be seen to be believed, but its kind of scummy...