Nerds at Large: Travels with Steph & Nate: June 2014

Sleeping for only a few hours a night is no way to prep yourself to write a travel blog, but it's an awesome way to experience all that a city like Amsterdam has to offer. This is my halfhearted apology to my family and friends who have been waiting for updates. If you're on facebook , you've probably seen some of the photos. Nate's posted some here, too, without commentary, because I am a lazy beotch.

We arrived at Schipol Airport early on Wednesday morning. None of us slept much on the flight, so we were totally on the strugglebus for much of the day. We are hard core, though, and after dropping our bags at the lovely little Hotel Aalders, we headed out to see the city.

Amsterdam is a YOUNG city. Everyone seems hip and young. The men mostly have very perfect hair and seem to spend a lot of time manscaping. The women are tall and dress like the cast of "Girls." There are few elderly people here. And, it is a city run by cyclists. There are many more bicycles than cars, and the pecking order in terms of transportation begins with cyclists at the top of the food chain, followed by pedestrians, and then by motorists. Bike lanes are ubiquitous and clearly marked, sometimes with their own traffic lights. And, unlike Chicago, in Amsterdam the bike lanes are sacred; walkers and cars best beware, because the bike shall not give way.

Of course, Nate found theApple store:

First we wandered over to Vondelpark, a beautiful green space full of walking and bike paths. We stopped at 't Blauwe Theehuis, a cafe in Vondelpark. None of us had slept much and we all sorely needed coffee.

We hopped on a Blue Boat canal boat tour, which was a really easy, pretty way to get our bearings in the city. The canals are quite small, the boats are long and narrow and low, and the overhead clearance for a 6’ standing man under some bridges had to be only about a foot. The canals and bridges, and the buildings that frame them are beautifully old and unique.

We also decided to visit the Red Light District on our first day. This much talked about tourist attraction is full of buildings with tiny street-facing windowed rooms, with women standing in them soliciting business. Each room has a curtain that may be pulled when it's...business time. The red light district is also jammed with bars, kind of cheesy restaurants, and "coffeehouses," (aka places you can buy and smoke weed). There was a huge theatre with a massive line outside of it and a large neon sign. My dad thought it was some kind of restaurant, and said to Nate, "That must be a really good restaurant! Look at that line!" It was the line to buy tickets for a live sex show. Haaa! Welcome to the Red Light District. The women in the windows mostly look bored, though a few try to put on a little show for what seems to be mostly tourists roaming through this area. If you want to buy a sex toy or actual sex, this is where to go, I guess. Photographs are "forbidden" in this area, but if you know Nate then you'll know that there is no such thing as a forbidden photo. Whether it's the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or a whore in a window, nobody tells Nate he can't take a picture. Of course, that didn't stop one of the ladies who saw Nate's big camera. She pounded on the glass of her window, opened it, and started screaming at Nate in Dutch. It was time to move on down the street!

We were good sports on Day 1 and saw a lot, but it was like a death march getting back to the hotel. So tired! Good fun, though, and Day 2 would bring more adventures.