Crooked buildings and nudy people!
Trip Start
Jun 17, 2009
1
8
36
Trip End
Jun 21, 2009
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Unlike yesterday and our failed attempt at the walking tour, we were a whopping 3 minutes early!!! We started the tour and headed for Dam Square (one of the main squares of the city) and while we were standing there with our tour guide, I got a light bump on gens...before I had time to get angry I realize it was Dustin van Duin! (a good friend from Seattle) He and his sister (Tori) are also on a European adventure and this was there first day here. They hung with us on the tour, where we learned a lot about the city (namely the red light district). We learned that the buildings all leaned because of the silt below the foundation, how there were hooks extending from the roof tops to lift furniture up a level when it flooded, and that the actually built a slant into the building to keep furniture from scrapping the facade for 200 years before the realized that a longer beam at the top would do the same thing. After we got about 2/3 of the way through the tour we broke off and headed for the Anne Frank House. This turned out to be a long line, so we decided not to wait.
We decided to head back to Dustin's hostel so they could check in. On the way we saw a cool old church with a giant organ. After Dustin and Tori checked in we grabbed a bear (Tori's first legal one!) at a nearby bar. While sitting in the bar we had front row seating of one of the red light girls, and it became a bit of a game seeing who would go in.
After the bar we found another bar...only this one served food as well! We had another round and some food. By this time, we (Amanda and I) needed to head to the train station. We activated our Eurail passes and headed for Berlin. Stopped in Hanover on the way and transfered to a high-speed train (which really move! upwards of 85 or something).
After getting into the Berlin Central Station we wandered around the huge complex looking for someone...anyone who could speak english. We tried calling our couch surfing host, but got no answer (turns out she gave us the wrong number). We managed (with lots of hand gestures and a combination of languages) to figure out where we were going. We made it to Marion's (our Berlin couch surfing host) appartment. It was a bit sketchy walking down the dark, unpopulated street to her house. Then, while standing outside of the appartment building, we realized oh crap, what is her last name (all of the buzzing buttons were labled by the persons last name). Let me point out that we did NOT have her phone number. So here we are on some dark deserted street, no contact with our host, and no last name. Then by the power of Zeus, she looked out of her window, saw us, buzzed us in, and we made it!!! Unbelievable.
All was well. Got our own comfortable room and went to bed. Another thing to point out is that Ramona (the gps) absolutely saved us...again. Confirmed we caught the right tram to Marion's neighborhood and led us through the dark to her doorstep. This would have been a disaster without it. Case and point: I highly suggest one to anyone who is travelling in a foreign country.
~Ryan
