Amsterdam City Tour, Holland - January 3, 2003
We were only able to squeeze in one trip during the holidays, so we decided to go to a place that we had not yet visited. After reading through the Kabel, our locally produced USO magazine, we decided to go to Amsterdam, Holland (The Netherlands).
Don't be confused about the term Holland and the Netherlands, we were, but after reading this web site, we now know the difference.
We departed at 1:30 AM, Saturday morning on a packed German tour bus with Gail as the USO tour guide. This was our second tour with Gail, he is a very knowledge tour guide and does a wonderful tour. About six hours later we arrived at our breakfast stop near the outskirts of Amsterdam. Here we were able to see our first Windmill, but it was still pitch dark, so taking pictures was out of the question. After our buffet breakfast (included) we headed to our first stop, one of the oldest wooden-shoe makers in the area, Ratterman Wooden Shoes & Gifts. Corby bought herself a pair of wooden shoes along with a few nick knacks.
We then headed into Amsterdam where Gail took us on a quick walking tour including the Dam Square, Anne Frank's House, the Red Light District, the Royal Palace, and many other sights, museums, and shops.
Corby and I decided to visit the Anne Frank's house (the admission fee was €7.50 a piece). It was very interesting, click here to read more about Anne Frank. Next we decided to eat lunch at the Hard Rock Café, then it was a quick walk back to Dam Square where everyone was meeting that wanted a tour of the Red Light District and the outside view of a few coffee shops (they don't sell coffee in the coffee shops, but they sell soft drugs like marijuana and hash). Prostitution and the sell of soft drugs are legal and it is very prevalent in the Red Light District. Here you can find women sitting in the windows on display and marijuana growing in the coffee shops. Gail discouraged taking any pictures of the women, because they do not like it, so I did not take the chance (sorry guys!).
After our tour of the Red Light District, we had about three hours of free time. Corby and I walked around downtown and in and out of the little shops. Before we headed back to the bus pick-up point, we stopped at a pub and had a hot chocolate with rum and cream, boy was it good!
We arrived back in Kaiserslautern at 1:30 AM on Sunday morning (just a quick European 24 hour trip).