Amsterdam

HALLO! as they say in Holland! (which we learned was the western area of the Netherlands) This region includes our first out of town European excursion to Amsterdam. Just as a preface, I'm not going to do this weekends events justice with just one blog posting but hopefully WILL cover enough for you to get a sense of how surreal Amsterdam is (with the aid of some pictures of course)

After leaving for London Heathrow airport at 5AM Friday morning with only a backpack and a purse, we checked in well before take off. Therefore we were able to stop in a chain restaurant called GIRAFFE for a proper (and cheap) English breakfast. Scored a plastic giraffe figurine in my mango morning smoothie while wearing my new giraffe shirt. it was a calling to go there..

Our flight took off and one of the most beautiful things encapsulated the window:

SUN. This may seem like a minor detail of the whole trip but seeing the sun lifted my spirits, energy, and adrenaline for what we were about to enter into..

After walking down the airport terminals through customs and baggage claim, we were ready to hit the ground running for adventure. But as we turned the corner where people wait for their friends and family, it was like nothing I'd ever seen. In Hawaii, family and friends wait with leis, hugs, and kisses to give to the arrivals but Amsterdam nearly made me tear up: Entire families had balloons, huge quilted signs, a video camera, entire matching outfits on, all welcoming their loved ones home. It was one of the most incredible images of love I'd seen; really, it reminded me of Love Actually when everyone gets off the plane and is greeted by a loving crowd. I wish I had a picture of it but that was the first of many surreal Amsterdam moments

After our cab ride to Hotel Crystal, just outside of the heart of the city, we got freshened up to find some food of course. Just down the road from us was The Bulldog coffeehouse and bar so we sat down for some well needed food and culture. We found our way to the Van Gogh Museum after trudging through the cold rain (14 Euro for future travelers; pay on Card because everywhere else in the city only accepts cash).

Me posing with Starry Night outside at some store after Van Gogh

After spending a good 20 minutes in the bottom floor looking at some of the most amazingly detailed, three-dimensional and triple layered pictures, we realized we weren't even looking at Van Gogh's art..a pleasant surprise because his paintings were spectacular upstairs, my favorite was called Almond Blossom below, it was fantastic in person:

After our Van Gogh experience we found our way to the Iamsterdam life size lettering to take a few pictures. While my camera battery died, I did get some from my friends. After this photo shoot we decided to take a nap break at our hotel since we had been running on very little sleep and an early morning.

For dinner we headed closer in town at a small Italian restaurant that had an incredible "Amsterdam Pizza" which i devoured along with a Heineken, the only alloted alcohol into my system for the weekend because when in Amsterdam..you drink Heineken's. But also in Hawaii, Heineken is king. Here's a picture of us out at dinner in the cozy corner:

I'm still on Friday night which is crazy because it felt like time flew by. We then headed down to the infamous Red Light District where we met up with our other guy friends who were staying in a hostel closer to the center of the city.

After walking around the main Red Light Area and popping into a couple of coffeehouses, we all met up to go to a sex show..because..when in Amsterdam, you have to see one of these interesting shows. Apparently there are a few venues to see the shows at, we asked the local constables for some guidance (of all people!) and wound up at Casa Rosso.

Really it was much more entertaining than I thought it would be for 30Euro. There were 8 "acts" and well, you'll have to go see it to believe it but that was another surreal experience in this amazing city. I haven't even gone into the actual Red Light District walk through...

After the show we decided we needed to walk around and see these actual Red Light doors with half naked women in them. It was a little awkward at first to be walking by especially because there were a lot more men than women walking by but we had our guy friends there just in case. The skinny, clear doors were literally lining entire buildings with curtains closed on some (meaning they're in business) and the others had girls posing and smiling at passer-byers. Some of the girls looked so young and I was appalled that they were seductively opening their door to try an lure guys near. In each door is a bed already which is SUCH a weird concept that they're business happens literally feet away from the streets.. Also what I found strange was that there were some random groupings of 4-5 doors in other sections of the district just placed by stores and shops. Lots and lots of surreal moments and that's just day one.

Day 2 to come soon.