As what seems to be the course, I woke up later than I had wanted to, but I cannot blame a wakeup call since I did not order one. For some reason on this trip however, I have not been hearing my alarm on my phone. That or I just get tired out from the day and do not want to get up .
When I finally got up, I headed downstairs and quickly ate my continental breakfast before handing over my key to the receptionist. This is something that is a little weird about this hotel. You have to turn in your key when you leave and then you have to ask for it back when you return. While nothing happened to me, it would be easy for someone to walk in and say Room 27, please and probably get the key to that room. For this reason, I made sure that my backpack had all of my valuables and that the only thing left in my room was my suitcase full of clothes.
Eventually I made it out of the hotel I caught tram 25 back on down to the centraal station. From here I made my usual walk up Damrak heading in the direction of Dam Square. As I walked I have to say went into McDonalds. You can blame the hotel breakfast, so I grabbed a medium fries mostly because they were only 75 cents.
My first goal of the day was to find a post office, to buy a few stamps. I went to the main post office and was told that I could not buy just one or two stamps, but that I would have to buy 5 stamps at once. I did not need that many, so I said thanks and decided to try another post office. This means I had to walk to the other side of the city center and there too, did they only sell packs of 5 or more, nor was there a vending machine to be used. I find this interesting and so far its the first country I have been too, where the post office does not sell individual stamps. Maybe its due to the fact that former state owned post office TPG Post was bought out by TNT (somewhat like FedEx) and for that point became TNT Post.
Anyways, I decided to head back in the direction of the first post office and make my way to the Anne Frank House. After learning about this so much in school, it seemed only fitting to go to where it actually occurred. Unfortunately there was no student rate, but at 7.50 I was willing to pay. In fact you got to go throughout the entire place, including the attic where the family hid for the Nazis in WWII. You were not allowed to take pictures, but it was a rather informative and interesting museum.
Again I took my time and tried to figure out what to do next, before deciding to make a run for the museum district. According to my travel guide, under 21 meant admission to the Van Gough Museum for only 2.50. Seeing such a deal, despite not being much of an art person, I made my way in that direction. I eventually made it there, only to find out that the price in my book was no longer valid and that it would cost me 10EUR to get in. Not feeling like $15 to get into an art museum I sat outside for a bit before going about on my journey. I decided next to find the library, as I read there is free wifi there. I knew where to go, but I must have passed it as I reached back to where I had been earlier.
I continued to wander, before finally getting a dinner of fries again and something called a chicken croquet. Honestly, I am not too sure what I ate and the poster advertising it said Meatbeef. The best I can come up with is that their was chicken somewhere in there or it was some sort of vegetarian thing. I just knew I had to eat something other than fries that day.
By the time I had reached Amsterdam, I knew I was going to have to restrict my spending severly. Thats why I had not gone into any museums earlier. I was planning however to go on a canal boat cruise. However, after I ate I had only 10EUR left and the boat cost 7.50. This wouldnt be a problem if my train ticket the next day wouldnt cost me nearly 4.00. So unfortunately I had to pass up on this opportunity. Instead after I finished eating I decided to explore Amsterdam at night. Mostly staying in the very central area of the center section of town, I explored many of the same areas that I did in day time. While the city has a certain beauty during the day time, at night all the canal houses and bridges are lit up and everyone is just walking about. It was a good way to spend a few hours, and of course I tried to take some pictures, but how they come out will have to be seen later.
Again I made it back to my hotel via tram and started to pack up so that I could make it easier in the morning. This time however, I made sure to get a wake up call.