Day Eight - Amsterdam

I guess no ridiculously fun night is complete unless you lose your wallet. After hours of turning our very tiny hotel room upside down we concede that the wallet is indeed gone. Luckily it was a small amount of cash and all other replaceable items. Bummer but manageable.

But, the weather is perfection! It's also a Saturday. This means the whole city is out trying to grab their own ray of sunshine. We had grand plans to hit up the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum but if there is one thing I've learned by this point in the trip, plans are merely suggestions. We decide to try a highly recommend restaurant called Pannenkoekenhuis Upstairs that serves crepe style sweet and savory pancakes. Located at the top of a frighteningly steep staircase in a house built in 1539 it's only large enough to seat 4 tables at a time http://www.upstairspannenkoeken.nl

The next available reservation isn't for a few hours so we sightsee until it is time for our reservation. At 800 years old the Oude Kerk is Amsterdam's oldest building and parish church. It has a huge organ bellowing out a

single note for perpetuity, the floor is lined with numerous gravestones and colorful stained glass windows loom high above.

We stroll around what is the red light district, during the day it's bright and lined with sidewalk cafes and coffeeshops (coffeeshop one word = where you buy the weed). People on bikes try to squeeze through the dense crowd, people on the bridges try to have their picture taken if only the people that want to cross the bridge would stop getting in the way.

Now it's time to eat. I order the strawberries and cream pancakes and Jacob goes for the apple cinnamon. They are delicious, really incredibly delicious. The cream was fresher than anything I ever tasted. Unfortunately as mentioned before, the nausea I have now been suffering with for a few days now is really making it difficult to enjoy, but enjoy I still do.

Once we are done we make our way to Vondelpark. It's a huge public park and many people are out enjoying the lovely day. Dogs are jumping in the lake after toys, joggers dodge baby buggies, young couples are taking advantage of the legal use of marijuana and toddlers are wobbling after mallards. Spring has not quite sprung but you can feel the buds are ready to bloom.

The sun is setting so we grab one beer at a pub on the way back to the hotel then decide to rest our eyes a bit. We wake up around 8:00 pm and go to the red light district, at night. It's even more packed now than it was during the day. Shuffling elbow to elbow with the crowd, everything lit with the fluorescent pink glow of opportunity. You can't help but stare at the candy shop like displays of young women behind glass, near naked and half-heartedly swaying while usually staring at their phones. Groups of men cheer their friends on in an effort to give him the courage he needs to walk in and complete the transaction.

With a 7 hour drive to Berlin in the morning we call it a night, hit the hotel, pack our bags and get to sleep.