Friday, March 11: Part 2...Escape of the Purple Light District

Time to play catch up! We survived Amsterdam- success (could probably leave it that but when are we ever women of few words?). We decided it's kind of like Vegas- 2 nights and 3 days is the perfect amount of time. The city is really beautiful! Thanks to Joe (again) for the recommendation. After getting settled in hostel dodgy (or hostel Jansen for you technical folk) we decided to do what we do best...walk. We perused up town, wandering down every little alley and nook corner full of shops and cafes. The appearance of the city is incredibly charming; it is very consistent and sprawling with canals breaking up the streets in every direction. The gorgeous architecture and bridges are lined with outdoor markets and coffee/tea/beer drinkers. It was sunny and not too cold so the Dutch people were out in full force, conversing in their gibberish :). The city had an element to it unlike anywhere else. Jenny realized that despite the over-whelming amount of people in this big city, it was quiet! The noise pollution of traffic and crowds was turned down here and left it feeling more quaint than it really is. Which led these 2 directionally challenged travelers to getting rather turned around after walking several hours- thank goodness for google map and iPhones as usual. Our hostel played a trick on us because we realized we were actually in what we think was a very affluent area of town. Close to the big park, and we came up quickly on a street lined with every designer store you can imagine. We window shopped (take a deep breath dads) at Chanel bags and Loubiton shoes. Staying in the museum district turned out to be great! We stopped for a snack of bread and butter and 2 coffees. Ok ok Kelly got a hot chocolate and it was a delicious decision. Since we had our own room and shower and were finally going out again, we decided we would head home to spend a little time on our appearance (note: this is a rare occurrence these days). All we had seen so far was a lovely and humble city; then we noticed a girl in a window.... And then 6 more girls in windows 2 floors up. There it was. Legal hookers. Yep, it was weird. Really weird. Te main girl sat boredly popping her gum and staring us right in the eye. Our creeped out but curious selves were dumbfounded (despite how much you prepare yourself it's still just super icky). More on this later... We made it back to Jansen somehow by early evening.

Woah. Is this what we look like in makeup? We had forgotten but were a tadbit relieved. And heels? Hmm. Let's give it a a go...

We hustled &bustled to be ready by 730 which quickly was 750. People scan cards when getting off and on the tram here but since we couldn't ever figure out how to pay, we treated ourselves to free public transpiration on the tram all weekend- thank you amdam! We had plans for the night (a fun change of pace). Kelly's friend from home, Lee, is working for a couple years in The Hague right now, so he took a train into town to meet at central station and go out for the night! Yay!

We hopped over to a place called The Grasshopper (pun intended) to pig out on cheeseburgers and beers. Lees Irish friend, Pat, met us there. After dinner, our fabulous guides walked us over and through the infamous red light district. You can't go to Amsterdam and not check it out, ya know? Well we winded through the narrow alley ways full of red lit windows where prostitutes stand, customer shopping through all the crowds as much as they themselves are being shopped for. They each have little rooms and if the curtains closed... Well you get the picture. There must be some laws because no one is totally nude but they are as close as you can get! Pat told us there are other light districts like purple for transvestites. Obviously we had to see since it was in the same area. Jenny was so boggled that these gals have themselves on display and for sale, but if you try to snap a photo it's bad news. Naturally Jenny couldn't control herself... She succeeded almost all night. That's right, we said almost. Sneaky Jenny whipped out her phone to snap one more shot of a really pretty purple light "lady", if you will. Bad idea. This "lady" saw Jenny from her 2nd floor bedroom, flashed a fierce look and came running through her inside doors. the four of us halled ass down the street and luckily this hooker couldn't run in heels (you really gotta learn that one from a young age), so we escaped the pissed off trany hooker chasing Jenny. This was a good cue we had seen enough. Pat picked an Irish pub to have a drink in and then Lee hailed a cab towards a more posh, less touristy scene. We had cocktails in a real swanky bar and then cruised through an awesome square full of bars... We had lots of dance parties and ended the night at a quieter pub to rest our feet. Poor Lee reached his limit so he set off for home and as pat followed him we set off walking in the cold. We got lost of course, but eventually found the way. Kelly was freezing and Jenny was relaying how proud she was for us not eating any late night treats! We gave in to the dodgy bed at the dodgy hostel which turned out not to be too shabby. Lights out between 5 & 6. Been a while since that happened!

Special shout out to lee and pat for such a great night! They were the best tour guides and backpack spoilers!! We had such an awesome night- thanks again y'all!

PS-- pictures to come. can't post from hostel!