Day 23

Yesterday was our drive day/ evening in Amsterdam. We didn’t stop anywhere interesting on the way because Ali, our tour guide, wanted us to have as much time as possible exploring the city. Therefore, we left at 7:30am and got to Amsterdam around 5pm to shower and get ready to go out.

We left at 6 and were in the city center by around 6:30. That was our free time to get something to eat and check out some shops or sights until 8, when we had a guided tour through the red light district. We ended up getting some nice Chinese food and wandering through the many souvenir shops.

The guided tour was interesting. There were “ladies of the night” standing behind glass doors with fancy open curtains advertising themselves to those who walked past. A lot of the curtains were closed because it was fairly early when we passed by. There were interesting adult shops all over the place. In one shop, people could sit in the shop window and have a photo taken of them wearing a wig, as if they were one of the “business women” in the area. It was nothing like anything I’d seen before. Our tour guide told us that there was a nursery in a building right by the red light district. She told us that when they asked the children what they thought of the area, they said it’s great and they like the nice ladies that sell kisses. I thought that was pretty cute.

Afterwards was an adult show that a lot of the group decided to see, because it really only happens in Amsterdam. I will leave the details about the show out because there may be readers of all ages here. After the show was time to catch our bus back to the hostel, get some sleep and be ready to drive back to London.