Day Two of Amsterdam

The schedule this trip has been a little lighter than trips in the past, for a couple of reasons. 1. We've been here before, visiting in February of last year. So we've done all the major sights. 2. It's an anniversary trip, so we want to keep it light and relaxing. Sometimes vacations turn into a checklist of things you have to see and do. And yes, we did include some of that, but we wanted to keep things fun on this one. On this trip, we also included some stops we probably wouldn't make with Billie, as she didn't make the traveller list. Day two included a couple of those spots.

We had seen advertisements and articles written about the Sex Museum but had never put it on an itinerary until this morning. The museum is down near the tourist area, just across from Centraal station. It's in a super heavy foottrafficed area surrounded by smoke shops, souvenir shops, and a host of other money-wasters targeted at the tourist traffic. So we'd skipped it before but had decided to make time for it this time. Why not.

Our scheduled tour wasn't until noon, so we were able to relax and sleep in. Our sleep schedules have been a wreck this entire trip, so we needed it. We took the metro down to the touristy area and right away we both looked at each other. This was probably not going to be any fun. We were surrounded by kids 16-25 who were all smoking weed, drinking, and standing way too close for comfort. After a short wait in line, we got into the building. 

The Sex Museum is basically a bawdy place. Plenty of pictures and props showing porn, sex toys, and whatever else, but there's not a ton of history to be consumed in the place. Most of the pictures, while explicit, are clearly from the 80s and 90s, so the actors and actresses look a bit dated, in the ways you can probably guess. The rooms all sort of had the same thing, some wax figure types in sex poses, pictures on the walls of sex, and some dildos or other sex implements behind glass. It's nothing a person who consumes modern pornography isn't aware of, but I guess it's fun to experience it in the light of day, surrounded by other people. We went through the entire walkthrough in about 30 minutes. We were unimpressed. 

After our underwhelming stop at the Sex Museum, we decided we'd hit up a food spot we did on our last trip, Foodhallen. I've written about it before from our last visit. "We went to Foodhallen, sort of a food court with trendy food and beer. I think food court is probably putting the wrong idea in your head. Think more of a food truck spot. That would be closer, I think." I think a food court actually is a better description in retrospect, but certainly the best food court you've ever been to. This time we had some fried chicken wings, which were spectacular. I also had a heineken, though I rarely drink. It was absolutely delicious, having it in its hometown. I enjoyed it very much. After our late lunch, we decided to do a little shopping. Our first goal was finding some soccer gear, so we hit up the Copa Shop which is near Centraal station.

We had to wait about 15 minutes, as when we arrived, the man was just headed to lunch. He promised us a 10% discount on arrival and sprinted out to get food. We laughed and continued to wander in the area, which is dotted with shops. When he returned, we walked through the shop, checking out the different kits and tshirts. Eventually, I purchased two kits and a pair of socks. I really enjoyed that shop and plan to stop in again on our next visit. After leaving the Copa Shop, we decided to head over to the Ajax Fanshop to look for some kits (I had bought one on my last trip to the city), however when we arrived there was no XXL kits available, so we bought kits for Billie and my friend Josh. I got to buy kits vicariously, I guess.

Done shopping, we made our way back to the apartment and had a short nap. When we woke back up, we went down to the Red Light District to wander around.

The Red Light District is exactly what it sounds like, a place to drink, smoke, and visit prostitutes and peep shows. The Amsterdam district is known world-wide and it shows in the people it attracts. It's much more of a party atmosphere than super pervy, though there is plenty to be pervy about. Lola and I wandered up and down the streets, enjoying the revelry. It was a lot of fun, but we were only there to sightsee.

A friend of mine from Twitter, Dion, had recommended a chicken place, Favourite Chicken and Ribs. We dropped in on the way out of the red light district. Lola had a wrap with some fries, while I had some chicken wings (which were breaded and fried like fried chicken?). We liked the food and definitely could see the appeal to a drunk red light visitors. When we finished we headed to the metro and went home.