Day 2 - Amsterdam - 9th April

 

The Royal Palace, Dam Square

 

Having breakfasted  on fresh croissants from the on site shop we took the Metro into Amsterdam again. We walked around the 9 street area which had unique gift shops and boutiques. Then we checked out the more commercial area. Besides the big name stores there were lots of cheese shops with tasty samples which made choosing easier from the wide and varied types on offer. Many shops offered the same range of tempting pastries and waffles.There were plenty of souvenir shops. Every now and then you would catch a pungent whiff and there were lots of shops selling “magic truffles”, seeds and grinders etc. We stumbled upon Dam Square where there was the beautiful Royal Palace. Madame Tussauds was here as well.

 

Amsterdam was clean and litter free but lacking in toilets. I’m sure lots of people pop in for a drink in a cafe  or bar but with one of our party having a bladder the size of a mouse, drinking more defeats the object. We saw a McDonalds and popped in there for lunch and to use their facilities. There was a charge and even a toilet attendant down there but it was 50C well spent.

After lunch we went and wandered through the red light district. There were little glass fronted rooms with an office chair in. Most were empty but a few had women in dressed in their underwear, standing around looking bored. I don’t know what I expected, and it’s probably more exotic on a night time when it’s all lit up but it was all a bit underwhelming.

My only small criticism is that for such a large, touristy city there are very few signposts. After a while lots of the roads, canals and bridges look similar and you find places more by luck than judgement. At least with the hop on and off tram system you can go on a magical mystery tour safe in the knowledge that you can easily hop back on and get back to Centraal Station.