This morning our goal was to see the Royal Palace and the Brussels Arc de Triomphe in the morning and catch an 11:50 train to Amsterdam. We got up early and after some debate we decided to shower at the hostel. While we had a private room, we did not have a private bathroom. At first we thought about waiting until we got to our apartment in Amsterdam (more on that later) but we smelled like smoke from the bar so we did the public showers. I don't know why I hesitated since I shower at the rink all the time but there is something about being in another country in hostel that made me nervous, even though these showers were probably way cleaner than most rinks, including the rink in Caen! After showering we checked out, stored our luggage and caught the metro to the Brussels Arc de Triomphe. This is located in the outskirts of town but Kristin's friend Jen said we had to see it - she actually liked it better than the Paris version. This Arc is actually 3 large arches that have these large, old buildings on each side. It had a nice little park on both sides that I imagine on a nice day in the summer would be a great place to hang out. Since we went to the top of the Paris Arc, we decided to explore to see if we could go to the top of the Brussels Arc. We went into this little office attached to it and found out that not only could we go to the top for free but we also had access to the Belgian military museum located in the buildings attached to the Arc. We didn't intend to spend a lot of time in the museum, our goal was to go to the top of the Arc to compare it to the Paris view but unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to look at it, the stairs were not well marked so we ended up walking all around the museum. It was actually really cool, they had artifacts going way back to medieval times, including uniforms, guns, armor and cannon balls. They also had a room on aviation history that had a whole bunch of WW2 planes. After we walked through the entire museum, we eventually found the elevator so we went to the top. The view was nice, you could see most of the city but we both agreed the view from the Paris Arc couldn't be topped.
Since we spent so much time in the museum, we knew we would be cutting it close to catch our train if we went to the Royal Palace, however since it is one of the big tourist spots in Brussels we felt like we would be missing something if we didn't go at least take a few pictures. We were glad we did, because it was beautiful. Similar to the buildings in Grand Place, it was huge and very ornate. It had a park attached to it as well that was beautiful - I love that these European cities have these parks smack in the middle of the old buildings. After we were finished, we were going to take the metro back to the hostel but since there was a train station close we figured we would walk there and buy our tickets to Amsterdam to save time. Unfortunately we did not read the map right and ended up walking in a big loop around the city and eventually were back at the hostel. We wasted a lot of time, although I wouldn't call it a complete waste because we got to see a lot of the city. We quick grabbed our luggage and hustled to the metro to head to the train station. We had a similar situation here as we did in Paris - we probably got there in time but it took us too long to get to the ticket off and wait in line to make the 11:50 train. While we were disappointed, it actually worked out for the better. We ended up taking a local train which was significantly cheaper and even though it took 35 minutes longer the train itself was much more comfortable. We actually had a little room - it had 3 seats on each side facing each other, a sliding glass door, 2 outlets and our own thermostat! It was great, we were able to bring all our bags in with us and still had plenty of room. We ended up arriving in Amsterdam at 3:00 instead 2:00 which really wasn't that bad.
When we go off at Amsterdam Central Station we immediately followed the signs for the "i" Information Center. Unlike our experiences in Paris and Brussels, the Amsterdam tourist information office was really easy to find! We got a detailed city map and a couple brochures and headed out to find a taxi to take us to the apartment at Prinsenstraat 27. I found this apartment on citymundo.com and the owner Gilles (pronounced Jiles in English) said that he would meet us in front to give us keys. We went over to the taxi pickup area and the "taxi driver" said that he would take us there. Well, actually it turns out that it was quicker to walk, so he walked us there (never had a walking taxi before)! He only charged us EUR 7, but we didn't have change, so it was the walking taxi guy's lucky day - he got EUR 20! We met Gilles and he was a very tall young, attractive Dutch guy. The apartment is on the 3rd level with a cafe on the ground floor. We climbed stairs for 3 levels with all of our bags (not sure how we are getting down yet) and opened the door to find a very beautiful, charming, and spacious apartment! Our apartment has light wooden floors with a nice size kitchen and living area. You need to climb some ladder/stairs to get to the bedroom (which can be a little tricky), but then there is a large queen bed, closet, tv, and laundry up in the loft! We were so excited about this place! It was so nice and the best part.....the view! Simply beautiful as you look out from the picture window in the dining room......we are overlooking the Prinsenstraat canal where there are several boats and lots of activity with people walking and biking down the red brick Amsterdam streets. We are so lucky to find this place! Once we settled everything with Gilles, he left and we sat the table to take a look at the brochures and attempt to make a plan of what to do next! We decided to walk over to Dam Square (the main square in the center of Amsterdam). Dam Square was huge with lots of people and traffic.....you definitely couldn't miss it! From there, we ventured over to the Red Light District and took a stroll around there during the day. We say the girls in the windows and as soon as Kristin took her camera out, the one girl started banging on the windows and yelling....guess photos are not allowed here! There were several sex shops and bars down the street...and overall, it was very shocking to see for the first time. There is a whole culture of public sex that is completely accepted and normal in this part of the world.....something that the USA definitely doesn't have! We wandered around some more to get our bearings and then we tried to look for a spot to have some dinner and do some more Amsterdam excursion planning! We found a cute restaurant called Cafe Van Zhulen. Kristin had a Hollandish cheeseburger and I had a really awesome cheese and pesto tortellini! We didn't have dessert because were so full, but this was possibly the best dinner we have had so far on our trip! We also got some time to organize ourselves and make a plan. Next we found our way to the Torture Museum. This was a small museum that had a collection of medieval torture/punishment weapons and write-ups (all in English) about them! We both enjoyed it and found it to be pretty interesting. After the torture museum, we went back through the Red Light District at night......at this point it was a lot more crowded and flashier as all the prostitutes in the windows had neon outfits with black back-lighting. Definitely eye-catching! We stopped at a coffee shop and relaxed before heading home. It was a really long day and we definitely were in need of some rest! Tomorrow we have big plans that include the Anne Frank House, the Heineken brewery, a canal boat tour and bike tour around Amsterdam! Lots of fun ahead! This city is beautiful!!!
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