Trisarahtops: Amsterdam Day 3

Friday 10 January 2014

Amsterdam Day 3

I just realised that I had two days left of our Amsterdam holiday, all typed up but I'd forgotten to share so here goes...

On our third day in Amsterdam we did one of the things I'd been looking forward to most... hired bikes! One of the best things about Amsterdam is even when you have no idea where you're going, if you follow a canal you'll usually end up where you want to be. We'd made a list of the places we wanted to see that were a bit further away from our hotel so cycling would save our feet a bit. We started off by heading to the eastern side of the city, going back to some of the areas we spotted from the canal cruise, particularly the Waterlooplien Flea market. This was my favourite market of all. It was a mix of new, second hand/vintage and bicycle accessories and repairs, all of which are my kind of things. I could have spent a small fortune, particularly on an original gramophone and taxidermy fox, but one the highlights for me was the dog in the pram, amazing!!

The dog in the pram was the most adorable thing I've ever seen!

Isn't this the best gramophone you've ever seen? It has the hmv dog on it and everything! And don't even get me started on the fox. If my suitcase had been big enough both of them would have been coming home with me.

Just around the corner from these beautiful buildings is the Red Light district. Being a bit of a prude I found it kind of uncomfortable, comical but uncomfortable. We were wandering around, not really sure what to expect, and then looked up to a street of glass doors with a bunch of nearly naked ladies dancing and trying to entice some customers, I didn't know where to look, ha! I'd heard a lot about it but didn't expect it to be quite so open, or for it to be so normal for men to just walk in and out of their 'booths'. I don't think I'll be trading in my grandad cardigans for some latex anytime soon!