The Land of Wooden Clogs, Cheese, Pot, and Sex (That Escalated Quickly)

I went out and had one beer last night with some friends and 6 hours later I'm napping on a bus to Holland. The bus ride itself wasn't bad at all. I'm also used to driving for 5 hours and still being in the same state, so it was odd to me when they took a smoke break about three hours in. Either way, Alex and I get there about 11 or so. First thing we do is hop on a boat for a tour of the city.
I highly encourage this because then you get a good feel for how the city is laid out, you get a map, and you get to see all the "important" things right away. One thing I was sad about though, is that I think the evening or dinner ride would have been so much more worth it with how the city was lit up at dusk. Shame Alex and I were in an Argentinian Steakhouse when the sun set. It was a pretty great time though.

After this handy, dandy cruise thing we went on, we decided to take a walk and then went in the wrong direction. When you're wandering and just looking at shops there isn't a wrong direction I guess, unless you end up out of the shops and main part of the city and end up in residential areas. Yeah, don't do that. That's no fun. We decided we wanted to make our way to the Amsterdam Dungeon and we took the long way. Not sure why though, I'm usually fairly good with maps. At some point we wind our way past the Anne Frank house. Just a note, if you ever want to go see that, get there REALLY early, or be prepared to wait in line for a long time. Alex and I didn't even bother trying to get in to it.

Later, as we're standing in the middle of a 5 or 6 way crossroads looking very confused, a man approaches us and asks if we need help or anything. I showed him the map and told him we were looking for the dungeon. He just look at me for a second and asks (all of the sudden in German) if I speak German or if I am a German. I reply that I can speak enough to get around and that I'm actually not from Germany. BUT WHAT? DO I HAVE A GERMAN ACCENT NOW? BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE THE SINGLE COOLEST THING TO BRING BACK HOME!

So after that burst of awesomness, we finally find our way to the dungeon. A lad greeted us outside the door and told us that if we came in RIGHT NOW, he'd take €5 of each ticket. It was still a little much for us to pay to go into a museum or whatever we thought it was, but since we walked far to get there we decided to give it a try.
We go in and are greeted by a rather funny character who is a dead, posh, English gentleman. This was no museum. The best way to describe it is a guided tour/play/ride/haunted house....thing.... Each room has a story of Amsterdam's past with a character to tell it. There was lots of audience participation. Alex actually got us all thrown onto a VOC ship headed straight for hell. COOL! They had really cool effects and they had a beautiful balance between corny, scary, and down right creepy.  Another really neat thing is that the entire ....show... was in both English and Dutch. They never really repeated themselves, but you could still understand everything you needed to. It was a beautiful balance on all levels. If anyone is planning on going to Amsterdam, I would HIGHLY suggest this. 80 minutes of this kind of entertainment is worth the money.

Something else about this city is the cheese. Oh my gosh the cheese.
Alex and I stopped by a cheese shop and bought some because it was just to die for. You know in Scooby Doo where the smell of something will waft over to them, pick them up by their nostrils and carry them off? Yeah, that happened to us. I can't even remember the name of the dang shop, but it was fantastic.  I also don't even know the name of that I got but it smelled and tasted like heaven. One is French and one is Dutch. That's all I can tell you. I'll be sure to figure out more later. :)

That's more or less the sparknotes version of our very long and exhausting day in Amsterdam. If you don't mind I'm going to go throw myself into my bed for as long as it'll let me. I have to host the St. Patrick's day party tomorrow after all. Ain't no rest for the wicked!