Amsterdam!!

Ok, let me say right of the bat that if you ever thought you'd like to come to Amsterdam. You will! Do it! First impression: I never seen such crazy traffic!! And I'm not even really talking about car traffic. There must be a million bicycles in this city. It's like trying to pass through a swarm of bees without getting stung. Not too much car traffic but the roads are like knotted spagehetti and they're made of brick as well as the sidewalks. It's difficult to tell which is which. In fact, sometimes the sidewalk IS THE ROAD! Look both ways, look again and maybe 1 or 2 more times, then go. I thought I'd be hopelessly lost, but it's fairly small and I got my bearings pretty quickly.
I checked into the Hostel Anne Marie which was great. Big, clean, cool/helpful people working there and met some great travelers there. Droped off the backpack, got a map and info on what to see and I'm off. The red light district is way across town so I head in that direction. By the looks of things the girls are busy. OK, I know where that is and head back. On the way I stop at a supermarket. Funny thing. Everyone speaks English, but everything is written in Dutch of course. Couldn't stop laughing at my predicament. A label reading American vegetarian trying to avoid meat in Amsterdam. Well, I learned that "met gehekt" means "with meat". So I'm able to pick out some vegetable lasagna (with corn??) and get back to the hostel and meet my fellow travelers. From Germany, Oz, and Virginia. We all hit it off immediately and decided to check out a blues club. But first we had to warm up with 2 bottles of wine, some funny amsterdam cigarettes, and 3 hands of Bullsh*t (the game, not Dung). Turns out that its an open jam at Bourbon Street. So I sign up and play a couple of tunes much to the delight of my new friends. Breakfast the next morning consisted of Coffee, OJ, Bread, and PB & Jelly or something called nut nougart. Afterwards I decided to check out the Van Gogh Museum, but first I need to get in the right frame of mind. Off to a coffee shop. The key word is "Coffee" as opposed to "Cafe". All you get at a Cafe Shop is coffee. I can get that anywhere. So I find Bulldogs Coffee shop, pick out "white widow" from the menu and swap stories with 3 guys from S. Carolina. Off to the museum. Funny Story: When I bought my parka for this trip I knew it was a Dutch Police Parka, but I didn't know that they were still in use. As 2 mounted cops crept up behind me I couldn't help but wonder what they were thinking of me. Here I am basically impersonating an officer after just enjoying Amsterdam's finest. I couldn't help laughing at the irony. Normally in the U.S. this situation would cause instant anxiety. Not here. Didn't care. It's all legal. Well, I wasn't sure about the parka though. They either didn't see me or didn't care because they went right on by. However, the next day I did get stopped. As they hauled me off to jail I quickly realized that it was a problem. Nah, just kidding. They were rather nice. After I told them where I got it and how much I paid, they just said I'd have to stop wearing it. Oh well, so I have to wear it inside out for 2 days, beats jail! Interestingly, the security guard at the museum let me pass through even thought the metal detector went off. I probably should have seen if I could have gotten in for free.The Van Gogh museum is great. You can't fully appreciate the paintings until you see them in person and up close. I was quite impressed. Couldn't take any pics though.On my last night there we all decided to check out a jazz club. Great original quarted (drums, bass, piano, sax). Sat front row. Didn't drink, didn't need to.Amsterdam is awesome, I highly recommend it. Check out the pics page.Coming soon: driving through Belgium to Gay Paris.....Cheers,DJ