The Land of Wooden Shoes, Coffehouses, and The Red Light District

Saturday, 7/25

We woke up late (this seems to becoming a trend...) and went to brunch at a cute little locally owned place. We all had really delicious food! I got a "Biba", which was a sandwich with gouda, lettuce, tomato, and basil mayo (oh, how I love you, basil mayo!) Scott got a 3 cheese omlett with truffle oil- yum. Ben got a BLT sandwich, and Megan got a sandwich made with raisin toast and "old cheese" (some sort of parmasean, we think). Here are pictures of our fabulous food:

My "Biba" Scott's Omlett Megan's Raisin Toast & Old Cheese

(Ben's BLT looked just like mine, so picture mine with Bacon)

After brunch, we decided to explore Amsterdam. We walked around, did some shopping, and bought some little wooden shoes for souveniers. They were so cute, and EVERYWHERE! Here are some pictures of a souvenier shop shop with a ceiling literally covered in wooden shoes

Aren't these cute? There were some houseshoes that looked just like wooden shoes.. I wish now that I would have bought some. They were so funny!

So, after the wholesome shopping, we decide to shop for something else... hookers! Ok, we just window shopped. We went to the Red Light District (the tour books say it's the #1 tourist attraction!) There were girls (all shapes and sizes) just standing in store front windows in their lingerie. They would look at you as you walked by, some would even motion for you to "come here" with thier finger. We were all looking around us, saying "is this really happening?" It was so weird- like being in some sketchy movie. It was eye opening to say the least!

Afterwards, we decided since we were apparently in the Land of Sin, we might as well make our trip complete with a visit to a Coffeeshop. This is where you can go and buy weed and smoke it there. We walked inside one, checked out the weed menu (who knew there were that many kinds!), noticed the smoking room with the patrons sitting around enjoying thier menu selections, and quickly left. Whew! Amsterdam, you are a wild, weird place.

Since Sunday was Ben's 24th birthday, we decided to take him and Megan out for an early birthday dinner on Saturday night. We went to this Indonesian Restaurant called Puri Mas. It was delicious! We all got to share 14 dishes, including lamb, chicken, beef, and various vegetables. It was really fun to share and talk about the food, and to rate it on Ben's "1-10 Scale" of deliciousness. All in all, it was a fabulous end to a fun filled day.