For the first time in over a month, instead of getting up early with a plan for a day full of touristy adventures, we decided to sleep in until 9:30 and hadn’t planned anything at all. We ate breakfast at the café in the hostel, which gives you the option of ham, cheese, and toast, Muesli, yogurt or milk, and a banana, or a hot breakfast. We all decided to get the hot breakfast of the day, which was French toast and a coffee. For a free breakfast it is really quite good, and although it lacked any produce, we were happy to be having food before 11am as we had been in Paris. After breakfast we braved the hostel showers, which are pitiful to say the least. The water pressure is practically non-existent, and the stream of water that does come out is so close to the handle that controls the temperature and on/off that you end up hitting the handle with your back trying to wash anything. In addition, the showers are similar to bathroom stalls, except that the shower stalls are actually shorter. I am very glad that I am not that tall, otherwise challenging without flashing the entirety of the bathroom would be a real struggle. Eventually I managed to wash my hair without shutting the water off every thirty seconds, and I finished getting ready.
We really didn’t have a plan for the day, we just started walking and went where our whims took us. The first place we ended up was the Waterlooplein flea market, where vendors where just setting up their shops for the day. There were a few already open so we perused through those. Amsterdam really capitalized on the legalized marijuana, and a good percentage of the merchandise is related to weed in some way. We took our time looking through the stalls, but eventually we wandered back into the streets and crossed the little bridges that go over the canals until we saw a large sailing ship, which we walked toward to get a better look at. At a closer distance we took pictures of the ship and then turned our attention to the Nemo Science Center that was behind us. There is a terrace on the building that was free to walk up and see the view of Amsterdam, so we decided to walk up there. Half way up the stairs it started pouring, and I mean it was like a wave just came out of nowhere, because by the time we made it to the top and took shelter behind a tent that was selling snacks we were completely soaked. Once the rain had passed we decided we really needed to head back so we could change into dry clothes and warm up. On the way we stopped and got coffee just so we could sit somewhere warm and out of the weather while we had something hot to drink. When we made it back to the hostel I peeled my jeans off and put on my leggings and hung my jacket and pants to dry. We stayed inside for several hours while the rain passed and I did some work on my laptop and a bit of reading. We had leftovers from the dinner the night before, so we heated it up in the microwave and ate that before we went out again to explore the Red Light District.
The Red Light District is extremely close to our hostel, so we didn’t have to go far before we were passing by women standing scantily clad behind doors to little rooms and illuminated dimly by red lights. There were sex shops, theaters with live performances, and souvenir shops with merchandise that was genitalia shaped. Walking through the Red Light District was an experience unlike anything I have ever seen before. We kept on walking and walked right into Dam Square, which is the big square in Amstedam which has the white pillar national monument, the neoclassical Royal Palace, the gothic style Neuwe Kerk (New Church), and a Madame Toussaud’s wax museum.
We walked back through the Red Light District to get back to our hostel and spent the rest of the evening there relaxing before we went to bed. I ended up using a hair drier to dry my jeans so that I could wear them the next day and I did a bit more reading. We decided we would get up early to go to the Anne Frank Huis the next day so I didn’t stay up too much longer before going to sleep.