Amsterdam: 8.5 from the Canadian judge

Well, let's talk about the Red Light District (and no, that is not the reason why Amsterdam gets an 8.5)...

When we last left off, Leigh-Anne and I were finished our afternoon in Amsterdam and heading into the evening. After much deliberation, as we'd seen about a million sketchy restaurants, we decided to have dinner In de Waag. In de Waag is a restaurant inside de Waag (go figure), which is a multi-turreted building that used to be the city's East defensive gate. After it was no longer needed for defense purposes, it became home to many different occupational guilds, including the surgeon's guild where Rembrandt painted his painting of an anatomy lesson (which we saw yesterday in the Amsterdam Historich Museum). Apparently it wasn't ever difficult to find bodies to autopsy for anatomy lessons because de Waag was also the site of public executions. All that said, the dinner was amazing HAHA. I ordered 'bitterballen' which is a Dutch tradition - usually served in the bar area, but they let us have some as an appetizer. It is a mushy meatball breaded and deepfried. The mushiness is kinda weird, but all in all, it didn't kill us. I'd order it again. For our main mean, I ordered lobster (cheaper here than any kind of meat) and Leigh-Anne had lamb. There were two lobster dishes on the menu, with the more expensive one being 38E. I ordered the less expensive option, but when my dish arrived it didn't look like the menu description. I asked the waiter to make sure, as I didn't want to shell out $50 CAD for a meal, and he assured me it was the right menu item.

Not twenty minutes later, the bill arrived...and guess what? He charged me for the expensive lobster. I felt really bad, because the waiter was GORGEOUS (Leigh-Anne thought he might like to take a trip to Canada...specifically to Aurora....perhaps to St. John's Sideroad) but I wasn't about to ignore a 20E mistake. Anyway, they realized I had checked it out before eating and only had me pay for what I originally ordered. DOUBLE LOBSTER = #1 reason why Amsterdam gets such a high rating.

After dinner Leigh-Anne and I went searching for Oude Kerk, which turned out to be incredibly old but beautifully maintained considering the damage of WWII. As we were taking pictures, Leigh-Anne calls me over, laughing like crazy. She points to the ground, just outside of the church doors, to a bronze plate of hands on a breast. We both laughed like mad then and of course took a picture, all the while thinking "Only in the Red Light District." HILARIOUS MOMENT = #2 reason why Amsterdam gets such a high rating.

Finally, we walked back to our hotel, stopping for gelato (we had to be careful to look out for 'Coffee Shop' signs...which actually mean 'Buy drugs here'), and did see the insanity of the Red Light District - naked women in windows and men in tuxedos shouting propositions from doorways. We walked fast, don't worry, BUT there was definitely a red light at the end of our street signalling that our hostel (our CHRISTIAN hostel) was definitely located on the streets of the Red Light District. We took a picture of the red light to prove it. CHRISTIAN HOSTEL IN THE MIDDLE OF SIN CENTRAL = #3 reason why Amsterdam gets such a high ranking.

Anyway, we had to go to bed really early to be up for 3:45a.m. today as we flew to Berlin this morning. The flight was great - I slept through most of it. We are just at our hostel, The East Se7en, waiting for our room to be ready. It's time for a nap!

So we'll let you know how Berlin measures up in terms of medal standing, haha. Right now Amsterdam holds a strong lead with its strange moments, rich history, beautiful waiters, and amazing food...

Love,

Katie and Leigh-Anne (the best backpackers ever born)