June 6th Another day of epic exploring in Amsterdam. I was going to do the Anne Frank house tour in the morning, followed by a city tour in the afternoon and then the red light district tour in the evening but due to crazy long queues outside the Anne Frank house I didn't do the city tour and instead went up the Westerkerk tower and then did the red light district tour in the evening.
7:45am woke up, had a shower. Breakfast followed after that. Left around 9am for the Anne Frank house.
10am. Arrived. Queue was already very long at that point. Talked to a Chinese girl and her mother, both from Shanghai behind me. She spoke to me in Chinese straightaway and her mother asked her how she knew I was a Chinese (from mainland China!), and she said she thought I looked Chinese. They guessed Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, etc and gave up in the end, and I told them and they said my Chinese was good. Her mother thought that Norwegians fish in igloos. Funny. The girl was doing some course in Philadelphia, some degree program. So they told me about this tower to climb, and I didn’t know what it was. It was the westerkerk tower, and you had to pay 7 euros for it. Initially I thought it was an entrance fee for the museum but no. Anyway so I bought the ticket for it but for 12pm. So what happened was the queue ended up being THREE hours, and I ended up talking to this guy from the UK, Sunderland and his girlfriend, we just talked about all sorts of things. Someone even came up to interview us on some product idea, haha! So what happened after that, well I changed my tower time to 3pm, which was a very good idea.
1pm So the Chinese girl and her mother never came back, don’t know what happened. I queued up until 1pm and then didn’t finish the tour until 3pm, bought some postcards and stamps, then rushed to get my tower climb. Anne Frank’s secret annex was small and they always had to live and be silent in the dark. She died one month before the Allies landed. Her dad Frank Otto was the one who made the book public and said that most parents have no idea about what their children are really like.
3pm Started the tower climb. So the tower has 3 bells, one was 3000 kg, the other 1500 kg and the last one several hundred kilos. Bells with an M marking mean they are valuable and not marked for melting down into weapons. Very nice views from up at the top of the church. I asked the guide about renting and living and she said that rents are expensive in the city now and how she rents in a house of 5.
3:30pm or so, walked a bit, ate my fruit (2 peaches and an orange) then walked some more, until I got back to the hotel around 6pm and bought more postcards on the way back. Dinner was around 5pm at Sumo.
I thought the red light district tour would start at 7pmish but it starts at 7pm, so I bought my ticket and rushed down to the meeting spot, national monument. Arrived with 15 minutes to spare. Talked to a Singapore girl named Emma who was on exchange since Jan and is going back to Singapore the next day.
The tour guide was Lee and she told us how sailors used to come into Amsterdam and they needed women so that was how it started. Some women were beautiful, at least the ones I saw but mostly not. This was early though so more people might’ve showed up. Fokker twins, real prostitutes by those names, oldest one is 73 or something. Other one is retired with arthritis of the hips. Prostitution Information Centre, PIC was set up. They have specialty bars or sex shows, like the pink elephant one where Lady gaga visited, which has themes. There’s a hospital themed one, elephant and then a banana theme one. 10 shows per night or something like that. Used to have a giant penis fountain but that was removed. Also pee booths were set up. You can find a prostitute bar next to a child care centre and the oldest catholic church in the red light district. Can often find stag parties there as well. The 1017 project replaced the windows with fashion, shops and art places… which was killing the livelihood of the prostitutes. There’s also a transexual lane…specialising in women or men with both dicks and boobs! Located next to a christian hostel. Red and blue lights are used so that people will focus on the women or something like that. Prostitutes are professional, have to rent the shop for 160 euros a night or something. And sometimes they can get up to 10 customers a night? Starting cost at 50 euros for 15 minutes with SNF ? Suck n Fuck. But sometimes they will quote 300 euros and some people will fall for that. Even if it’s just seeing it costs the same, so Lee suggested you might as well get down to the action. Depends on what you want it will also cost more, like adding a friend, etc. A condom shop was there and you can get custom sized ones.
The tour was over at 9pm and I went back to the hotel. Arrived back around 9:30pm, watched Champions league, Barcelona won 3-1 against Juventus!
2am time to sleep.
7:45am woke up, had a shower. Breakfast followed after that. Left around 9am for the Anne Frank house.
Sad looking figures outside Rijksmuseum.
Boat in the canal.
10am. Arrived. Queue was already very long at that point. Talked to a Chinese girl and her mother, both from Shanghai behind me. She spoke to me in Chinese straightaway and her mother asked her how she knew I was a Chinese (from mainland China!), and she said she thought I looked Chinese. They guessed Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, etc and gave up in the end, and I told them and they said my Chinese was good. Her mother thought that Norwegians fish in igloos. Funny. The girl was doing some course in Philadelphia, some degree program. So they told me about this tower to climb, and I didn’t know what it was. It was the westerkerk tower, and you had to pay 7 euros for it. Initially I thought it was an entrance fee for the museum but no. Anyway so I bought the ticket for it but for 12pm. So what happened was the queue ended up being THREE hours, and I ended up talking to this guy from the UK, Sunderland and his girlfriend, we just talked about all sorts of things. Someone even came up to interview us on some product idea, haha! So what happened after that, well I changed my tower time to 3pm, which was a very good idea.
1pm So the Chinese girl and her mother never came back, don’t know what happened. I queued up until 1pm and then didn’t finish the tour until 3pm, bought some postcards and stamps, then rushed to get my tower climb. Anne Frank’s secret annex was small and they always had to live and be silent in the dark. She died one month before the Allies landed. Her dad Frank Otto was the one who made the book public and said that most parents have no idea about what their children are really like.
Yes I made it after a 3 hour queue omg.
3pm Started the tower climb. So the tower has 3 bells, one was 3000 kg, the other 1500 kg and the last one several hundred kilos. Bells with an M marking mean they are valuable and not marked for melting down into weapons. Very nice views from up at the top of the church. I asked the guide about renting and living and she said that rents are expensive in the city now and how she rents in a house of 5.
M means do not touch! (It's in faint white at the bottom of the bell...)
Epic views at the top!
Epic views at the top!
Epic views at the top!
One of the many canal views.
Taken near Dam Square.
Cool looking windows.
Art.
I thought the red light district tour would start at 7pmish but it starts at 7pm, so I bought my ticket and rushed down to the meeting spot, national monument. Arrived with 15 minutes to spare. Talked to a Singapore girl named Emma who was on exchange since Jan and is going back to Singapore the next day.
The tour guide was Lee and she told us how sailors used to come into Amsterdam and they needed women so that was how it started. Some women were beautiful, at least the ones I saw but mostly not. This was early though so more people might’ve showed up. Fokker twins, real prostitutes by those names, oldest one is 73 or something. Other one is retired with arthritis of the hips. Prostitution Information Centre, PIC was set up. They have specialty bars or sex shows, like the pink elephant one where Lady gaga visited, which has themes. There’s a hospital themed one, elephant and then a banana theme one. 10 shows per night or something like that. Used to have a giant penis fountain but that was removed. Also pee booths were set up. You can find a prostitute bar next to a child care centre and the oldest catholic church in the red light district. Can often find stag parties there as well. The 1017 project replaced the windows with fashion, shops and art places… which was killing the livelihood of the prostitutes. There’s also a transexual lane…specialising in women or men with both dicks and boobs! Located next to a christian hostel. Red and blue lights are used so that people will focus on the women or something like that. Prostitutes are professional, have to rent the shop for 160 euros a night or something. And sometimes they can get up to 10 customers a night? Starting cost at 50 euros for 15 minutes with SNF ? Suck n Fuck. But sometimes they will quote 300 euros and some people will fall for that. Even if it’s just seeing it costs the same, so Lee suggested you might as well get down to the action. Depends on what you want it will also cost more, like adding a friend, etc. A condom shop was there and you can get custom sized ones.
Get your custom condoms here...
There's surely not enough women in this world...
Behind the glass is where you'd find the women...
Unflattering photo of Lee but ah well!
Sex show which Lady Gaga attended.
Some random door sign.
The prostitute information centre.
Yep we're running out of women in the world.
The tour was over at 9pm and I went back to the hotel. Arrived back around 9:30pm, watched Champions league, Barcelona won 3-1 against Juventus!
2am time to sleep.
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