Amsterdam

Amsterdam

This morning Colin slept in until after 8:00! When he was up and we were all ready to go we took the train into downtown and got Starbucks. Then we browsed the flower market, where you can buy a bundle of 50 fresh cut tulips for anywhere from 7–10 Euro! Not just tulips were there, you could buy just about any kind of bulb you wanted, as well as loads of other flower types. We wandered through a couple souvenir shops before making our way up to the Reypenaer Cheese shop. Here we did a cheese tasting and learned about how this Dutch family makes their famous cheese. They’ve been doing this for years, in their old warehouse where thousands of cheese blocks are turned by hand weekly to prevent damage to the cheese and the shelves from moisture. We tasted goat cheeses that were young, in terms of cheese age, at four to eleven months old. Then we tasted cow (gouda) cheeses that were up to four years old. When the cheese is made it is all made exactly the same, the only reason for the taste and texture difference is the age, how long it sits on the shelf. The tasting was informative and delicious. Colin was extra well behaved and earned compliments from the other tasters. Afterwards we went out to the shop and spent way too much money on cheese and a the nifty little guillotine cutter thing for the cheese. We were stuffed!

To walk off all our cheese we walked across town to a science center geared towards kids. It was great, very hands on and all kinds of fun things to play with and see. Shelby and I had a lot of fun playing with all the gadgets and set ups too. We closed the museum down at 5:00 and then started walking again. We wandered all through the center of downtown Amsterdam taking in all the sights. We stumbled into the red light district again and this time Colin was paying more attention. We walked down a side street that looked pretty uneventful but it turned out to be peepshow windows. Some glass doors had the curtains open and inside was a very bored looking woman wearing some lingerie and waiting for prey. Some glass doors had the curtains drawn and I assume that room was either occupied or that girl was not working. Walking right behind us were two men and as they (and consequently we) walked by the windows the girls started banging on the glass to get their attention and opening the door to try to drag them in and make some money. It was all kind of funny but Colin took notice to the ladies and said “WOW!” So we asked him wow what and he said “Those girls are beautiful,” then asked why they weren’t wearing clothes. We told them they were in bathing suits waiting to go to the pool, which he gladly believed and suggested they hurry up before it closes. LOL After that we made sure to find our way out of the red light district before we had to do anymore explaining! We found an Italian restaurant to enjoy some seafood and pasta and then went back to the hotel.