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Amsterdam
Day 1
Because we were in the high roller seats we were served breakfast.Not too long after breakfast we arrived in Amsterdam.We found the bus we needed and used public transportation to get around because our bed & breakfast wasn't near the center of town.We found out why it was so hard to get a place to stay.It is probably because it is gay pride weekend and there are supposed to be something like 500,000 gays.We didn't see a whole lot of them today but tomorrow is supposed to be a different story.Even though most of them haven't showed up it is still crowded here.It reminds me of New Orleans, but bigger.The town definitely isn't as clean as Munich.Our bed and breakfast was run by a interesting lady named Johanna.It was hard to tell her age but she was at least in her sixties.After dropping off our luggage we headed back to Central Station where our tour started.The group for the tour was much bigger then the one in Munich.The tour was interesting we walked to old building that used to be vital to the Dutch when they were a world trading power.He also talked about events that made Amsterdam the city it is today.Some interesting stops on the tour were the Old Church, the Ann Frank House, and the narrowest house in Amsterdam.Apparently, they used to tax people based on the width of their house.The narrowest house in Amsterdam is only a doorway wide.After the tour we headed back to our hotel to clean up.We returned to the city center and wondered around the city until it was time to take the last tram back to our hotel.An interesting fact about the Netherlands is that in the summer it doesn't get dark until almost midnight. And in the winter it gets dark at 4 pm.
Day 2
After a breakfast of baguettes we headed to the train station to pick up our friend Jared, who had been working in France for the summer.Luckily, we found Jared because the train station was very busy with the pride parade.On our way to Jared's hotel we faced our first bad incident of the trip, besides having our bag lost twice.Apparently, in Amsterdam there are different zones.It starts in the center, then there is a second ring of zones, and then a third.Blaine and I have used the public transportation systems in many cities. With most public transportation systems you buy your ticket and ride the transportation system to your destination.With Amsterdam if you go to different zones it cost more depending on which zone you were going to.When we got on the tram we told the person selling tickets, where we were going.She gave us the tickets and we sat down.During the trip I asked her how many stops until our destination, to which she replied ten.While we were riding some transportation police asked to see our ticket.We showed our tickets and were told that we didn't have the right ticket for where we wanted to go.We told the officer that we were tourists and that the lady had sold us the tickets.Of course the lady at the ticket center told the Trans cops that we didn't tell her where we are going, but just bought tickets, because she would get into trouble for selling us the wrong ticket, I guess.So it was our word against hers. I told the officer that we were not trying to cheat anybody and would gladly pay the difference.I think the officer had it out for us because when he asked for our ticket he asked for it in Dutch.After repeating himself several times he started talking English and was appalled that we didn't speak Dutch.Amsterdam, one of the most highly visited cities in the world during one of its biggest festivals and we didn't speak Dutch what a shocker.Any way some how we were supposed to know that we had to by different tickets to different zones even though we were tourists, and we had never run into some thing like this after traveling to six other cities.We had to pay about 40 Euros on the spot.This still upsets my first because I hate to loose 40 Euro, and second because I hate to be taken advantage of when I am powerless to do anything.So after our ugly incident we went to Jared's hotel to drop off his stuff and headed back to the city to let off some steam.
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