So today is my birthday… We started off with breakfast at the hotel and being stared down by some grumpy looking guy.  I declared him an asshole. Then we walked through an antique market and came back to the hotel, where I changed shoes and put on sandals and socks because we decided to go to Amsterdam and I knew my feet would kill me in my warmer clogs.

We walked to the main square in Haarlem and wandered around.  I was able to take some nice photos before we went into the cathedral.  It was five euros for both of us to go in, but it was well worth the cost because a choir was rehearsing.  Their singing was beautiful and the acoustics were amazing.  I got all teary as I heard it… I wanted to join in, but I also really just wanted to listen.  It was very moving.

Yes, this is an ad for an opera about the Costa Concordia…  

And there are sex shops in Haarlem too.

And cool old bikes.

Then we walked to the train station.  Haarlem is just two stops from Amsterdam.  It takes maybe fifteen minutes to get there.  Once you do, wow… Amsterdam is huge, busy, and obnoxious with people!  There were literally throngs of people pouring out of the train station.

Bill and I found our way deeper into the city and were soon confronted by lots of sex shops, coffeeshops, and prostitutes.  Amsterdam is definitely a city where a person can sin freely.  We soon ran into a group of men, one of whom was wearing a pacifier around his neck.  He was obviously drunk and waiting for his companion to finish peeing at one of the pissoirs in the city.  After we passed them, we ran across a sex shop with a replica of a woman’s butt made out of rubber.  Next to it were huge fake boobs and a couple of male versions of fake genitals.  There were plenty of didos, harness gags, and leather outfits offered, too.  I saw many bored looking hos.

We walked around for awhile and when we got hungry, stopped by a little hole in the wall restaurant.  The guy cooking and waiting tables was wearing a chef’s outfit and appeared to know what he was doing.  Bill had piri piri chicken and I had another cheeseburger.  The Dutch seem to season their meat differently than we do.  The burger tasted a little like sausage.  It wasn’t bad, but I kind of missed American burgers.

I thought about having some cheesecake, but decided I just wanted to move on…  Parts of Amsterdam are truly pretty, but it was just too busy and noisy for my liking.  We got back on the train to Haarlem and I discovered that there is free WiFi offered, which is really awesome.

On the way back to the hotel, Bill and I stopped into the coffeeshop and picked up a space cake.  I ate it about an hour ago.  It’s my first experience with marijuana ever.  I’m still waiting for it to kick in…  Maybe I will blog once it does.

Yeah… Blogging is essential.