So today I met Bart at the train station and went to visit Amsterdam. It was a lovely day - pretty hot actually. The train ride in from Delft took about an hour and before we arrived at Amsterdam Centraal station. We found out after we got there that there was a Gay and Lesbian parade on that day - so the city was pretty busy with tourists and locals alike. Bart and I decided to go to the Rijiksmuseum first - a museum famous for it's collection of the dutch masters - Rembrant, Leiden, Vermeer and others. You weren't allowed to take any photos or anything in the museum - but it was amazing wandering around and looking at these beautiful pieces of artwork.
We spent a good bit of time wandering through this building and when we came out we were quite thirsty and a bit hungry too, so we wandered through Museum Park (which is the park in the middle of all the museums obviously) - until we found a supermarket, grabbed a few things for lunch and then wandered along until we came to Vondelpark. This park is beautiful with lush green grass, plenty of trees, a beautiful lake and obviously a spot that the locals enjoy.
Lots of people were lying around the lake sunbaking and enjoying the lovely weather. While we were eating our lunch I saw two guys fishing in the lake too, and was amazed when one of them pulled in a fish that quite literally filled both of his arms - about 50-60cm long and 30cm or more wide - unfortunately I wasn't able to get my camera out in time as he simply posed for a photo by his friend and then released the fish back into the lake.
We saw a little of the Gay and Lesbian Parade - this comprised of a number of barges full of men and women dancing as they headed along the canals of Amsterdam - lots of flesh from both sexes being shown here.
The place was very crowded by this time though - and it was hot in the sun, so we decided to go to a museum of a different nature after this - The Torture Museum - a collection of torture instruments used during the middle ages - many of them during the Spanish Inquisition.
There was some pretty scary stuff here - and the descriptions indicated that they were used for almost any indiscretions you cared to name.. most of the time in the name of religion too.
After that we saw a bit of the red light district - which as it has a policy of no cameras allowed I didn't really get any photos of.
Even more flesh being shown here obviously - with girls in little window booths beckoning as you walked past - wiggling their body parts or calling to you trying to get your attention. There were a lot of empty window booths though - so I guess the place was pretty busy on that day.
Bart and I were both pretty tired by this point - having walked around all day in the hot sun, so we headed back to the train station after this and caught the train back to Delft. By the time we got back it was getting close to 8pm (though the sun was still out) - so I thanked Bart for showing me around all day and we each headed off home.
After a shower and a bit of a rest I wandered out for dinner on the markets and had some Spaghetti Bolognaise and a Wiekse beer to wash it down with - then headed back to my hotel to get some sleep.
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