Amsterdam Day 2
After a long sleep, we were up early in the morning. Could not wait for oHorestaurant to open as we were very Hungry. While we were waiting, took a walk near the Hotel side streets, a few people walking their dogs around. Decided to take it easy in the morning and went back to the room after breakfast. Left Hotel at 11:00 AM and went to Dam square. It was damp square as it was showering constantly. Once the rain subsided, walked along Dam Square. Made our way to the Bus for the tour to Keukenhof Tulip Gardens.
The bus journey was interesting. While were passing the Airport, saw a plane Taxi’ing on top of a bridge as the Bus went through underneath. They have built the airport such that there is a highway in between and the planes ate parked on both sides of the highway. Planes use the bridge to get from one side to the other.
Reached Keukenhof in about an hour and was amazed to see the beautiful Tulips in the Garden. This year it had not reached full bloom at this time. They are expecting it to reach full bloom on 24th of April. The Keukenhof Tulip gardens are open only for 3 months every year from mid march to mid may.
With Tulips, we were told that the bulbs are the most important. The flower has to be removed to retain the bulb. These days it is done using machines. Millions of flowers are removed from the bulbs every autumn.
Close to the Tulip Gardens there was a field full of Daffodils. It was a 15 mins walk from the Gardens. We took a walk in the rain as we did not want to miss it. We wanted to desperately click some photos in the fields. Usually this time of the year there are tulips in the field too. You can see lines of Yellow, Red and Pink. We could see only Yellow, but still worth it.
Once we reached Netherlands city centre, we had 2 hours to kill before the red light district opens up. We went to the Madam Tussads meuseum. The best part of the meuseum was a place called Dungeons. Whe you enter this dark spooky looking place, you see some scary look figures. There was this particular chained up man with scarred, freaky white face and bleeding from his face. People could not help but stare at him. Sending shivers down your spine, this man starts screaming and jumping and comes close to you and stares at you. Sunitha had a hard time as he noticed how scared she was, and would not go away, was standing close to her all the time. That was a fun experience.
It did not end there, we were sent in and freaky things were happening all around. Doors moving, screaming sounds, people from inside cages touching you. Upside down hanging, tortured dead bodies. I wanted it to end there. Once it ended, I thought. Boy… that was Fun !!!
The highlight of the day, or should I say the lowlight of the red light district was something that left a lasting impression. While we were walking through the red light zone (marked with three red lights on a pole as you enter). We saw some strip clubs, sex shops, homosexual theatres etc and we were thinking that it is not too bad and all that talk might have been just hype.
When we walked through the side lanes, there were glass cabins, with bright red lights, with women standing (in bikinis) and waving to people from the glass. The room had a single bed and a wash area, was completely tiled. It looked like a bathroom with a bed in bright red light.
It was shocking, and somewhat disgusting as well. The women looked like dolls, maybe it was the make-up with the lights. Sunitha actually thought that it was a moving doll when we passed the first glass cabin.
That ended day two and today (day three) we have to catch a flight to Rome. It will be a lazy morning and at 1:30 PM we all be boarding the flight. Watch out for day three.
After a long sleep, we were up early in the morning. Could not wait for oHorestaurant to open as we were very Hungry. While we were waiting, took a walk near the Hotel side streets, a few people walking their dogs around. Decided to take it easy in the morning and went back to the room after breakfast. Left Hotel at 11:00 AM and went to Dam square. It was damp square as it was showering constantly. Once the rain subsided, walked along Dam Square. Made our way to the Bus for the tour to Keukenhof Tulip Gardens.
The bus journey was interesting. While were passing the Airport, saw a plane Taxi’ing on top of a bridge as the Bus went through underneath. They have built the airport such that there is a highway in between and the planes ate parked on both sides of the highway. Planes use the bridge to get from one side to the other.
Reached Keukenhof in about an hour and was amazed to see the beautiful Tulips in the Garden. This year it had not reached full bloom at this time. They are expecting it to reach full bloom on 24th of April. The Keukenhof Tulip gardens are open only for 3 months every year from mid march to mid may.
With Tulips, we were told that the bulbs are the most important. The flower has to be removed to retain the bulb. These days it is done using machines. Millions of flowers are removed from the bulbs every autumn.
Close to the Tulip Gardens there was a field full of Daffodils. It was a 15 mins walk from the Gardens. We took a walk in the rain as we did not want to miss it. We wanted to desperately click some photos in the fields. Usually this time of the year there are tulips in the field too. You can see lines of Yellow, Red and Pink. We could see only Yellow, but still worth it.
Once we reached Netherlands city centre, we had 2 hours to kill before the red light district opens up. We went to the Madam Tussads meuseum. The best part of the meuseum was a place called Dungeons. Whe you enter this dark spooky looking place, you see some scary look figures. There was this particular chained up man with scarred, freaky white face and bleeding from his face. People could not help but stare at him. Sending shivers down your spine, this man starts screaming and jumping and comes close to you and stares at you. Sunitha had a hard time as he noticed how scared she was, and would not go away, was standing close to her all the time. That was a fun experience.
It did not end there, we were sent in and freaky things were happening all around. Doors moving, screaming sounds, people from inside cages touching you. Upside down hanging, tortured dead bodies. I wanted it to end there. Once it ended, I thought. Boy… that was Fun !!!
The highlight of the day, or should I say the lowlight of the red light district was something that left a lasting impression. While we were walking through the red light zone (marked with three red lights on a pole as you enter). We saw some strip clubs, sex shops, homosexual theatres etc and we were thinking that it is not too bad and all that talk might have been just hype.
When we walked through the side lanes, there were glass cabins, with bright red lights, with women standing (in bikinis) and waving to people from the glass. The room had a single bed and a wash area, was completely tiled. It looked like a bathroom with a bed in bright red light.
It was shocking, and somewhat disgusting as well. The women looked like dolls, maybe it was the make-up with the lights. Sunitha actually thought that it was a moving doll when we passed the first glass cabin.
That ended day two and today (day three) we have to catch a flight to Rome. It will be a lazy morning and at 1:30 PM we all be boarding the flight. Watch out for day three.
Aww, You guys look Great!! PV you may want to get off your heels of Bapu..Poor thing ;)
ReplyDeleteWhy am i not seeing any pics of the "de wallen"?? ;)
It was a fun experience when Sunitha had a hard time !!!! Kya bol raha hai tu Mogan????? :):):)
ReplyDeleteNice to read about your trip!!! Enjoy!!