Amsterdam at Night.

September 15-16, 2012
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Okay, okay, I'm going to say this here and now and up front.  There are no red light district photos in this blog.  You can find all of that stuff on google.  And besides, there's not really any one red light district.  There are several alleys that have red lights, and that means exactly what you think it means, and there are several of them, and they're all in the center of town.  Besides, photography is shunned in that section.  Oh, and I didn't even go because I was preoccupied.  But I will say this: I heard it's actually the safest place in the city.  Because of the nature of the work that is going on there, the alleys are full of cops.

Moving on.

I had responsibilities on the ship that kept me pretty late, but many people had made plans to congregate at a club later and watch this thing called "Burlesque Freak Out."  So here I am finishing my responsibilities on the ship with one of my best friends (and my next door neighbor) Roxana.  If I ever see her again it will be one of the top ten best days of my life.

I head out into Amsterdam at about 11pm by myself, and run to the central station (about a 10 minute jog from the ship).  It turns out that the stop outside of town for the night club is only one stop passed the place I randomly got off in the morning.  How funny.

I meet up with my friends from the ship, and we're waiting in this long line that winds up two flights of stairs.  Eventually we get in, and this place is weird.  First of all, everyone is dressed in a combination emo/gothic/hipster/pussycatdolls kind of way.  Contrast that to how awesome we all look (see below)

Nevertheless, we try to make the most of it.

And I'm having a good time, but mostly because Ingrid is there.  Ingrid has this way of dancing that says, "I'm enjoying every second of my life no matter what anyone says, does, or thinks.  You should enjoy life too."  Every second you spend with Ingrid is like refreshment to the soul.

Getting refreshed.

But then the show started, and it ended up being nothing we expected other than just freaking weird.

It turned out to be a tongue and cheek poking fun at burlesque show with not very attractive girls instead of an actual burlesque show.  Waaa waaaaaa.

But the MC was good.  I will give him that.  Here's a compilation video of him, and the fire dancer they hired.

Enough is enough, and we all agreed to leave after the fire dancer.  Since we were hungry, we stayed out instead of heading back to the ship.  Our taxi driver took us to a place called Light Square where I took this video.

 I have to admit, it's a little weird how there are open public urinals on the street.

And yet, it's so much better than a pay toilet.

After the girls went to that smokey restaurant that I refused to stay in, and after I got a Whopper at Burger King, we went to MacDonald's...for the free wifi.  #shiplife

Completely random guy who wanted to be in a photo with us, on my camera, just because.

Still beautiful at night time.

Another picture of Marcy because she got all dressed up, and I think people should see it.

And that's it for now.  I hope to go back one day.  My general impression of Amsterdam at night though is "young."  Maybe it was just that night club and just light square.  Maybe the taxi driver took us there because he thought we'd fit in better, but I really felt like we were the oldest people there.  If that's not true, then Amsterdam is a city full of adults during the day and college kids that sleep through the day and them come out and stay out all night.

Does this have anything to do with the weed?  You decide.