September 3rd - Amsterdam, The Netherdlands

September 3rd
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Happy Birthday Pat! I hope you are able to take the day off and have a good time. Sorry I wasn’t able to call. Love ya!

Hallo Bloggers!

This morning, after showering and packing up our things, we headed back to the train station to get a metro pass. Our new hostel was all the way across town. It would have been about a 30-minute walk (which was too long with our big ol’ packs).

Our new hostel (stayokay) is really cool! It is exactly as I imagined most hostels would be: It is located in an old building, with really cool architecture, but is very new on the inside. The lobby is equipped with pool tables, computers, and a foosball table. The rooms even have personal lockers!

For lunch we headed to the square near our hostel. We ended up at a sports bar showing the Argentina vs. Brazil soccer game. While consuming our burgers and brews, we talked with some fellow US citizens; two older guys in town for business (they are high up in a company called Oregon Electronics).

As we left the sports bar, we noticed that we were right next to the Holland Casino. We decided to go in because we had some free tickets from our fancy hotel (apparently you have to pay a cover to go into the casino). We went looking for the Poker room to try our skills against players from this part of the world. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), the game was too rich for our blood and we did not end up playing. In the end, B and I ended up watching Peter lose 50 Euro playing Black Jack.

After leaving the casino, we cruised the narrow streets of Amsterdam. It is a beautiful city with many canals. In fact, the entire town is located below sea level. The airport is even 5 meters (about 15 feet) below sea level!

As we made our way back to our hostel, we noticed that it was located next to a huge park. We decided to cruise the massive park for a while. When we first arrived the park was filled with joggers, tourists, and couples. Once the sun began to set, a new crowd began to enter the area and we quickly left. After hanging out back in the city for a bit, we headed back to our hostel and went to sleep.