Amsterdam : post-trip

Ok, I think now I'm ready to tell the insane weekend I had in Amsterdam. I came back on monday night, but only now I feel recovered.

First of all, I was supposed to meet a group of 7 people that were arriving from Hamburg on friday evening (I got to Amsterdam on friday morning). And what was the first thing I saw when I landed at Schiphol Airport?? - a sms from Catarina saying that there was a problem with the hostel reservations and that we hadn't any!! I should start looking around, going to the Tourist Info... I was almost in shock: rooms for 8 on that night and the next - mission impossible...

I went to the Tourist Info, I asked around all the hostels and cheap hotels I saw... NOTHING!!! I was so worried with the fact we wouldn't have a place to sleep in the next 2 nights that I really didn't get to enjoy the city on friday. I had 2 friends living there, so it wasn't a problem for me to find a place to sleepover, but we needed room for 7 more! :So what did we decided when it was 22:00 and we couldn't find anything!? Sleep at the airport!! I can say that what we did least was sleep, but we were in a dry, safe and warm place... The crazy weekend was just beginning.

That night we walked around the city and we saw Amsterdam by night - which is a lot different than by day. By that time on friday I already knew the city as if it was Lisbon (having wandering the streets looking for rooms the whole day), so I was the official guide. We couldn't have missed the Red Light District even if we wanted. It's AMAZING!! The mood, the lights, the girls, the crowd... totally like a freak show that you enjoy just because is so over the top.
We then entered the first coffeeshop we thought it was acceptable (there are hundreads of coffeeshops!!) and ordered some grass (Crazy Orange, I think it was called) and a brownie. I can't tell you whether it kicked in or not, but we certainly had fun that night.

Next morning at the airport we went to the Tourist Info so we couldn't find something for that night. We just wanted somewhere we could lay down! Eventually we found rooms in 3 different hostels so we had to be separated, but it wasn't a problem at all. As long as we had a bed!
After check-in (2 Chritian hostels that had curfew and Bible-reading sessions, and a hotel with stairs so steep that you had to climb them sideways), we rented bikes and rode around the city. It was a great thing to do, as it was much easier and faster to go around and enjoy the landscape. We ended the afternoon with a visit to the Anne Frank's House (which is really worth the visit, by the way).
After going to the hostels, taking a shower and quick nap, we met for dinner at a really nice and cheap Tibetan restaurant. Afterwards I went to meet my friend Thiago for a night out. I was barely hanging on my feet, but we only live once, right? Thiago and his boyfriend, Bart, took me first to a bar called Arc (nice atmosphere and crowd) and then we went to a party at Studio 80 (very alternative and freaky, but I liked it). We then called it a day - I was dreading for a bed...

The next days in short: we went for a boat trip through the canals, visited the Van Gogh Museum (not so worth it as Anne Frank's), and I said goodbye to the Hamburg group (they had a bus home on sunday evening). Then I met David (a Belgian friend that is living there for a couple of weeks) and we went to Trut. Trut is a very underground and alternative spot. Again I was really tired, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd like. We finished the night at Cockring where we were supposed to see a live sex show. I must say I felt ripped-off... I've seen much more at Trumps during a foam party...

And that was my weekend in Amsterdam... next weekend Catarina, Oriana and 2 more from the Hamburg group will come and visit me here in Cph :)