Waking up feeling a little bit ordinary we managed to go meet Ian at his hotel down the road about 11am and then follow the tram line around to Rembrandt square where we had a basic breakfast of coffee & toasted sandwiches. Continuing along the tram line we ended up in Dam Square but as there was still 40 mins until the walking tour we planned to do from here we sat down for a drink & some tourist watching. At 1pm we joined another 'free' walking tour with a rather camp guide who although he spoke about interesting topics and we had some interesting stops he could have been more concise & we were a bit over it by the last 30mins of the 3hr tour. Having said that the historical information about the Dutch East India company, as well as the protest generation & inside information about the other quirks of Amsterdam such as Coffeeshops & the red light district were worthwhile and let us see quite a lot of Amsterdam in one short burst. Once the tour finished near Anne Frank House we stopped at a bar alongside the canal (well, one of many canals) which was run by an interesting possible brother & sister team both of them seeming slightly eccentric- it made for some good people watching. From here we walked towards Central Station crossing over yet more canals & trying to not be run over by the many bike riders. Next to the station on the 11th floor of the Hilton is the Sky lounge which had magnificent views over Amsterdam & provided very good free snacks of nuts, pickled onions & salami with the not too badly priced drinks. We must have had at least 4 little servings of the nibbles as well as some bruschetta & a couple of drinks. From this beautiful vantage point we could see the rain clouds settle in over Amsterdam so from here we made a quick trip through the rain to the china town area where we had Vietnamese for dinner (I had been craving pho bo for days although it was not nearly as good as Footscray's) then wandered through the red light district with its windows full of scantly dressed women & even more sleazy guys pretending not to be looking. We found a quieter bar just outside the red lights then did a minor bar hop back to the bar we had started in yesterday. I left the guys to it at midnight as I hadn't been drinking & was feeling pretty tired after our big day exploring the ups & downs of Amsterdam.