So I found myself in Amsterdam for the second time. This time around I did a better job of it though. I stayed in a different hostel this time. This one was much closer to the city centre (right on the edge of the red light district actually) and only a few minute walk from the train station. It was also a smaller hostel which I much prefer. It actually had more of a hostel atmosphere. (the one I stayed in last time was very much more like a hotel). The American guys I had accompanied here were staying in a different hostel, so we arrange to meet after checking into our hostels and dumping our stuff.

We spent that evening in a coffee house smoking weed. So that was one checklist thing to do in Amsterdam I had now done. I was doing better already :P. After that we at some pizza and a donut. Everything about Amsterdam seems to be setup for people to smoke and then gorge themselves. Junk food shops are everywhere.

There were of course also sex shops everywhere (at least around the red light district where my hostel was located). It was definitely interesting to be able to just walk down a street and in every window there would be porn and stuff. Just all out in the open, very European... The red light district itself is another fascinating place. It's like window shopping for hookers. Just window after window with scantily clad women in them. It's actually kinda awkward walking down those streets. And the way some of the women trying to get you to come over and the things they say are pretty funny.

The main thing I wanted to do this time round though was visit the Rijksmuseum which I had been told about by several people. Ironically the museum was actually around the corner from the previous hostel I stayed at but a good 30 minutes from my current one. So I probably could have planned that out somewhat better. The museum is pretty huge, 3 floors, and has a nice mix of paintings, sculptures and artifacts. I typically much more enjoy statues and ancient artifacts over artwork, so I really quite enjoyed this museum.

It had everything from ancient Indian and Chinese statues on the bottom floor, to an old plane on the the top floor. There was artwork from all eras including Van Gough and Vermeer. There was a lot of stuff from Holland's history too (as to be expected) much of which was naval related. Lots of model ships, and models of lighthouses they had built around the world. One of the largest exhibits in the place was on the bottom floor and was a collection of 1000s of seemingly random small items. It had a collection of really old locks and old keys. I found this particularly fascinating. It's really interesting to see how old keys looked and worked. They looked way cooler than most keys these days, though you probably wouldn't want to be carrying them around in your pocket too often, they were huge and looked heavy.

There's not really much more I have to say about Amsterdam actually. It was a nice looking city for the most part, with the canals and all that. But it just didn't really click with me. Maybe it was just too hyped up (everyone was always telling me I had to hit Amsterdam). But I think it just wasn't my type of town. I don't really care about smoking. I'm not big into clubs. The place was just very touristy (about the only place I've met Americans, and they were everywhere) and really expensive. So while I did get more done on the second time round, I still didn't really do heaps. And nothing particularly exciting. Also Heineken there doesn't taste any better than it does at home unfortunately.