Amsterdam!

Yet another vacation and yet another Travelogue. Its little long and self-indulging.

We are just back from a 3 day trip to Amsterdam (27 to 30 Apr), the city of canals and known as the most tolerant country in the world. Sex, drugs, gays and lesbians are all perfectly legal here. You can just walk into any authorized coffee shop and order your spacewalk Hashis, Weed or Marijuana cake or jut smoke it the old style. Then there is the famed red light district complete with its exotic escorts sitting in shopping window. Interested in Window shopping anyone? Well, ofcourse I did not indulge in any of it thanks to the "you know what I mean" angry glare from Dear A! You know, there is some cross between me and this city, I passed it thrice before, planned a trip 3 times as a bachelor but still it evaded me. Fate wanted me to visit this city for bachelors only as a married man! So be it. I still made a perfect vacation out of it!

On Day-1 we visited Madam Tussauds Wax Museum, Amsterdam Dungeon (which depicts the atrocities and torture inflicted by raiders on the dutchland in 16th century, its enacted byy live dummies, its horrible, not meant for weak hearted.) Then we visited the Anne Frank house belonging to Anne Frank and her family. This Jewish girl is famous for her immaculate daily diary she wrote when she and her family were in hiding for 2 years in that house in a secret Annexe. Even the neighbors did not know for 2 years about their existance in that house! I am currently reading her diary which was later published as a book. Later in eve we vistited the Teaser club, the disco and pub chain famous for its topless waitresses and beer. Its works on the lines of Cayote Ugly. Later we had leisure walks on sides of many canals and also the red light district.

On Day-2 we started with a 3D movie showing all Holland attractions. It was a dream come true because we took the early morning show and theatre was empty with just two of us!! Then we visited Rembrandt (16th century dutch master painter) museum, Van Gogh museum (over 200 of original Van Gogh masterpeices) and the National museum showing the prime time of Dutch royality of 17th century. Later in eve we visited the Holland casino and tried our (rotten luck) on some tables. Then we had a romantic canal city tour by on a cruise. It must be heaven for those living in house boats in those Amsterdam canals. In late night we saw a live show meant for couples at one of the joints in the famed red light districts. Been there and done that! You cant miss the red light district in Amsterdam and say that you visited it!

On Day-3 we visited our prime attraction and reason to visit Amsterdam- The Tulip Gardens. The Tulips are in full glory in this season and we had a fortune to have a bright sunny day. Its the most romantic place and has to be experienced first hand to belive it. All photos are like picture postcards...perfect! Yash chopra made the Tulip feilds immortal in his romantic classic - Silsila. Though the tulip feilds (not the gardens! in Holland they farm variety of Tulips on miles and miles of land, its a sight to behold forever) were already cut to a large extent but we still saw a major part of it. Next we visited Madurodam, the minitaure to-scale model of all attractions of Amsterdam. Its amazing, you feel like King Kong in a toy city. Wonder why India cant have something like that. Its such a hit with the tourists!

Apart from this I must mention the lively ness of the city itself which manifests in the numerous coffe shops, bars, pubs and discos which can be found in every nook and corner of this city. Its always full of young party animals and the city itself never sleeps, its like one big party day and night. We also had the fortune to visit the city during the time when Queens day is celebrated in Amsterdam, its their yearly showpiece event celebrated this time on 29th Apr when whole city traffic comes to a halt as party animals, road side stalls, live music bands swarm the city which bears a look of one bug 24 hour carnival. It was simply amazing, not a inch of space to walk. It was full of revelers. The city smacks of beer smell for next 3 days! Amsterdam is one hell of a city to enjoy, married or bachelor. It has something for everyone. I wouldnt mind visiting it every year!