The day started out a little bit late as we were partying with Michael until about 3am.    This was my first Thanksgiving outside of the US and for Susan it was her first not seeing the rest of her family. 

We headed down to the Concierge to pick up a 24-hour transit pass for 6.50 Euro per person.  This has to be one of the best deals around.  This allows you to ride the tram and bus for 24 hours.  If you ever venture to Amsterdam, I highly recommend picking one up.  You can buy them on the tram, but they are NOT advertised, you have to ask for them.  Some hotels (like ours) will have a few of them at the front desk for sale.

We went looking for a good pancake place but most of them were too crowded.  There were a few places that were catering the American crowd by serving turkey, stuffing, etc.  We skipped over those places and went to Burger King instead for a quick meal.  Good ol’ American food!

From there we went to the Anne Frank House.  I remembered reading The Diary of Anne Frank when I was younger about her family and another family going into hiding from the Nazi’s during World War II.  Visiting the house was a chilling reminder of how hate can impact so many.  During the tour you are able to walk throughout the entire building where the jam factory was and the hiding locations behind the bookshelf.  It was quite a surreal and eerie feeling walking through the secret passage way to the hiding place.  All of the furniture that was in the building was confiscated and destroyed by the Nazi’s, so all of the rooms are quite bare.  There is one room with some reproductions of pictures of actors that were hung on the wall by Anne.  This is definitely a must see if you are in Amsterdam.  Even though we were in Amsterdam for Thanksgiving, this was a reminder that we are very fortunate and have plenty of reasons to be thankful.

After leaving the Anne Frank house Susan and I cruised the various side streets stopping in a few galleries.  We passed by a restaurant called foodism, which had a funny sign in the window that read "Sorry, We’re OPEN"  (picture to the right)   We eventually stumbled upon the Red Light District.  This place is certainly like no other!   I had heard stories from other people that have been to Amsterdam about this area, but it was completely different to walk around there.  Usually when I walk around New York City to and from the MS office, I see hired help and have been approached once or twice.  It is not uncommon to see a street walker.  In Amsterdam it is nothing like this.  You walk down the various streets and alleys and it is like window shopping.  There are women behind each window (with a red light either on the top or side of the window) with their own room (bed, nightstand, shower or bathtub, toilet, and sink).  Susan and I were offered to come in and join some of them, but we declined. 

We were supposed to meet up with Michael again for another adventure filled night in Amsterdam.  Unfortunately we were unable to sync up and missed each other by about a few minutes.  Guess we will just have to wait until we get back to the states!

-Allen

Yesterday marked the end of our first international moe. tour.  The shows were amazing and the Melkweg is certainly a great venue to see a show.  Hopefully they will be returning next year so I have an excuse to go back as well. 

Before the show, Susan and I walked to the Van Gogh museum.  There were certainly some incredible pieces of work and some bizarre ones.  After going through the museum Susan and I decided that we prefer photography as an art form over paintings.  I think the recommendation of visiting a coffee shop first might have helped us enjoy this a little more. 

Today Freek (pronounced Frick), a friend of the family, drove us around Holland to see a few sites.  Our first stop was Madurodam, which contains scale models of several important sites throughout Holland.  The detail of the models is amazing.  From the flying buttresses of the churches to the ladies in the windows in the Red Light District, not a single detail was overlooked.  This is actually the only place you would be able to take a picture in the Red Light District  and get away with it.    The airport has planes that move, the canals have channel locks that open and close to let boats pass through, and even a fire fighting boat that extinguishes a burning barge.  This is definitely a must see if you are in the Amsterdam area.

After Madurodam, we went to Museum De Cruquius which is an old steam driven pumping station.  It was here that we learned that the windmills used in the Netherlands were to pump water into various channels to prevent flooding.  The museum was closed for the winter, but Freek had a friend at the museum that arranged a private tour for us.  From the pumping station we made a stop at one of the channel locks to watch boats pass through.  The Panama Canal is on my list of things to see so this was quite interesting.

Thanks Freek for a great day!

I received an e-mail from a friend from work, Michael Piar, that he was going to be in Amsterdam visiting his sister.  We will be meeting up with him later tonight to check out the nightlife in Amsterdam!

-Allen

Today is my 30th birthday and Susan and I made the trek to Amsterdam to see moe. at The Melkweg (The Milky Way).  This was my 30th time that I have seen moe.  Also, since we are in Amsterdam, the time difference is 6 hours ahead of Eastern time (where we live) so adding that to a normal day give me a 30 hour birthday!!!

Getting to Amsterdam was a bit of a challenge.  We checked out of the Hilton in Paris this morning at around 7:30am and attempted to get a taxi to Gare du Nord train station.  Since the transit workers are on strike, taxis are very limited.  There was a very long line and we waited almost 45 minutes.  Being rush hour, there was a good amount of traffic, but we managed to get to the train station in time to catch our train.

We pulled into Centraal Station in Amsterdam around 2pm and took the tram which dropped us about 2 blocks from the Marriott.  We dropped off our luggage and headed over to The Melkweg to pick up our tickets for the show.  They told us that will call didn’t open until 8pm, so we just walked around the shops in the area.

Since we are staying at a full service Marriott, we had access to the concierge lounge and went up for hors d’oeuvres.  International Marriott’s tend to offer a little bit more at their concierge lounge than US based ones (at least that has been my experience).  This one had beer and several liquor choices which were free.  In the Marriott locations that I have stayed in the US, this was completely honor bar where they would charge it to your room.  The concierge lounge was full of US travelers, some of which were here for the Cannabis Cup this week.  We met a few people that were going to the moe. show as well.

We headed over to the Melkweg a little after 8pm and picked up the tickets without any issues (thankfully ).  Since the show didn’t start until around 10pm we went to an Irish pub around the block called Hole in the Wall for a few drinks.

Upon entering the Melkweg we met 2 guys from Massachusetts who went by the names of Stosh and Penguin.  Something tells me that these were not their real names.    Stosh bought me a shot of Jameson for my birthday.  Thanks man!!

The show was one of the best moe. shows that I have seen.  It was incredible!  This was the first time in 23 shows that I didn’t go to a moe. show with Michael.  Susan and I had an absolute blast which ended with a great rendition of The Ramone’s I Wanna Be Sedated.  Check out the set list.  After the show, Al Schnier announced my 30th birthday and 30th moe show!!  Check out the video below.

Thanks Susan and moe. for making my 30th birthday absolutely amazing!!

-Allen