That shit cray

To say the least, Amsterdam went above and beyond my expectations for how insane it was. Whether this is good or bad, I don't know. All I know is I went, I saw, I lived through it, and that may be that. I'm only going to brief on my very first impression of Amsterdam.

I was traveling with one other girl, and our first impression of Amsterdam was undeniably shocking. We got into the city late at night, determined to not let this expensive over run tourist trap leave us penniless, so we walking and public transit were necessary.

Conventional shop? Try again, this is a red light district brothel

After getting of the train we are not only trying to navigate a foreign city, but we don't know the language, it's dark out, and there is a carnival going on in the center of the city because we of course arrived on a holiday weekend. We definitely could tell we were getting closer to our hostel, we we just having trouble finding the last road, when we noticed a row of buildings ahead. I saw a windowsill lined with a glowing soft red and a small red lantern on the side of the building. In my mind I was thinking, wouldn't it be funny if the red light district had red street lights? Well, my silly thoughts became reality as we came upon the red light district, face to face with prostitutes who were clearly on the clock.

Knowing prostitution was legal in this country did not prepare me for the shock of seeing it in action. These women are on display in windows or glass doors and there are no secrets nor are there black curtains with misleading signs, it's perfectly clear what happens in behind those doors.

Needless to say myself and the gal I was traveling with were scared shitless for what we had just stumbled upon. We quickly decided we were not going the right way, and when we finally found our hostel it was still smack dab in the middle of the red light district. As we were checking in, just across the street we could see one of the ladies of the night working her window.

However, the next day as we toured the city we learned the red light district is one of the safest sections in the entire city. Among other things, our tour guide thought it was important to learn more about Amsterdam than just sex and drugs. For example, did you know Amsterdam has more canals than the city of Venice, Italy? That's a fact and that's me pictured on one of them.