Well! We started the day off right: by going to the red-light district! You read it right; we went to look at some legal whores! We went to get an idea of what the area looked like.

To give you an idea, we were offered ecstasy when we turned one corner. There were seedy individuals all around. There were nasty-looking prostitutes standing in doorways and sitting in windows waiting for an afternoon customer. It was very strange.

We rushed out of the neighborhood and started back to our hotel to get some directions on how to get to "Zaans Schaans" (a nice Dutch town with windmills and a museum). The guy at our hotel told us to take the bus because you get to see more. Well! We couldn't find the bus station, we lost our bus tickets, and took a cab to the train station. The local beggars cursed at us as we refused to give them money and we managed to find our train.

Then! We got out at the wrong stop! So, we had to wait for the next train a half-hour later (which is how I had time to write in this today.

But! We finally made it to "Zaans Schaans." When we got there, it was like a Dutch peddler's village. It was beautiful! There were 4 windmills along the "Zaans" river (thus the name of the town) and most of them were in working order.

We took a tour of one of them. We didn't realize how fast those blades can move! it would make a full rotation in just under 6 seconds! I was afraid I would get hooked on a sail! When we climbed on top of one windmill, I put my hand on what looked like dry black surface. Instead, to my surprise, it was wet, sticky tar.

We walked around some more and hit some souvenir shops and were done just before closing.

We headed back a lot easier than when we went! Then, we went to the "crown plaza" hotel to eat an authentic Dutch dinner.

It was an incredible dinner, and we were quite satisfied!

We hit the internet cafe after that and emailed everyone! I even chatted with Kim and Russ online! Over the Atlantic in real-time! And best of all, an hour of internet time was like $3! I couldn't believe it! =)

Of to bed now, tomorrow is a busy day ... and an over-night train to Germany.

Day 1/Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Epilogue