Sorry for being MIA, I was crammed with work and then ran off on vacation, but now I’m back!

I waited until the last minute to book my vacation this summer. I wanted to go to Botswana but I couldn’t deal with the 19 hour flight and being totally jet lagged in Botswana so, I decided to fly to Amsterdam and bike across the Netherlands.

I’d never been there, but I have been to Denmark, where I biked around the country. I thought it would be pretty similar.

There turned out to be a few conventions in town so I almost didn’t get a room. I got one of the last rooms on Expedia, the presidential suite in the Okura Hotel.

When I got to the hotel I was instantly deflated. The Okura felt like it was stuck in time, although I’m not sure what year, maybe 1984? My room had a stationary bike and weird furniture in it. Needless to say… yuck!

Anyway, I went into town after a nap (still ended up being jet lagged) and started walking.

Amsterdam’s old historic part has become the Red Light District, which equates to hookers behind glass, sex shops and bars.

I started to feel like I was in a cross between Las Vegas, Thailand and Copenhagen.

It’s definitely a place where if you are 22 years old and were discovering freedom from your parents, you would have a blast… Or, if you were 55 years old and wanted to cheat on your wife, it would be your Mecca.

The weather had predicted rain for the next 4 days so I made a quick decision and I decided to leave instantly and fly to Barcelona.

To be fair, I’m sure if I had given Amsterdam more of a chance I could have discovered more of its beauty than just seeing the obvious.

Here are a couple of pictures I took…