Transition day

Well, the first two business tours were a bust. The Gassan Diamond factory offers "free tours," which consisted of an impatient Russian woman hurrying through a 5 minute presentation on how the Gassan special cut is better than anyone else's, letting us look through their one room museum for another 5 minutes, and then taking us into a room and trying to sell us jewelry. After that 15 minute pitch the tour was over and we were free to leave...through a full-sized jewelry store. I'm sure Jared would give me that kind of tour any day of the week. 

After that we went down to the Heineken Experience. That was an obvious tourist trap, made worse by the fact that I don't like Heineken. Again, you go through a self-guided museum tour of around 15 minutes, followed by a whole bunch of weird interactive exhibits that can only be described as Disney World for beer. Then they give you a tasting, followed by the real attraction- a bar where you can cash in your entry wristband for two "free" Heinekens. I got a Pepsi instead. 

Afterwards, the group split for the first time, as it was dinner on our own. I broke off with 7 others who are fairly like-minded to myself. We went back to the hotel to change, then grabbed dinner at a Chinese restaurant near the hotel. The Overtoom neighborhood here isn't a tourist area, so not many restaurants were open past 9, but this was a nice treat. I had Peking duck, which was quite enjoyable. 

After dinner, we hopped on the 1 tram back towards the city center. We wandered the Dam square again with the buildings all lit up, and went through the Red Light district with everything in full swing. It's hard to describe the atmosphere, since there's nothing like it I've ever seen in the U.S.  Bourbon Street in New Orleans would be the closest, but without the Bourbon Street drunken screamy vibe. 

Got another good night's sleep. This morning I packed up and hit the Overtoom right away looking for an Albert Heijn supermarket. Found one two blocks away, and got myself a smoothie and two bottles of Fritesaus! I'm very excited about it. Was sad that I didn't get the chance to try any in any of our food stops here this time, but at least I have some to take home now. And Simon our host says it's big in Belgium too, so I should have another chance. The AH was also a nice little experience because everyone there was local and nobody was automatically speaking English. 

Today it's off to a cheese farm, followed by a bus ride to Osnabrück. Germany!