XXX

UPDATE: Today I walked to Amsterdam Centraal, the big train station, and reserved my bed for the sleeper train from here to Copenhagen. It's about 14 hours of train ride, and I figured it would be a lot more tolerable if I slept through it. I will leave Amsterdam the evening of the 24th, so I get an extra day here! Yay!

For those of you interested in seeing the Red Light District, here is a picture I found on the internet:
Basically the women stand in the windows and try to get men to come in. When they are "busy" there is a red curtain covering the window. The women get to rent their own space and get to choose their clients. If someone asks for services and she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to. Prostitution is actually pretty regulated here in Holland, and in many ways better than the illegal prostitution in the US.

Today I went to the Amsterdam Sex Museum, and I didn't really like it. It probably would have been funnier if I hadn't been alone, or if it was the actual history of sexuality, but it was mostly porn and naughty benches. It was like a really perverted Disneyland, with the mechanical people touching eachother in naughty spots instead of bringing cheer to children.

To cleanse myself of that experience, I headed over to the little farmer's market outside my hostel and bought a thing of strawberries. I went back to the hostel and shared them with a few of the people who work there, and we discussed one of the chapters from the Bible, Titus. I haven't really gone to church my whole life, but since the hostel I've been staying at is Christian based, I have attended a prayer circle and a church service, both of which have been really nice. All of the people who work at the hostel are volunteers, and getting to know them has been fun.

One great thing I have found here are the Stroopwafels, cookie like things filled with caramel. They are so amazing.Yum galore

Another fabulous find is a pair of leather sandals I purchased at the open air market yesterday. They are handmade. They look like this, but in black, and you can't see but they go kind of far up the ankle. They're super comfortable and super cute (in my opinion), and I expect to see them in the US pretty soon.

I will update more at a later time - now I must go find a picturesque cafe along the canal and write postcards while sipping hot chocolate.