Welcome to Damrack

Sunday morning at 10:00 AM, Tony Hurla and Aaron Meyers set off on an adventure. These men had a map of Germany, two bags packed with clothes, and a car that isnt allowed on the road after the end of the month. There were no plans, no reservations, no prior research or thought put into what they would do when they got there. Amsterdam was the destination and Amsterdam was itinerary. with a full tank of gas, and a revised route by Hans George 15 minutes before they left, the guys pulled out of Dohren headed for the Netherlands

Tony had an international driving permit, Aaron did not. Aaron could drive a stick, Tony could not. Dilemma. They both decided the ability to drive the car was the more important thing for the driver to have. So Aaron flew the plane and Tony was the navigator. The powder blue VW, let's call her Betsy, wasnt the fastest thing Aaron had ever driven, it was actually nowhere close. she started getting a little rowdy around 130 km. and the Armstrong steering was a bit of a pain in the butt, but it was a car nonetheless and it would be much cheaper than taking a train or a bus or anyother kind of transportation. Plus it gave them the versatility of departure times and also sleeping arrangements, and it acted as their closet. Betsy was their life line.

them 2 men drove with anticipation and excitement flowing through their viens and around 3:00 on Sunday June 21, 2009 they would forever be able to say that they had been to Amsterdam. Turning off the A10 ring into the city, they came to Olympic park. this is the site of one of the Park and Ride lots that costs 6 euros a day to leave your car and also where the 1928 Summer Olypics were held. they parked and grabbed their backpacks and headed out to the tram station. Tony had talked to one of his friends that had come to Amsterdam earlier in the year and gotten the name of the place they had stayed. there was no guarantee that there would be a bed but it was the best option they had at that point. Not really being one for public transportation, Aaron looked at the map and concluded that it wouldnt be that far of a walk to get to Leidersplein and Vondle Park. so they walked, and they walked, and they walked some more until they realized that the street names werent the ones they were looking for. after consulting another map at another tram station, it was a bit of a let down to see that they had walked way out of the way and were not closer now, than when they had started. they retraced a few of their steps and turned right, this HAD to be the right way to go they told themselves and one another as the rain began to fall on their heads. after 15 minutes and a brief stop under a tree to get out of the rain, they came to another tram station and a map that didnt have a "You are here" sticker. Luckily there was a little old lady there waiting for the tram that had on way too much foundation and eye brows penciled on in red despite her hair being white with a few streaks of blonde desperately holding on to their true color. she told the guys that they were about 4 blocks away from the street they needed and they would need to walk back the way the came from in order to get there. this new information put a little pep in their step. the lady had not led them wrong, their was in fact the Leidersplein...now they would just have to figure out which way they needed to go. after some debate and looking up and down the street trying to find any sign of the right way, they came to the conclusion that right was the best option.

after 10 more minutes of walking and finally asking someone for directions, Aaron and Tony finally found the Trianon Hostel. there were 2 beds available for sunday night but they were all booked up for the rest of the trip. to they paid their 21 euros and headed up to the room to put their stuff down and put on some dry clothes. they had eaten all day so they found a pizzeria they had passed earlier and took a seat. the pizza was good and cheap and the beer was Heineken, a local brewery.

after dinner the guys headed to a district called Leidersplein, where there were bars and shopping and a square with live entertainment. they walked around a bit when they first got there, searching for the best bar to start out at. something about the sports bar caught their eye and they went in. they were greated with dozens of tvs showing soccer, tennis, rugby, and the 3rd round of the U.S. Open. they watched as Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover held off Lefty and Duvall atop the leader board, that is until the bar started filling up with spanish speakers - loads of spanish. during the 10th hole, the tvs all suddenly switched to Brazil vs Egypt. we were surrounded by Brazilians and they were getting crazy. they were singing and dancing and chanting, and booing and thats when Tony and Aaron knew it was time to leave. they paid and walked across the square looking for another bar; Aaron just happened to look into the Hoopman bar and see that they were still showing the US Open. they had made bets about what the scores were going to be and who would be in the lead, so they sat and watched it until the end. Hoopmans is an Irish bar ran by actual Irish people. there is a very prevalent accent running through the place. It became a hangout of sorts for the guys during their stay.

After the 3rd round was over it was time to head to the famous Red Light District. They had talked about and forecasted their expectations for the RLD but it was nothing like what they had imagined. they had expected it to be one big street filled with red lit windows and the smell of weed, and sketchy dudes selling hard drugs on street corners. and while there were red lights and marijuana all over, it was more than just one street. when they say District, they mean district. this went on for blocks and blocks, in all directions. People filled the streets and spilled over into the alley ways, going about they business. we were able to find a couple bars that werent too crowded and had a few more beers but most of the bars close down at 1 AM. there are only a handfull that stay open later and we were lucky enough to find one and get a seat. The public transportation stops running at 12 midnight during the week...a fact tony and aaron found out the hard way, so at 4 when the bar closed, they had to walk back to the hostel. now this might not have been so hard had it been light and he they not been drunk...although they had gotten lost when they first got there and it HAD been light, and they HADNT been drunk. but there was something about being drunk that made the guys better map readers, they walked right to the hostel with no problems at all. While Tony was checking out one of the first maps, Aaron did fall asleep standing up...another lifetime first.

after 6 hours of sleep, it was 11 AM and check out time at the Hostel. they hopped the tram back to Olympic stadium and put their bags back in the car, their new home for the night. hungover and very much in need of food, the guys headed back to the sports bar. They had a 12.50 all you can eat spare rib meal that had their names written all over it. they also served pancakes as big as a hubcap but thats not what was needed at this point in the day. they both devoured 2 racks of ribs and fries and washed it down with a nice cold Coca Cola. highlights of Wimbledon were playing on ESPN. rolling out of the sportsbar, they hopped the tram, actually by this point they were quite good with public transportation and were confident about getting anywhere in the city, heading to central station. Central station is right next to the RLD and some of the old churches and town squares so there are always a ton of people there. it was later said on a canal tour that 100,000 people pass through central station on any given day.

when Tony's friends had been in Amsterdam earlier in the year, they had hung out at a place called the 420 cafe and the bar right next to it called the Bottle Bar. it was our mission to find these places and take a picture of the dollar bill they had left on the wall in the Bottle Bar. the directions Tony's friends had given him included going over a canal so that is what we were looking for. Luckily i just happened to look down an alley and saw a sign that said 420. there was no canal in sight...anywhere close even. but nonetheless we found the cafe and went in. we sat down and some guy just came up and asked if he could sit with us. he spoke english and sounded like he was from America (actually he was from Canada...the Canadian Islands to be exact. he made that very clear to us) so we sat there and talked to him for a good hour about baseball and what we were doing in Germany and how he's working on a visa in Ireland for a year. so the three of us walked down to the square and watched a couple of street acts before we got bored with it and found a bar. we sat and drank a beer and talked about what we wanted to do the rest of the day. we decided to go back to central station and take a canal tour through the city and see some of the local sights. this is were we learned about 100,000 people a day thing as well and some of the history of the city and got to see a couple of the historic houses and warehouses from the city's rich past. we found out that the canals were actually moats that were set up around the city to keep out intruders and as the city grew, new canals had to be dug farther and farther out.

it was getting pretty cold by this point so me and Tony headed back to the car to get our jackets and change clothes. we left our new found friend, we think his name was Mike, though he never told us. after changing we headed back to Hoopmans to watch the final round of the US Open. it was already half over by the time we got there but things were heating up as Lefty had taken the lead and Ricky Barnes had fallen way off. he had lost 7 strokes in 12 holes. But Glover, my pick, was holding steady, playing consistant golf, at 1 stroke off the lead. Our irish waiter came up as we were yelling about Mickelson missing a put on 17 to go down by 1 stroke, and asked us how we could ever get that excited about golf. we just couldnt understand how anyone could watch the game and get that into it.

we returned to the RLD after Lucas Glover won the tournament and went back to a bar that said on Sunday that they would give us a discount on beer if we came back on Monday. so we went and sat in our seats and the same bartender was working so she gave us our beers for .25 off! yeah we saved a whole quarter. but there was a guy sitting at the bar with us that was from America, Adam from Virginia, and a guy sitting next to him, i'll call him Muhammad for obvious reasons. Muhammad also claimed to be from America, New Jersey in fact, and he was an american cinema buff. we could tell him any move and he knew the director, and the actors in the movie. so we had fun with muhammad, asking him questions about b-list movies and stumping him with some hard questions. but he knew pretty much every big blockbuster, a-list movie we asked him about. he was the human form of IMDB. half way through this trivia game, Adam's friend walked in and this time Muhammad told him that he was from Dallas. we caught him in this little lie and he started backpedaling a bit. it was quite funny, he was drunk.

when the bars closed down, it was past the time for the tram so we walked back to Leidersplein and saw that hoopmans was still open. we sat and had 2 beers before they closed and then went to a late night bar called Bourbon Street. there was a black guy playing live music in there but we were tired and just wanted to get back to the car and sleep. We were talking about getting a taxi when a guy popped out onto the street and told us that he was the cheapest taxi in town. 15 bucks to get to Olympic stadium, every other cab would be at least 20. we said sure, we like to save money, lets do it. we were walking to his car when i noticed that he didnt have a taxi light on his car, it was a personal car. My mind went racing back to movies like Hostel and 96 hours were people are too trusting and are never seen or heard from again. so i started questioning this guy. How did we know he was legit? how did we know that he would take us where we want to go and not all over town? How did we know that he wouldnt take us to his buddies around the corner and rob us blind? he seemed to be very insulted by all the questions but i was not about to get in that car. finally i just said that we were going to take a differnet taxi, one that i knew was legit and walked away. were hurried down the street and found the first taxi and jumped in. I've give the man one thing, he was right, it was 20 bucks. but we were safely there and we still had everything.

we got down to the car, opened up the sleeping bags, laid down the seats, when there was a knock at the window. i rolled down the window and he spouted something in Dutch. i asked if he spoke english and he told me to hang on one minute. it was at this point that i knew we werent allowed to sleep in the car and was trying to think if we had passed any hotels or hostels on the way home. Indeed i was right, cops #1s buddy showed up and told us that sleeping in the car was not allowed, we would have to leave the parking lot. so we walked right outside and found 2 benches and laid down. they had a problem with us sleeping in the car, but looking like homeless guys outside the Olympic stadium was fine, there was no problem there. I woke up a few times to the sight of unfamiliar faces staring at us, talking about us. but i was too tired to do anything about it. and to be completely honest, it wasnt the worst night's sleep i've ever had.

we finally got up at about 10 and moved our beds inside to the car. we had wanted to see the Heineken brewery so that was our new destination. the sun was bright and there wasnt a cloud in the sky, a great day for a brewery tour. we got there just as the doors were opening and were 2nd in line to buy our tickets. great timing by us because it filled up a lot after that. there is no tour guide, you just walk around and read all the facts for your self, there is no time limit, you can stay as long or as short as you want. so we got to Taste the Wort and a girl told us about the ingredients and how you can taste them in the beer. then we got to the end of the tour for the free beer, you're only supposed to get 2 beers, but one guy gave us his drink token and the bar tender there gave us a free drink so we ended up having 3 beers before noon. helped the hangover to say the least.

After the Heineken tour we stopped by Hoopmans again and just got a Coke. as we sat there and drank it, trying to figure out where we could go tonight and what we would do, we realized that we would do exactly the same thing, at exactly the same places, and just spend more money. so we came to the concensus that it was best to just get the car and head back to Germany.

this was an adventure in itself. not the driving part of it, that wasnt a problem, but when it came time to stop for gas and food, thats when things got interesting. we had been trying to find food since we left Amsterdam, any kind of fast food, but they had to take a credit card because I havent been paid yet for this month and all i have left is my credit card. so we found a McDonalds and pulled in, we ordered and when we tried to pay our cards got denied because they dont take Visa, only Mastercard. so nevermind, we'll keep going. we pulled off about 40 km down the road again because it said there was food there, but it was hiding because we never found it. it wasnt until we were about 2 hours away from home (its a 5 hour drive from door to door) that we found a gas station with food. we filled up the tank and when i went to pay, i pulled out my credit card and swiped it. we tried 4 times with no luck, they dont take Visa either. so I was kind of freaking out a bit because i didnt think Tony had 64 euros either. but tony came in and we tried to use his card since it was a debt and not a credit card. it didnt work either so we went to the ATM outside and tony got out 50 bucks. we added that to the other 9 he had and we were still 5 euro short. but we went to the man and told him this and he shrugged it off and told us to have a nice day...I couldnt believe it. i was already contemplating who i was going to have to call and where we were going to stay that night and how we were going to get home. but the guy just shrugged it off and told us to have a nice day. Thank you Gas Station Man.

But we werent out of the woods just yet. we still had to eat. so we walk into the truck stop cafe connected to the gas station and have a seat at one of the back tables. i could feel the eyes of the other patrons follow us back to our table, obvious to the fact that we were out-of-towners. the first thing i asked when we sat down is if they took Visa, the last thing i wanted to do was have to wash dishes in a German truck stop because they couldnt take my credit card. But she assured me that it would work so we sat and ate. Tony got...let me take a breath... 2 hand sized meatballs on a piece of toast, a huge bratwurst on a piece of toast, 2 chicken breasts, a tray of fries and a salad. I had a steak, and he still finished before i did. the boy doesnt mess around when it comes to food, thats for sure. so the bill comes and im hold my breath as im waiting to hear that its been denied, but much to my delight she brings it back with no problem and we jump back on the road headed for Dohren before anything else can go wrong.

all in all i had a great time in Amsterdam. considering we decided to go on wednesday and had no place to stay or itinerary to follow once we got there, i'd say things went pretty well. Next time i will definitely figure all that stuff out before i take off, but it definitely gives me confidence for other trips i will take in the future. I now know i can go anywhere and wing the trip and have a good time doing it.

A-Ron

P.S. I know i changed from 3rd to 1st person half way through... as i was reading over it i wish i hadnt done any of it in 3rd person, but it was too late to go back and change it at that point. it was an experiement and it wont happen again. my appologies.