20 April 04, Monday. I guess we will have to really buckle down and get the heck out of bed if we are “going to get an early start”….. as it was, we boarded the tram at 10:30am and headed into Amsterdam. Our first time in the big city and we kind of felt it too. We hadn’t really set an agenda for ourselves and that was our first mistake. We kind of pulled at each others strings all day long and that didn’t make live easy. One of the first “agreed upon” destinations was the home of Anne Frank. I think we all remember the story of Anne Frank and her family as they hid for more than 2 years from the Nazi’s. The outside of the home was really just about like any other home here in Amsterdam. The interior is pretty much like it was except there is no furnishings at all. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to figure out just were we where and “discussing it”. I think we both were looking for night time and then we could check out the “Red Light District”. Let me tell you, we found that the whole tourist community was waiting for the same thing. After 7pm everyone was heading over to the district to check these girls (and from what we understand men as girls) out. It was really quite interesting as they set up their business in a very narrow window. It was completely occupied by a stool/chair and themselves. Behind them was their place to do business. Once a deal was made a curtain was drawn and it was business as usual for them. As we all walked the narrow streets looking in on them they would look back, some would jester, and some would dance to the music that was playing behind the windows. I must admit, the girls weren’t the only things that we saw all day long. We really enjoyed the architecture, the canals and the boats of the canals, the little pubs and the espresso shops. We even stopped for a ride on a huge Ferris wheel that was set up in front of the Royal Palace. This was only one of many rides that were available and it was in stark contrast to the rest of the surrounds like the Palace and all the rest of the historical buildings. Our leg muscles aching and really tired we headed back to the tram and onto the van. We got home just after 10:30pm and it felt like it.