Categories: uncategorized
Date: 15 May 2007 16:16:21
Friday saw FW and I confined to our room. For one reason or another both of us were feeling under the weather and decided to miss the drive to the bulbfields and to take things easy instead.
In the evening we decided to go into Amsterdam for a meal and then to wander around the night sites. We found a nice italian restaurant away from the more touristy part of the city. However we did stumble upon the main Liberation Day service in the Dam (the main square). This is the annual celebration of the liberation of Holland from the Nazi occupation in 1945. At 20:00 hours everything comes to a halt for 2 minutes silence. This includes the city's trams, one of which we were on.
The previous day we'd passed a small service on the banks of the local canal that was observing Memorial Day, when the Dutch remember those who've died in conflicts since 1945. These a two important days in the Dutch calender.
After our meal we decided to take a walk around the Old Jewish Quarter; this is more famous as being the Red Light District. As we wandered, trying to avoid the bands of loud, drunken, English tourists shouting and screaming, we found one of the Owners Club waiting outside a shop. We had managed to run into the main party without even trying.
I must say that the Red Light District brought out feelings of distaste and sorrow. There were definitely lots of attractive women in very skimpy outfits that left little to the imagination. All I could think of was the waste of lives. Could anyone really find enjoyment in working in such a way?
One of the women in our party commented that it was better to see them in this way than walking the streets, as they do in the UK. At least they weren't climbing into cars with people they didn't know and driving off to who knows where. It is the oldest profession in the world and one that won't die out as long as their is sin in the world.
We finally managed to pry everyone away from the temptations on offer and marched off to get the tram back to the hotel. On arrival at the station we found the organisers and their friends were at the front of our tram. they had gone off on their own and left everyone else to fend for themselves. Some people were annoyed about this as they were led to believe that everyone would be touring the area together.
There was therefore much merriment that one of the party was definitely the worse for wear. Not only was he sick but also had to be carried back to the hotel. Its fair to say that he was rather embarressed the following morning.