We were on our own for our second day in Amsterdam. We have visited this beautiful city a few times, so there were just a couple things on our list for the day: frites with frite sauce (French fries with the mayonnaise-like sauce found here) and the Red Light District's Museum of Prostitution. The day was predicted to be partly cloudy with a high in the mid-60's. After breakfast we headed out. We made a quick stop at the tourist desk in the terminal to confirm where the museum was and how to get to Damrack -- the main street that leads from Central Station to Dam Square. I had picked up some information and coupons when we were here in April, so I was pretty sure of where we needed to go.

 We turned to the right after leaving the terminal and could soon see Central Station . It was a little confusing with the train tracks that we had to go under and the canal we had to go over, but soon we were in an area that we recognized and found Damrack. Barbara, the onboard location guide, said we could find a street with local shops one block beyond Damrack, and by taking one of the narrow side streets, we could find it. So we took the first one we came to and walked along the street, peeking into the shops, cafes and restaurants. Just before the street ended at Dam Square, there was a Subway, a Burger King and a McDonald's. Dam Square was filled with activity and people. We walked over to the nearby shopping mall with the hopes of finding a rest
room. They had a pay toilet, but the machine where you pay was out of order and no attendant was there to help. We went back to Burger King where we found clean (and free) toilets on the second floor. By then it was about 11:00 AM and we were getting hungry. We stopped at the first frite shop we came to on Damrack (they all claim to have the best fries) and ordered a small with sauce to share . The fries are always crispy and hot -- and the sauce is the perfect topping. If you haven't had Dutch frite sauce, it is hard for me to describe it to you. It is mayonnaise-like, but not mayonnaise. It is lower in fat than mayonnaise and has more flavor. Thank goodness I haven't seen it for sale at home -- we would be eating fries and sauce all the time!

 The book I had said the Museum of Prostitution didn't open until noon, but we decided to walk over into the Red Light District (called de Wallen) to see if we could find it. The first time we stayed in Amsterdam, we stayed in a hotel just on the edge of the Red Light District, so we were somewhat familiar with the area. The person at the tourist information desk thought the museum was across from the Oude Kerk (Old Church -- which was built by sailors in the 13th century). We knew exactly where that was. As soon as you enter the district, you know it by the types of shops you see. They have displays in their windows of all sorts of things I have never seen anywhere else . It makes you realize what a sheltered life you have lived. Any sort of kinky thing you can think of (and many that you would never think of) are for sale here. But the Red Light District isn't just about sex -- there are regular shops and restaurants, bakeries and bars, and more. As we neared the Oude Kerk, you also see what the Red Light District is most known for --- the windows. Since it was the middle of the day, we did not see a lot of prostitutes, but there were a few. The corner near the Oude Kerk is known as the place for black women. There were 4 at work when we passed -- and one of them had just taken in a customer and closed her curtain. Checking my map and the address of the museum made me realize that it was likely located one more block over from the church, so we walked over that way, passing many more empty windows on the way. Some of them had "for rent" signs in them and said that an EU passport was required to rent them. We also saw a couple more occupied windows -- one had quite an attractive young woman. 

We finally got to the museum and found that it had opened at 11:00 AM, so we went right in. With my coupon, the tickets were just 8 euros each. The museum was small, but interesting, and we learned quite a bit about prostitution. Prostitution has only been legal since 2000 in the Netherlands, but has been common in Amsterdam since the city was established. There are about 900 sex workers in Amsterdam, both men and women, and about 300 windows in the district . The prostitutes pay rent of 150 euros for a 12 hour use of one of the window rooms. On average, a prostitute uses 2000 condoms per year and the average length of a sexual encounter is less than 10 minutes. Prostitutes often specialize, offering S&M or "Electro-Sex" (where electrodes are attached to give small shocks) for example. The sex workers pay taxes, follow rules and regulations and are trying to form a union.

In the museum, there was a small theater with a short film showing the daily life of a prostitute, a display on historical clothing of prostitutes, and a couple of windows where you could sit and pretend that you were one of the girls in the window. We tried our hand at answering questions about prostitution on a computerized quiz and then walked through a typical window room, a luxury room and one set up for sadomasochism. There was also a video that told how many Eastern European women are tricked into coming to the Netherlands and becoming prostitutes by promises of jobs as dancers .

We had thought about getting more fries, but we really weren't hungry, so just made our way back to the ship. On the way we passed Chinatown and stopped at a store to pick up some supplies. We also found a shorter, more direct route to the ship that we had missed on the way out. We got back about 2:00 PM. After lunch I went back to the terminal to use the internet and at about 3:30 PM the ship sent someone to shoo us out of the terminal and back onto the ship. We had a muster drill at 4:15 -- which everyone must participate in or you are not allowed to sail. They take safety really seriously, which is a good thing. 

We decided to watch the narrated sail-away out of Amsterdam from the Crow's Nest bar at the front of the ship. It is about 16 miles from Amsterdam to the North Sea via canal and then there is lock that the ship must pass through. On the way we sailed past large industrial areas, then into a more agricultural area. When we reached the North Sea, there was a large beach and many people there. The Amsterdam canal is somewhere around 12 feet below the North Sea, depending on the tide. It did not seem like it was that large a difference, so perhaps it was at low tide. 

We had a late dinner and then went to the show, "The Power of Two", a two person (a man and a woman) acrobatic act. They were very talented and amazingly strong. We enjoyed it very much. We had had two pretty active days in a row with lots of walking, so my hip was bothering me a bit. We went back to our cabin after the show so I could lie down and hopefully get my hip to calm down. We've got many more ports to visit on this cruise!