Day 58: Prague and Amsterdam

After grabbing breakfast on a rainy morning in Prague, Mom and I packed up and headed for the airport. Our flight to Amsterdam was short but turbulent. After navigating our way from airport to central train station to hotel, we were ready to start sightseeing in Amsterdam by about 3pm. Our first stop was to the floating flower district, which is pretty but perhaps a little out of season in August. Our next stop was to the Heineken "brewery experience," which was mostly an tribute to and glorification of Heineken's marketing strength. The tour was entertaining, although we agreed it was a little bit silly. One point of the tour included a "ride" where we experienced the brewing process from the beer's perspective through "We Brew You." As we held onto rails while standing on a coordinated-shaking-to-the-movie-display platform, we were transformed from our uneffervescent selves to an exciting bottle of Heineken beer. When we dropped into a vat of wort, the ride jerked and overhead sprinklers misted; when we underwent pasteurization, the room's overhead heaters flared; and when the yeast fermentation stage completed, the ride graciously threw out one thing that has been noticeably missing from this trip...soap bubbles. You get the idea. It was silly.

Just in time for 5pm!

Beautiful historic building as part of the tour


Regardless, the tour's two included beers were not unappreciated, and Mom and I tolerated the loud bar music and flashing images of happy, partying, Heineken-drinking worldly 20-somethings to finish my favorite part of the tour (the two pints at the end). After deciding to walk back to our hotel's end of town to burn off the beer, I took Mom along the main route to see the sights (which ended up including a raging gay-pride weekend festival). After a short relaxation stop at the hotel, we decided to take a break from European cuisine for some Thai food. Dinner was excellent, but by the time we were done, we had lost track of our evening. It was already past 9pm, and the night was turning dark. After unsuccessfully looking for a late-night canal boat ride (everywhere we looked was closed), we walked back along the lighted canals before retiring to our hotel room.

Beautiful but empty boats

Amsterdam's canals at night

I'm glad Mom got to see Amsterdam. I much preferred the quieter neighborhood that Mom and I stayed in, but she also got to see the seedier side of Amsterdam as we were walking home. Mom agreed that many of the tourist areas seem a bit trashy (literally and figuratively).

Sadly, this was the last stop on Mom's trip, and starting tomorrow I'll be back to traveling solo. Having Mom was wonderful, and I'm starting to reach the point where I'm ok with this trip coming to an end...but there's still more fun to be had, and I have just under a week left of this amazing journey. Back to Germany I go!