A day in Amsterdam and a USA loss :(

Yesterday was a pretty busy day for Luke and I. We woke up, biked into downtown Utrecht and got on a train to Amsterdam. Train ride only lasts about 30 minutes and then we were in Amsterdam on an extremely busy Saturday. The streets were as packed as I have ever seen a street. Imagine leaving a stadium after a football, basketball, or soccer game and that is what the streets were like in Amsterdam. The weather was perfect and this added to the chaos I am sure. We walked through the crowds to Luke's favorite neighborhood in the city called Leidseplein, and sat in a very nice outdoor square for a beer. Immediately the atmosphere of being in Amsterdam took over with a street performer who had set up a rope to climb. This guy performed gymnastics on the rope, and was showing off his aged but ripped body, climbing the rope, flexing and balancing with his legs hanging off, then balancing with only his legs and so forth. What made the experience truly unique was the fact that he did al of this wearing on a g-string. The guy must have been at least 60, but my guess is that he was almost 70. I snapped a couple pictures, but this is a PG blog so I will not put them up.

After a beer and some Dutch treats in Leidseplein we walked to the nearest "I am amsterdam sign" which I posted a picture of and took some pictures. This is also near the Van Gough museum where I will probably go with Becky and Krista when they arrive. Then we took a tram back to the more tourist section of town and walked around a bit more. Luke then took me into the red light district without any warning, and even though we walked down only one street, I still became extremely uncomfortable with the women tapping on the windows. Luke says that just prepared me for when I give Becky and Krista their tour.

We had to cut our day short to get back for the USA vs. Ghana game. We biked to the local irish pub pictured below called Mick O'Connels, which doubles as the best sports bar in town and plays all the World Cup games. Lots of Americans showed up at the bar for the game, but almost none of the them knew anything about soccer. The guys in front of us just kept yelling the 2 names of guys they knew (Donovan, and Alitdore) even when they weren't the ones touching the ball. It was good to see a big group of people there to watch the game and support the US in the world cup. Too bad they lost the game. Now I will probably just jump on the bandwagon of a team doing well (the Netherlands or Spain maybe?) to cheer for during the tournament. I guess watching Spain win in Spain would be pretty cool.

Tomorrow we will travel to the Haag and finish up cleaning Luke's apartment.