Because we had been up so late the night before, Kelly and I didn’t actually get going until after noon. After grabbing our regular morning waffle from the fair, we headed to Madame Tussaud’s wax museum to hang with all of the celebrities and learn a little more about the history of the Netherlands. Of course, we had tons ‘o fun coming up with poses for the pictures. The tour began as a guided tour of Amsterdam’s history with wax peeps to help you really get the picture. The guided section ended when they let you go on your own through an area about the pirates and the war… but really that part was just to scare the crap out of you. It was just like the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. A line of people (led by me this time that time through) walked through dark rooms where live characters were constantly jumping out at you and you saw grusome things like a man hanging by his feet with his stomach gutted. Kelly was pretty terrified, which made it pretty funny for me.
While we learned a bit about the Netherlands’ history on this tour, most of it was a refresher from the stories that we heard on our bike tour, so we just enjoyed finding creative poses to take with the locals.
Young Guy Checkin' Out Kelly
The last part of the tour was self-guided through celebrity-land. There were mainly Hollywood and musical celebrities, but there were also a few local celebrities of the Netherlands. Some sport superstars were there too, as were international historical figures. It was amazing how realistic most of them looked, but how fake others were.
Me Workin' Out with Beckham
Savin' the World with Bono
I Had the Hard Job of Being Jon Bon Jovi's Object of Affection
Kelly Rockin' the Mic with James Brown
Kelly Experiencing a Little More of Beyonce then She Asked For
Kelly Invading THE Mona Lisa's Personal Space
Kelly about to Plant One on the Guy Who Made Elvis Sculptures
On the way out of the building, you had to go down quite a few flights of stairs. To keep you entertained during your walk down, there were some celebrity-related things on the walls. One of those things was a mold of J-Lo’s bootie. It was recessed into the wall and lighted from all sides. Kelly reached in to touch it, and it made a fart sound. It was pretty hilarious!
By the time that we finished Madame Tussaud's, we didn’t really have time for anything else before the conference was over so we headed back to the hotel, then off to dinner (which, again, included white asparagus). After dinner, the Queen’s Day Eve celebrations had begun, so we walked around a little checking out the party atmoshere. We were a bit dissappointed in the partying, possibly because it had been so built up by everyone local. One thing that I thought was really strange was that there was a pretty strong Native American presence performing and selling stuff for Queen’s Day. There was a Native American band playing on Dam Square (in the middle of town), and there were Native American artists selling things in the street. Weird. I thought maybe they had something to do with the history of Queen’s Day, but when I asked a Netherlander about that the next day, they had no idea why Native Americans would be so prominent for Queen’s Day.
Anyway, our group sat together in our orange garb and had our own little party seated outside at a restaurant on Dam Square. We had a little strip tease show (thanks to Colin who was trying to make Kelly happy because she expressed that she was expecting a Mardi Gras vibe and was at least expecting to see a nipple), grabbed some more waffles, got some great news about Juergen & Eva expecting a new baby, and did an American Eagle photo shoot on the square. The party ended before Kelly, Keith, and I were ready to stop, so we continued to entertain ourselves in the hotel room by acting out skits that Kelly set the scene for (in a British accent). We have a couple of videos, but those will not be posted to protect the not-so-innocent. :)
About mid-day it was time to head to Rotterdam where Keith’s collegue, Arjen, was throwing a Queen’s Day party at his house. We headed back to the hotel, wrestled through the crowded streets with our luggage and Kelly’s many bags, and walked to the train station to board the train to Rotterdam, the second largest city in The Netherlands.
Enjoy the pictures of our final days in Amsterdam.
The next morning, we made sure we were up early enough to partake in the Queen’s Day free market. Queen’s Day is the only day that a permit is not required to sell your stuff in The Netherlands, so there are people selling things everywhere! We headed to Vondelpark, where only kids are allowed to sell their things. We picked up some clothes for the kids, a few toys and books, some souvineers, and just enjoyed the walk and the food. While at the park we had another urinal experience. There were these extra large barrels with holes in the side where guys could just walk up and pee. These “urinals” were right next to where families were sitting at the park and where kids were selling their things. Without even trying, I think we all saw a few “franks and beans”. I know America is a prude country, but that was just crazy! When we walked to the park, the streets were a little crowded, but when we headed back, they were packed!
2 comments:
thanks for the pix of nic cage! DROOL!
The urinals and public outings of franks and beans sounds so gross!
The JLo thing is hilarious!
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