Heineken Experience, Canal Tour and Red Light District

(Katherine) Given that we had just completed the Jameson and Guinness tours in Dublin, we felt compelled to take the Heineken Experience Tour in Amsterdam. It was very different than the other two. They basically glaze over the history of the company, give a very brief demonstration of how beer is made, and then start taking you through their marketing presentation and the interactive portion of the tour. This includes a “4-D” beer making movie, videos, photo e-cards, computer games, and a walk by the Heineken horse stables. The best part is definitely the bar at the end of the tour which includes 2 beers, and tables which light up with electronic coasters when you set down your drink.

We forced ourselves to leave earlier than we would have liked in order to make our 5:00 canal boat tour. This was put on by one of the local boat clubs rather than a professional tour company. Here, volunteers take people out on a 75 minute ride through the canals and just work on tips. It was a lovely way to get around the town, and to appreciate just how many canals and bridges connect this entire city.

We decided to head to a very well known coffee shop which was featured in Oceans 12 called Dampkring, where they have proudly displayed Oceans 12 photos on one wall. We enjoyed some tea, chatted with the waitress, and then moved on to the red light district. The area definitely reminded me a bit of Pigalle Street in Paris, but much smaller and located along canals rather than streets. I also finally saw “the windows”…there really are girls standing there waiting for patrons! They all use a weird florescent red light to line the frames of the windows, which almost makes them look like they are standing in a tanning booth. It looks very surreal, almost like the miniature neon colored brothel that lures Michael Keaton in the movie Beatlejuice.

We finally decided to get some dinner and settled on an Argentine restaurant. We’re not sure why, but there appears to be quite an Argentine presence in Amsterdam. We probably saw at least 20-30 restaurants advertised while walking around. Needless to say, Robert had a chance to enjoy some fine Argentine steak once again, and the restaurant made a lovely end to our evening.