In Bacharach we had a nice continental breakfast at our hotel, and then walked down to the Rhine River to catch our boat to St. Goar. (Eurrail passes can be used for these boats at no additional charge.) St. Goar is another town similar to Bacharach, about a one hour boat ride north. This stretch of the Rhine is one of the best for viewing castles - and we really enjoyed this scenic cruise. Upon arriving in St. Goar, we walked a couple of blocks to the train station. Today we only needed two trains, and about 4 hours, to make it to Amsterdam.When we arrived we decided to take a Taxi to our guest suite - which is the third floor of a privately owned townhouse by Lidy and Rene - our hosts. Very nice people and great accommodations - we have our own little apartment.
After settling in and showering, and getting a quick primer on the transportation system (basically street trolleys) we took the Number 9 line to Central Station in Amsterdam… where we were going to find a place to get a bite, and walk through the Red Light District, and I was thinking of pulling a “when in Rome” kind of thing by imbibing a tiny bit of the legal weed in Amsterdam’s coffee shops.
We ended up having Falafels for dinner at a sidewalk café and then we did go into the Baba Coffee Shop. I made the minimum purchase - 8 Euros for a gram (way more then I needed) of what they called “White Widow” - I asked for the weakest “flavor”. A guy there then showed me how to use a vaporizer to smoke it, and I took 2 little hits, and I felt it just a bit. It was amazing to do this in public, and the buzz was subtle - so we left Baba’s and walked towards the Red Light District.
And this place was truly amazing and actually a bit seedy and sad. It was amazing to see scantily clad women in windows - knowing that they are openly available - for a “rental fee”. And that was also the sad part - having daughters and thinking of how these daughters are selling their bodies, was just sad. I’m sure every one of them would rather be earning a living in some other fashion. Despite how amazing it was to see - our walk through this part of town was fairly quick. We then caught the Number 9 home around 11pm - just as it was finally getting dark.
