Commercialization Sucks

Travis and I decided to go visit the Anne Frank House over in the Jordaan district only to be greeted with terribly long lines and something else very unsettling. Although every guidebook, web site and/or fellow traveler suggested going either very early or very late, we ignore this and rambled over around 1pm after a leisurely lunch. It was still overcast and chilly so it would be a good site to see on such a day. We get there and I'm kinda disappointed in the outside at least. They revamped the outside with some modern industrial architecture, installed a restaurant and they probably even put a gift shop in the place to. So why was this bothering me (and Travis) so much? It just seemed like hollowed ground, a somber place and to trick it out like this for tourists seemed a bit too much. I didn't have a strong opinion about seeing the actual room either way, so we opted to boycott this exhibit. Now, the rooms and everything were left intact and I'm sure the proceeds from the restaurant go towards preserving this piece of history, but it just seemed sacrilegious.

There is a good thing that came about our little protest. We ended up walking past a hot dog stand!!!!!!! I know, hot dogs in Holland? No more crazy than the cheesesteaks in Thailand! I walked up to the stand and ordered a medium (there's more than 1 size?) and slather it with raw onion and mustard. Mayo was an option as the Dutch put it on everything, but ewwww. The roll was pretty decent, but the meat was so weird and Travis pointed out that it looked like the dogs were from jars, so double ewwwwww. It was satisfying until the end when I realized I didn't like it too much, but I finished it and can confirm that from here on out all hot dogs consumed by myself will only be done in the USA.

We proceeded to wander around the Jordaan, down the little streets, get an education in absinthe from a shopkeeper and then head back to the hostel. There were probably some beers in there on the way back too, but I can't remember. Since it was going to be rainy again and we should take it easy on the booze for a night, we head on out to the movies and go see 'Star Trek' with Dutch subtitles, which are terribly distracting. I got some popcorn and was slightly disappointed that there were no butter machines and then I realized why. It was kettle corn popcorn and my heart was so set on the savory variety that it almost made me sad. By far the worst thing that has happened to me on this trip :)

'Star Trek' was incredible so I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. Sayin'