A/N: The wonderful Mrs. The King has made today (28.02.10) appreciate your reader day, so before anything else I would like to say a big THANK YOU to everybody who ever took the time to read some of my stories. Thanks for giving them (and me) a chance. Your support is the reason these stories get posted.

This was originally intended for The Twilight 25 challenge over at LJ, but I've decided not to do it like that anymore. I've come to realize that I don't have the time to write 25 chapters before April 1st. In the end I think this story will benefit from it because it won't be rushed, the chapters will be posted when they are ready and not due to some overall deadline.

On a last note, thanks to FrogQueenLaurel and Dani who betaed this chapter for me. There should be an appreciate your beta day as well.

The first thing I had to watch out for in Amsterdam was all the bikes. Even with having read about it in several guidebooks I was not prepared for exactly how many bikes there actually were in the city. Every time I tried to cross a street I had to look around for any bikes nearby, but after a few near death experiences with bikes I was starting to get the hang out if it.

I was only going to spend two whole days in Amsterdam, so despite my experience from London, I had a busy program planned. The art museums was on the top of my list, but I also wanted to sail along the canals and to see the Red Light District. My plan was however to visit that during the day time, not really sure it was a place to be after dark.

I decided to start my day with a cup of coffee, after all the hot guy on the train had mentioned coffee shops here, and I could use some caffeine to get my day started. I wanted to make sureI would have enough energy for everything I had planned. I didn't remember reading anything about the coffee being especially good in Amsterdam, but I could very well have skipped that part in the guide book not having paid much attention to the food and beverage sections.

I quickly realized that there sure was a lot of different coffee shops around the city. I recognized a few names from home, but most of the names I had never heard of before. It surprised me that the majority of the shops seemed to be small independent ones, hardly any of them had the same name.

I debated just picking one of the places I knew from home, but quickly decided that for the real Dutch experience I should choose of the unknown brands instead. I settled for a place close to the Red Light District, that would give me a chance to check it out quickly while drinking my coffee.

The coffee shop was dark and empty except for a blond guy with a ponytail who was standing behind the counter flipping through a magazine.

"Hi, can I get a tall latte to go please?" I asked.

"You want a latte?" The blonde guy stared at me with utter disbelief.

"Yes, to go please," I repeated.

"Hey Laurent!" the guy called towards the back, "she want's a latte!" A tall guy with dreadlocks appeared from the back room, I assumed he was the afore mentioned Laurent.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes. I would like a tall latte to go please," I repeated, a bit slower this time in case they had trouble understanding what I was saying.

The two guys looked at each other for a second before they completely bend over laughing, tears were actually streaming down the blond guys face. It took a while for them to recompose themselves and the one with the dreadlocks turned around to face me

"Sweetheart, would you like to see a menu?"

"Okay, sure..." I was a little hesitant, I didn't consider my request that complex, but maybe they had other words for latte here so I took the menu he handed me. Once I flipped it open I realized why the two guys had been laughing so hard at my order. The place didn't actually sell coffee, instead they offered a wide selection of pot, wheed, joints and smoking paper.

"So you don't actually sell coffee here?" I asked, slowly realizing what this was.

"No, not really," the blonde guy said whiping the tears of his face. "It's not exactly that kind of coffee shop."

"So what, all coffee shops here in Amsterdam doesn't really sell coffee, but pot?" I still had trouble realizing what was actually going on, this was not what I had expected at all.

"Well the ones that advertise themselves as coffee shops are well... places like this. The cannabis pictures on the sign didn't tip you off?"

"Ehm no, I didn't see that," I said, more than a little embarrassed that I hadn't paid attention to something that obvious.

"Let me give you a piece of advice here honey," the dreadlocks offered leaning in over the counter. "If you're actually looking for a place to drink coffee, stay clear of the places with cannabis drawings on the signs."

"Thanks, I'll remember that from now on," I nodded. I just really wanted to get out of there, the two guys were clearly making fun of me now and I had no desire so spend any more time in this place and I could hear them laughing behind me as I left the place.

Once I was out on the street again I looked around at the other coffee shops signs and realized that all of them had little drawings of cannabis on them. Now that I was aware of it, it was actually hard to miss and I felt really stupid for being so oblivious to it.

I managed to buy a latte from a regular cafe further up the street and with that in hand I went to get a closer look of the Red Light District. It really was red, even in the bright daylight. All over the place there were red neon signs and in all the window displays there were half naked girls waiting for some costumers to come along. I didn't like starring at them, but on the other hand it was hard not to do so, they were everywhere I looked, and if the windows didn't display girls it had a wide selection of porn instead.

I didn't feel like spending a lot of time in the area, instead I went back to the main area of the city and took a closer look at the architecture of Amsterdam. I enjoyed getting a closer look at all the canals, their bridges, the houses that were practically build right onto the water and all the houseboats that were anchored along the waterside.

I hadn't paid much attention to where I was going, I was so busy taking in the entire scene before me, so by pure chance I suddenly found myself looking over at the tour boats that were sailing around the canals. I realized it was possible to purchase a ticket for the entire day and then get on and off the boats as I wanted and one of the boats was actually sailing by most of the museums in town. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to not only get a closer look to some of the museums, but also taking a tour around the canals of Amsterdam. My main priority was to see the Van Gogh museum but I was hoping to catch a glimpse of both Anne Frank's House and the Rembrandt museum as well.

I got my ticket and hopped on board the boat, ready to enjoy Amsterdam from the waterside.

A/N: I know this was mainly a little sightseeing, they won't all be like this, but it was necessary to get the story to the next point.

If you want to chat with me on twitter you can, I'm jools_dk