I can now add another country to my visited list, Netherlands. I’ve spent the last two days in Amsterdam for a work conference, though at least this time I made it out of the hotel to do a little bit of sightseeing.

The adventure didn’t start well: I got to heathrow early, only to discover that the flight that I and two of my coworkers were booked on had been cancelled. Despite having a two hour wait for the next flight the airline KLM refused to provide us with any kind of compensation. Not even a voucher to get a coffee. Not to mention the staff at the Heathrow ticket desk could be at beat described as unhelpful. At worst downright rude.

We did make it, but I hate to say it, staff at the hotel front desk were hi better. The Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky was not, from my experience, worth staying at. Reconsider your venue if you can. The event coordinator was almost non-existant.

Ok, enough moaning, what did I see?

Made it to Anne Frank’s House, a museum for, well, you can guess. Quite moving, and quite well put together. Quite good video features were on display with interviews and what not. I’m amazed anyone could live through any of it.

The Red Light District. Walked down and back again with a coworker and a guy from the conference. They are cetainly open with what they are offering! Chose not to partake in such activities however.

Lastly, after the conference I managed to get out on a cruise tour of the canals and port. Amazing how much of the canal system was man-made: I guess it makes sense, it was an excellent way to take advantage of water for moving goods around the place.

(I’m backdating this post as I wrote it in the airport while waiting to leave - and just never got around to migrating it from MobileNotes to the blog)