Day 2, 3, and 4 Update

The second day started in Cologne and had options for our daily tasks through the city, in Dusseldorf and elsewhere south of Cologne. After a long first day, George and I decided to stick in Koln. We had a fun time and a very stress-less day. In the evening we hopped the train for Amsterdam arriving into the city of Heineken as well as “Boobies, and Doobies” as dubbed by Kirsten.

Day 3 in Amsterdam George and I, again stuck to the challenge and tasks that were in the city. With the exception of heading to NDSM which required a 10 minute ferry ride from Centraal Station. NDSM, was… well… I don’t know how to explain it, but I’ll try- It was previously an industrial area that had been redone as a sort of artist colony, and that has morphed again into who the hell knows what the place is. Anyways, it was under construction again and no one knew any of the areas that we were looking for in the task to earn points. Luckily some random local who knew of the places we were looking for helped us- he was the first of about 10 people who knew that there WERE specific areas. Let alone where those areas were.

Following that we took off for a Science Museum (NEMO) that we sadly had to race through and then on the Amsterdam Architecture Museum (ARCAM) for the last part of that challenge- Interesting tidbit there as it didn’t open until 1p and we were there at 1130a. So I did what anyone would do- try to walk in! Well, the main door was locked, and as George and I were contemplating taking off but I just happened to try this huge sliding door on the back end and it slid open. Knowing this wasn’t this probably wasn’t the best scenario, we walked in and shot a 20 second video at the first exhibit by the door.

We wandered up to the Anne Frank Huis, spent some time there and then opted for lunch a few blocks away on a quiet corner overlooking a… well… canal. After chilling for a bit we took off to a 3-part challenged which required a visit to athe Photo Museum, FOAM, to find a spot on a certain bridge where 15 bridges can be seen and to locate something with the following clues; “edible food”, “snap, crackle, and pop,” and to ask the server why they emigrated to Amsterdam. The first two were pretty easy, the third requireda bit more thought. As george and I were about to set up camp and get a beer to discuss this last clue in Rembrandtplatz, a light went off in George’s head. INDONESIAN RICE TABLE. We found the appropriate restaurant and did our moves to earn the points.

The final task of the day that we decided to jump on was a visit to the Lucas Bols Distillery. This challenge involved 3 parts too, but all were easily accomplished on the Distillery tour. They were simple and fun; create a music video, discuss the smells that effected you the most and to do your best as a bartender (think Tom Cruise in Cocktail). The tour also included a cocktail at the end, some samples of straight-up liquors and some shot called the “starry Night” that Bols was entering into a Van Gogh contest or something. And that ended our task day!