Friday 8 June 2012

Amsterdam

Amsterdam would like to be known for tulips and canals rather than coffee shops and the red light district.

As I looked around the bus when we left Paris I had the feeling that no one was going to Amsterdam for the tulips, but then neither were we. I wanted to see prostitutes in windows and eat a space brownie.

We were on a Bus About bus, kind of like a tour. Our guide for the trip was Amy, a girl from Brisbane who told us we'd be stopping in Bruges on our way to 'the damage' (which apparently means Amsterdam)

After about an hour and a half we got there for a toilet stop and to pick up some other people - one of whom was a friend from home, crazy to run into someone you know in Bruges!

I came out of the ladies to see Sam with a Belgium beer in hand.. It was delicious.

Amy had been very clear that you've got to be on the bus when it's meant to leave or it will go without you. So after finishing the beer we walked back towards the bus. Until we saw a windmill, and started taking photos..


Then we hurried along to meet the rest of the group but were held up at a canal crossing.. For 15 minutes (those boats do not move quickly) thankfully the bus didn't leave..

As we drove into Amsterdam Amy gave us an overview of the city, activities and the nightlife. She even handed around literature on prostitutes (which Sam read, in depth)

We had all decided to meet up for a drink later that night, after heading to the wrong hotel we finally got to our room and headed out.

Amsterdam is cool, everyone is trendy and the buildings are amazing. It was great to walk through.

But my god, watch out for the bikes! We got into the habit of yelling bike at every crossing to remind ourselves - they don't stop for you. Ever.

We met our new friends from the bus at a hostel and had a few beers and got to know everyone. There were a lot of people from Melbourne, a few from England and one guy from America.

After a few hours of drinking and deciding who were the most annoying people that we needed to avoid, we went to a coffee shop.

I shared a brownie with one of the girls and Sam had a smoke.. Words can't describe the atmosphere at that point, these pictures will give you the gist.


Brownie time..


The look on my face says it all
And this is the part where shit started to get weird..

After the coffee shop we all decided to head to a sex show.. When in Amsterdam.

It wasn't great - it was disturbing.
The final act involved a middle aged couple loving each other, on stage..

And at this point in the show two Norwegian guys were standing behind me shouting messages of encouragement to the man on stage.

Time to go...

We ended up back at the hotel eating McDonald's at two in the morning.

I was planning on going for a run the next morning, needless to say that didn't happen.

We slept the night off and were going to hire bikes and make our way around the city. But it was raining, so we bought an umbrella and wandered around the winding canals and little alleyways.


Since it was raining we decided to go to Anne Frank huis. The line was enormous, so we found ourselves a pub and waited until the rain stopped.

When we returned the line was smaller and the sun was out.

The tour of the house is incredible, everyone is silent as they walk through. On the walls are excerpts from her diary and the house looks as if it did back then.

That was a must see for me, really interesting especially since we are going to a concentration camp when we get to Munich.

Our last night in Amsterdam was tame compared to what we'd gotten up to the night before. We had a big dinner and then headed to another coffee shop, I wanted to go to Bulldogs, which is a recommended one and Sam wanted to go somewhere less touristy..

When we got to Bulldogs I got another brownie and Sam had a smoke, then we were on the hunt for Poffertjes, small Dutch pancakes that my mum makes. We found a place and got some to go. When we got to our hotel room we opened the box and it was one big pancake. The effects of the brownie masked the disappointment and we got stuck into the massive pancake.



On our last morning I went for a run around vondelpark a massive park in the middle of amsterdam. Apparently it's legal to fornicate in the shrubbery here (why you would want to I don't know) I decided to stick to the paths.

Sam managed to find me some Poffertjes for breakfast and then we were off to the airport.




Two days was not enough in Amsterdam, if we had more time we probably would have gotten to know more about tulips and canals and to explore the city some more.

If I came back I certainly wouldn't see a sex show again.. But I'd love to learn all about the tulips.



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