Amsterdam via Sydney, Bangkok, Heathrow & Gatwick - phew

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19th to 22nd August 2004 - Amsterdam

Our route took us from Sydney to Bangkok, then onto Heathrow and a bus to Gatwick, and finally a flight to Amsterdam. The reason for the round-a-bout journey was that the only flights we could get from Heathrow to Amsterdam meant we would be waiting at Heathrow for five hours (something we did not want to do). So, we opted for the bus transfer to Gatwick instead, which at least kept us moving.

Waiting for the Gatwick bus we got talking to some Kenyans who were on their way home to continue their studies. They were interesting young people and suggested we visit their country sometime to see the wildlife. We continued our talk once we got to Gatwick and helped them get their suitcases from the luggage hold of the bus, because the idiot bus driver kindly removed all the passengers’ bags but the Kenyan's (bloody rude bastard!).

We finally made it to Amsterdam after 30 hours of travel. Found our hotel (Quentin England Hotel) without too many hassles. The initial room they showed us was on the 6th floor, with no lift and the last two flights of stairs looking more like a set of ladders we opted for a smaller room on the 2nd level.
Aushalom, the young guy at the reception desk was a bit surprised that I did not understand him when he spoke to me in Hebrew. He took a look at my surname again and asked "so, they don't teach Hebrew in Australia?" my response "not at Catholic schools in the 70's they didn't". Aushalom was from Israel and explained that they get a lot of Israeli tourists staying at the hotel we had booked and he automatically thought I was another, coming via Australia.

Lorenza was napping so I took a walk around the area, close to the Vondelpark. I was rather amazed at the number of bicycles, trams and pedestrians. A very different looking city compared to Sydney, not much high rise and there seemed to be a lot less car traffic.

Around 10pm we both went in search of some food and found an Italian restaurant, where we had a few beers and some pizza. The pizza was much more like a huge pasty, with the filling in the middle and the pastry folding over. We wandered back to the hotel slowly at around midnight and remarked to each other how many people were out and about on a weeknight. Then we do come from a small village were anyone out after midnight is usually suspected of being up to no good!

20th August 2004 - After breakfast we took a tram to the Albert Cuyp Markt. We had to buy some raincoats on the way because it was bucketing down with some lightening to brighten things up a bit. The market was the usual mix of food, clothes and junk. We did notice some very nice leather goods.

Walking about I was impressed by the general look and feel of the streetscapes. Narrow streets, lined with trees, narrow terrace style houses and shops, bicycles parked everywhere. All of the cafes are "homey" and sell beer as well as coffee.

From the market we walked to the Heineken brewery and took the self-guided tour, the price included three beers at the end and a beer glass each to take home. After our beers, we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was wonderful. The self-guided audio tour was great. His use of colour and implied movement is amazing. There was also a display of Manet seascapes (not to be confused with Monet). The weather cleared up, but my feet were aching like crazy (hopefully they will get tougher over the next few weeks).

We took a tram to Dam Square and the Royal Palace area. After dinner in a small restaurant we continued walking around town and stumbled on the red light district. It lived up to its reputation with girls in windows advertising themselves. Some were very attractive and others, well not so ... We felt a little overwhelmed by the number of people on the street, so we quickly found our way out of the area.

21st August 2004 - Took the tram to Dam Square again and then walked to the Anne Frank House. It was a very moving experience for both of us. I don't think anyone who toured through there had dry eyes by the end.

Next door we got talking to a woman in a gift shop who was amazed at Lorenza's Dutch language skills. She could not believe that Lorenza had not done any of her schooling in Holland; she also mentioned that she could tell that Lorenza's family came from Nord Brabant because of her accent. Amazing how you can retain that after leaving Holland at age four!!!

We took a break for coffee not far from the red light district. At the cafe we met Ome Joop who is also called "Mr. Moustache"; he reputedly has the longest moustache in Holland. He showed us a few newspaper clippings to back up his claims. He was a funny guy to talk with and gave us his business card when we left. The cafe owner gave us directions to the Scheevart Museum; she suggested we take a route via the harbor front, which was great advice.

Sore legs again, so we took the tram back to Overtoom Straat and found the "Dosa" south Indian restaurant for dinner. This placed served some of the best Indian food I have ever tasted. It was spicy, but not too hot, the wife of the owner summed it up pretty well when she claimed that the mixture of spices and herbs they used made the flavour very "balanced". We had a good long conversation with the owners, who not surprisingly had relatives living in Australia.

Our impressions of Amsterdam after such a short visit were - a lovely city, easy to find your way around. Very different to Sydney (not that I spend much time there), not as fast paced. Although, it is a bit hard to get a perspective of how big Amsterdam is as there are no hills or high vantage points to get a view over the city, unlike Sydney.

22nd August 2004 - decided to take another look at the Albert Cuyp Markt, Lorenza wanted to take one more look at some leather jackets. At the tram stop we got talking to a young guy who owns a tobacco/general store near the market. We chatted on the tram and he invited us to have a coffee with him at his shop, again another person with relatives in Australia! He invited us to join him and his young family for dinner, which we would love to have accepted but we had to decline die to us leaving that afternoon for Tilburg. Got his business card, so who knows, maybe next time?

We went back to Overtoom Straat and collected our hire car. My head was spinning as we first pulled out into the afternoon traffic - it felt like there were way too many inputs in my brain --trams, cars, bicycles, pedestrians - it was as if I had hit "control-alt-delete" in my mind, I just couldn't get my head around how to make a left hand turn to find our way to the A2 motorway! I had not driven a manual car for ages, plus never driven left hand drive before - look out don't get in my way folks!

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Photos

Around Amsterdam
crowded canal for concert

Heathrow
Happy happy happy?

How to find a beer!
map of Heinekin bars in Amsterdam