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Firstly, Amsterdam is amazing...
We arrived on Tueday morning after a 22+ hour flight from Sydney, which was quite eventless apart from seeing an Australian air-force jet fly-by somewhere over central NSW.
Tuesday, we spent the day walking around and trying to get our bearings in this place. It's a wonderful place, full of old buildings and architecture from another time. It's very european, yet very multicultral. There is a blend of Dutch, Moroccan, African, German, Turkish, Afgans and more, which makes for interesting food choices and conversations.
Our first night in a Hostel was actually quite good - the other two guys in our room are Aussies, so we all went out together on Tuesday night. For a tuesday night, it was by no means quiet.
Tuesday night - we went to the red light district, and its very, very, open.... The usual stories of women in windows, and all that jazz. Had a few drinks at a bar, followed by a dose of late-night hot chips and mayonaise before getting to bed.
Today (Wednesday) was a great day, we left the Hostel at about 10, and went for a wonder. We ended up in
Bikes!
Bikes are everywhere!the outer suburbs of Amsterdam - I like it around the suburbs much better. The central part of Amsterdam is made to acommodate the tourists, whereas its the outer suburbs that are really european, and just different.
We went to Ann Frank's Museum... This was the building she hid in for howmany years. It was actually a little bit boring - just empty rooms with some artifacts of Ann Frank's family, but no furnature or anything like that. Just bare rooms with a few bits and pieces in it.
From there, we found a cool sandwich shop for lunch, they make really tasty cheeses and hams here - we got rolls (baguettes?) for lunch.
Then, we walked down to the Heineken factory - they were closed for renevations until Summer, so i beat the door down and told 'em that we came all the way from Australia to see the Henieken, with still no luck. I was looking forward to seeing those oompah-loompahs.
We then went down to the Amsterdam markets - full of food, clothes, flowers, and all that stuff. Nathan bought a monster pickle!! It was really nice.
A bird shat on me in the markets, so
Red Light District
The view from the bar in the red-light district. Look closely in those red windows... she was very popular! I guess we'll have good luck for the rest of the journey.
We then sat in a cafe, had some drinks (all that walking is tiring)!
After that, we weaved our way around the canals, and lanes of Amsterdam, taking photos of bridges and stuff.
The cafe culture is huge. Every corner is full of cafes with seats facing the street full of people enjoying the sunshine with a few beers. We had a great time becoming part of this culture, enjoying watching people stroll and ride past on bikes over a few beers.
Bicycles are huge. There are millions!!! Tomorrow, we are going to hire a bike, and get back out into the suburbs and cruise around. If only I had my own bike here! I'd be showing these Dutch how to ride a mountain bike and take advantage of all the obstacles, jumps and stuff.
Next stop: Berlin.
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Sunny
non-member comment
ewww
I certainly hope "late night hot chips and mayonnaise" is not a euphemism.