Advertisement
Good old self portrait!
Standing outside our favourite pancake place- The Pancake Bakery! Amsterdam with P, K, B and C
Jakob!
Oranjeboom!
Clogg!
Dyke!
Windmill!
After a flippen early start on Saturday morning, Cyn and I taxied out of Heathrow to meet P and K in Amsterdam for a little long weekend break! The flight was a mere 45 minutes and the we landed at Schipol, which I later found out to be 4 meters below sea level! These Dutchmen and their dykes! After waffling through a train ticket machine and trying to decipher some Dutch, which is rather similar to Afrikaans, we boarded the train to Centraal Station, Amsterdam. P and K met us outside and we proceeded to our hotel, which was near the Zoo. A good land mark especally if you get lost, which of course we never did! Cyn and I quickly learnt that Tram 9 and 14 went passed the hotel so with plenty of Danke Wel and Auseblieft we found our way pretty easily. We dumped our bags, changed into cooler clothing and hit the streets of the DAM! It was a superb day and we walked that town again and again and Bikes bikes everywhere!
Everywhere you looked there were bicycles. There are over 500 000 bikes in Amsterdam and about 30 000 at the bottom of the canals! again! My word there are soooooo many bicycles in this city! They are tied up to any possible thing and wherever you look its just a see of bikes. There are even special underground parking areas for bicycles only! The most amazing thing I found was how many people actually cycle- no wonder the Dutch are so fit and healthy! The bikes that parents use to transport thier kids are also just brilliant!
We, of course, had to quench our thirsts every so often and stopped at rather a few bars along the way! Good old Heinekan was the order of the day! Unfortunately for us, the Heinekan factory was closed but we did get a couple of wacky photos outside the factory! WOW and WOW again!
Our first big tourist stop was the flower market. Wow and wow again! Mum you would love it! We all got completely lost here. It was so incredibly colourful! The photo on this page is just one of many so when you've finished reading this do yourself a favour and have a look at the other photos that I took- stunning. This photo in particular I love Dutch Courage!
Very hard at work! See the pollen sacks? as it shows a Dutch bumblebee with massively laden pollen sacks on his legs- can you see them! Cyn and I watched him for ages- he seemed to like the purple flowers the best!
From the Flower Market we found another sidewalk cafe for some beer and had a chilled drink. Lunch time was looming and being in De Land Van Pannenkoeken we had to go to the best Amsterdam had to offer! Its a little spot off Prinsengracht Centrum, passed Anne Franks House, called The Pancake Bakery. Highly recommended by all 4 of us! Karin found it- all hail the Lombi! After the most delicious lunch ever, we headed for the Anne Frank House. This was a great place to amble around in after a delicious lunch. It was unbelievable to see how they lived for all those months. There was documentry footage from her father and Miep Gies- the helper. Cyn and I really enjoyed this. It was an incredibly emotional experience and you come out with such mixed feelings- I dont know, maybe it was just me, but I felt so sad and so angry at the same time. We were What's that you got in your hands?
At the Flower Market you can pick up "Grow your own" packs of just about anything! all rather tired at this stage and decided to head to the hotel for a shower and change of clothes before hitting the Red Light District! But yet another beer on the way seemed like a plan. And then yet another beer on the way back into town. I changed my shoes at the hotel as my feet were in total agony from walking so much! Time for some comfortable shoes!
Amsterdam simply buzzes in the evening. Its so cool to just walk around and take everything in: the coffee shops with the abundance of "weed" smoke pouring out, the over flowing bars, the vibey music coming from all over and all the hens and bulls night outfits! Well if you cant beat them, join them I say! So after seeing all we could possibly see in the Red Light District, a strip show, the Sex Museum and some other quirky things, we headed for The GRASSHOPPER! And yes you guessed it, the name says it all! It was Paul and Cyn's job to buy the weed while Karin and I ordered the drinks. For those of you who dont know and suddenly think the 4 of us Outside the Hienekan Brewery.
A bit chilly outside which is why a tour would have been great-next time though, when its open! are druggies, Amsterdam legalised Hemp, Grass, Spliff, Dagga long ago!!!! Sho!!!! And also for those of you dont know, the 4 of us are not hardened dope smokers so the inhaling of this Class A, B, C or D drug merely enhanced our relaxed state of mind!
Lombi really enjoyed her space cake and as we strolledaround the DAM till the early hours of the morning, hunger set in and it was the traditional bitterballen and crouquetten that satiated our hunger. As we strolled out of the pub the Number 9 tram pulled up and it was a sign for us all to hit the sack. And boy oh boy did we all sleep like babies that night! The next day P and K headed for Paul's fam in Utrecht, bout half and hour from Amsterdam. Cyn and I decided to be rather cultural and explored the Rijks Museum. What amazing stuff. We wanted to get to the Van Gogh Museum too but the queue was too long, so we settled for a yummy pancake at our favourite spot! This was becoming way too much of a habit. Tiredness set in and after walking around for Clogs and Dykes!
You just have to do it! the next couple of hours or so, taking a million picts and buying lots of touristy things, we went for a much needed afternoon nap.
Our Sunday evening in the DAM has to be one of the most chilled in my life. We found an awesome bar/ coffee shop and stayed there till closing time. I do love Amsterdam! The following day was a working day for the Dutch but not for us! We went to the Van Gogh Museum early that morning and I absolutely loved it. We bought one of his prints for the house- its called The Spring Blossoms or something like that! Lunch time was upon us in no time, and after skipping breakfast we decided, for good old times, to head back to our pancake place. By this time we were regulars, although they didnt seem to recognise us!I wonder why! All too soon our little weekend break was coming to an end. We headed for our hotel for the last time, jumped into the cab and headed for the airport. After an hours delay on the runway, we finally touched down at London Heathrow. As awesome as it Gorgeous day!
My next attempt at an artistic shot with Cyn, the bridge, bikes and canal in the background! was to be home and say hi to our pooches, we miss the easy living lifestye of the DAM. Who knows, maybe we'll move there! But all I know is that we are definately going back!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0494s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Derry
non-member comment
Wowee
Hey, that looked awesome. Sory I couldn't just nip over. Thanks for the invite-Jokes!!! Looks like you guys really got around in a weekend. I last was in Th DAM in 1997 on a good ol conticki tour. Can't wait for our next trip together- Ciao