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Published: January 22nd 2009
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9th of September 2008 I got back to Amsterdam and was greeted with memories of June 2006 where me Ryan and Jared traveled to Amsterdam (following which me and Jared went to the friendlies match of Australia versus Netherlands in Rotterdam). Only this time it was cooler, I had more stuff and I was not being met in a hostel in the red light district my Ryan.I included some top 5 photos from that trip. I checked into inner Amsterdam. Met Kris, Stuart, Allie and Alyson and Hugh. Allie and Alyson were also looking to set up base in Amsterdam.
Hotel Inner Amsterdam was located at Wanningstraat 1, 1071LA Amsterdam. The email is info@innerhotel.nl and website is www.innnerhotel.nl Tel: +31(0)206625792. It was about 20euros a night and went up to 50e on a special holiday.
The next day I went about sorting out the nitty gritty stuff - laundry and interviewing about work. I went out to find out about visas and social security numbers - we call them tax file numbers back in Australia but here they are called sofinumbers and are used for like everything - well all the important stuff, like opening a bank account for
example. When I got back to the hostel I was met by Allie and Alyson. They had found a place to move into or were still looking at this stage. Kris the guy I had met in the hostel last night said he was going to inspect a place today - said i was more then welcome to join if I wanted to it would probably be cheaper to share. I checked out the place it was pretty far from the city centre but I guess it was decent (it was a bit dirty but I guess it would do for the time being). Later on I found out I couldn't take it because it was full of asbestos!
The next day the 11th of September after doing more work stuff in the morning I went to the Dam square and did a Eurotour. They are free tours of Amsterdam - you can find them in most cities. The guides work on a commission basis in which the tour is virtually free you just pay what you think its worth. And its really great they tell you alot of interesting stuff about Amsterdam and its history for example how
Amsterdam 2006 - a tribute
Me and Ryan on the peddling boat. drugs tolerance and red light district sort of came about - to do with the sailor/ trade nature of Amsterdam in the 16th century. Also its ties with the church and the government. Met Ben on the tour - this Aussie guy from Melbourne and we walked around Jordan together. Afterwards I went to the flying pig - were Stu was staying and we had a few drinks together. Then we went to the red light district together. The others did a few lines of coke and mushrooms then we headed back to the hostel.
The next morning the 12th of September I checked into the flying pig. I moved a whole bunch of stuff into the luggage room of the hostel in inner hotel Amsterdam as I was going to London and had no idea where I could store all my stuff in the flying pig. I didn't get to meet with Stu in time so I ended up going to do a whole bunch of stuff for work. Went to check out a place in Osdorp which was still a bit far out of the city centre but way better then the place I saw with Kris.
Amsterdam 2006 - a tribute
I loved him i came to see him as much as i could. The guy who was sub-leasing it - his name was Karol.
After checking out the place I went to meet up with flying pigs (FP) people for a few drinks. Then to Rembrant plien met with Alyson and Allie and then went back to FP. Some guy was there who kept saying Ive done something bad Ive done something bad even though none of us really cared we were like what. He said well my friend paid for it and I went and had sex with a girl in the window. He was like I can never look at a girl the same again. Went to bed at about 2am. More people doing coke and mushrooms in the FP.
The next morning the 13th of September I got up at 6am and got my stuff ready to leave. I went to inner hotel Amsterdam for breakfast and lunch and a quick bite. Couldn't print out my bus ticket so I took a photo of it from the internet. Got on tram (1.60e) to amstel station.
At amstel eurolines showed bus picture and after a bit of uming and ahing I was issued a ticket. I slept on the
bus. When I woke up I had a bit to eat and ended up starting a conversation with this girl called Abbey. She was originally from Brighton (with orgins in Israel). She had being doing a study exchange in Rotterdam. She told me how she lived in a squat - and pretty much didn't spend any money on anything - she fixed up the house with a few people living in the squat - she used to take public transport for free - jump it all the time and for food she would just go to the markets and ask if they had any left overs to give. It was pretty interesting talking to her and I talked to her for most of the trip. When we got to the English and French border - just before we had to go catch the ferry to Dover - we went through customs. I got held up by customs with 50 questions about what I was doing where I was from why didn't I have a return ticket to leave Europe blah blah blah. She was like why don't you have a proper address where your staying - I was going to
Rubina's but I knew she lived in Hammersmith but had no idea where. She was like you wouldn't get let into the states if you didn't have proper details for everything. Then she saw my Russian passport. Well there was another set of questions there - I bet she thought I was a commy refuge trying to weasle my way into the country. I was the last person to leave customs. Then we went through the drug searching process. Nearly everyone made it through. Except for Abbey. Abbey was drug searched. It turned out the dogs had sniffed her and found traces of weed on her. She had informed the authorities that yea she had smoked weed and that - she was living in the Netherlands. And most probably her bag had traces of weed there as she lived in a household full of weed smokers. They pulled her whole bag apart inside out - she was pretty bumed cause she had a whole bunch of souvenirs packed in there for family and friends. We finally got to london. 3 hours too late. Abbey let me use her sim to call Rubina - who was meeting me at the bus
station. Met Rubs. I swapped numbers with Abbey and said my good bye. Me and Rubs talked most of the way home and had Chinese for dinner.
On the 19th of September 2008, back in Amsterdam I met Lucy at breakfast. We decided to walk around the city together. We went to the Heineken store and then to the markets. Towards the evening we went to the Nemo - though it was closing. It was an awesome view fro the top> Then we headed to the Leidsplien. The next way I went to the Rijksmuseum (didn't check in to hopefully get it on the house in inner hotel) and then went to Vondelpark. Relaxed and went to look at a house in Waterlooplien whilst Lucy met some mates at the central station. Ps Lucy was from Australia - living in Berlin and she was meeting some friends also from Australia. Ended up getting a keg and then went to meet Lucy and head back to the hostel. Met Ange and Ben. Felt bad for Asian guy who got into trouble (due to lies). Met some cute Brazillian boys. in the new room I was in. Sexy. Had some of
the keg then Went to red light district and bulldog.It was me, Lucy, Ben, Ange, the three Brazlians and Kris.By the way Kris was dutch - from the South of the Netherlands. The others did mushrooms whilst me and Kris just hanged. On the 22nd of September I went to Nunspeet, where I stayed with a crazy communist loving half German/Dutch guy in a squat before going the next day to Zwolle to check out an Earth ship.
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