Amsterdam

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The ferry ride to Amsterdam went very smoothly. As we sailed out of the mouth of the tyne on our DFDS ferry, we looked forward to what the coming months will bring and bode a fond farewell to Bitish soil. The journey was easy and our cabin comfortable, despit the loud tannoy announcements waking us up in the morning.

We arrived in Amsterdam and walked for 20 minutes in the rain to find our hostel which as we discovered soon was only a 30 second walk from where our bus dropped us! A good start! We checked into the Flying Pig Hostel. A good size and bustling to the brim with other backpackers. The smell in the common room was definitive and immediately recognisable. Welcome to The Dam!

We spent the morning walking around the city centre and visited the Holland 3D experience. A 3D movie which turned out to be extremely cheesy showcasing the best of what Holland has to offer... Cheese, Cloggs and Windmills. We walked down to a coffee shop where we enjoyed our first real taste of Amsterdam - a cheeky joint and a nice cup of tea.

Our nxt stop was the Anne Frank Huis, where we saw the annexe in which the Frank family together with 4 other people hid from the Nazis during their invasion of the Netherlands. A highly moving experience and one which makes you appreciate the semi-free society we live in today. The first evening was spent in a few more coffee shops, enjoying local customs.

The second morning we met an Israeli girl called Nellie who joined us for the day. Firstly on an hour long boat trip through Amsterdam´s canals and then on a trip out of the city to the Amsterdam Arena - the home of Ajax Amsterdam. We had an hour long tour which was very interesting and got to walk along the side of the pitch-a great experience for any football fan.

This evening we headed down to the famous red light district to check out some more of Amsterdam´s famous wares. Compeletely refined and in the best possible taste, the red light district is an amazing sight. This time however we only looked!

Tomorrow we hit the road.

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