Blogs from Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 187

Au revoir to Luxembourg, and Hallo Amsterdam. We checked into the Brouwer Hotel, a woody and very homey old-time place with a fantastic staff and a 'we're family' atmosphere. The Brouwer Hotel is the place to stay when in Amsterdam. Located centrally on the peaceful Singel Canal between the Central Train Station and Dam Square near Lijnbaanssteeg at #83 Singel. This was the second time we stayed at the Brouwer, first in the Fall of 2003 and again in Spring 2005. We like the canal views from the Breitner and Bosch Rooms. The hotel has a small evelator, or Lift, as they say in Amsterdam and the helpful and friendly Wim and Colleen run the place along with a wonderful support staff Ellen, Jose, Raul and Donna - really nice people.... read more

today is the last full day of contiki :( i can't believe it's over and i also can't believe it's only been 2 weeks. i feel like i've known all the people on the tour for so much longer, but no. from munich sightseeing afternoon we wen't to the beerhall for dinner. it was lots of fun, they had 5 german girls doing folk dancing and ringing bells of some sort. the boys loved it of course. after dinner we decided to go out on the town, rather than just to a bar as usual, with only our group to socialise with. interesting trip in there!!! some people got a bit stuck into the beer and there were about 35 of us going in on the train to the city. we didn't all have time to ... read more

Today, went to van gogh museum, did canal cruise, walked thru red light district heaps of sex shops, prostitutes in windows and coffeeshops and the smell of pot lingering everywhere. i didnt hang around very long cause it looked abit dodgy as and then wandered around the less dodgy parts of amsterdam for hours, the weather is so nice, gorgeous blue sky and not that cold. Off to Paris tomorrow, i hope i can get by with my 10 french phrases??? anyway i am totally stuffed and gonna find some cheap food and go to bed... thats all for now... ... read more

Hello everyone, I finally got around to updating the journal. It's been a very busy few weeks. Arrived in London after a very dodgy flight from bangkok to London. The seat I was sitting on wasn't bolted to the floor so I spent a few hours standing in the isle while they tried to fix it......needless to say they never did so I ended up sitting with the hosties for the rest of the trip....not that that is necessarily a bad thing. Arrived in London and was thrown into the deep end with peak hour on the tube. Thankfully Gail (Vicki's friend) met me at the airport and sorted me out for the next few days. I was so excited you couldn't wipe the smile from my face....I was finally here after such a big build-up.....and ... read more

Easter is a 4 day weekend in Germany so I took advantage of having an extra day off and headed for Amsterdam in The Netherlands. It’s a city filled with canals (165), bikes (600,000) and tulips (sorry, too many to count). I arrived in Amsterdam by train on Good Friday a few hours before the tour group I was meeting was due to arrive so I headed for the Van Gogh Museum. The museum has the world’s largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world as well as works by other artists. I bought myself a poster in the gift shop. url=http://www.vangoghmuseum.com/collection/catalog/vglpainting.asp?ARTID=50&LANGID=0&SEL=1&PERIOD=3&SORT= (The Yellow House, 1888) I figured this would be my Amsterdam souvenir as opposed to tacky wooden shoes or windmills. ;-) I met with the group just in time for dinner and then ... read more