Blogs from Netherlands, Europe - page 317

Amsterdam Europe » Netherlands By jmgrieveMay 14th 2007Mark GrieveAmsterdam Parking, trying to meet CouchSurfers, red light district, coffee shops, park and ride, double decker train, tour, tour guide, 9% Netherlands 44% NZ, smokeing, miraculous finding of the car, breakfast, start of the long drive back to London, stoping by the ocean and seeing kits, more driving, Calais and the boy racers, chip diner, tunnel, rest stop overnight and doggy showers, Findin kerry’s place, dinner Proper details to come!... read more

Sunday afternoon it was back on the bus and off to Amsterdam. We arrived at 6pm and had to find our hostel since we weren't staying in the busabout one. It took awhile but we managed to find it, it's a pretty well known hostel in Amsterdam called The Flying Pig. We checked in and headed out to do some sight seeing. The town certainly how I had imagined it, it was a lot bigger and more city like. There were mostly just souvenir shops around our hostel, and you can only go in so many of those. We headed back to the hostel for a bite to eat and then decided to find the Red Light District because that is apparently a must do in Amsterdam. It turns out we weren't far from it ... read more

We've spent the last few days in Amsterdam and are getting ready to leave tomorrow morning. When we got to Amsterdam we were all really tired...but we ended up staying up half the night with $6 pitchers of beer at the hostel bar. The next day we slept in and went to the Van Gogh museum (to see the REAL sunflower painting). On the way we stopped at a hotdog vendor (there's a hotdog vendor on every corner). Since this hostel has full kitchen facilities we were finally able to cook for ourselves. A lady staying at the hostel happens to be a cook for a living and helped us cook some chicken with pasta and caesar salad. After taking a much needed nap we walked to the Red Light District. Enough said. That night some ... read more

England's holidays are not well spaced. First there is Easter in April followed by two bank three day weekends in May with a long public holiday drought until August. But, making the most of the two bank holiday long weekends, we booked two "canal" breaks - Amsterdam and Venice. First, Amsterdam. Any city with water always appeals, but I think it would be difficult to make Amsterdam look ugly. Even the graffitti we found in an alleyway was quite arty and visually appealing. Similarly, the seediness of the red light district is not really captured in a night shot with the red lights reflected in the canal. We had a fantastic time in Amsterdam, cruising the canals, exploring the Van Gogh museum, eating plenty of Indonesian food, visiting Anne Frank's house and exploring the pretty ... read more

Here we are, Amsterdam! First impressions walking of the train station. whoa. The music blarring, sun shining, and towing building were all very impressive and aestheticaly pleasing as we headed for the tram that would take up to our hostel. So far all we have had time to do is shower, oh so needed (its been 2? or 3 days? so long i cant remember!) and get a 'snack' of 'chips and salsa' haha..salsa was gooey and stangely ketchupy in taste, the chips were spinkled with cheese powder...i guess were not in Mexico like i thought when i ordered those.... tomorrow i head to the doctor to get the stitches out. im really hoping he/she will tell me its not infected like im suspecting. Meanwhile the crew will be doing much much muuuuch needed laundry... haha ... read more