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Published: September 9th 2007
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Amsterdam
Red light district After a fairly hectic weekend of drinking, birthdays, celebrations and farewells, Paul and I jumped on a plane bound for Amsterdam. Not surprisingly, we were a little knackered before we even got there so a good nights kip was well received.
Amsterdam, Holland - 19/8-21/8/07
Amsterdam was as good as ever (came this time last year for my birthday). Lots of bicycles, canals, the constant smell of dope wafting through the air where no-one blinks an eyelid... only in Amsterdam!
While Paul was busy exploring Anne Franks house and sampling beers, I wandered the canals before checking out the diamond factory where a replica of the largest diamond ever found is displayed (the Cullinan diamond). Its pretty big. Not sure if anyone would be able to wear it comfortably on the ring finger though!
After visiting a coffee shop to 'sample some baking', we both came out rather disappointed. Zero, nada, nothing... oh well. On to much bigger things, a classic sex show at Theatre Cassa Rosso. For 30 euro, an hour and 20mins full of ... entertainment? Was a lot better than the show I (& friends) got scammed into seeing last year. Paul, along with
several other guys in the audience were invited (forced) up on stage to have a small dance with the stripper. In true Paul style, he out classed her with his 'Jim off American Pie' style dancing. It was so hilarious to watch and the stripper didn't really know what to do with him after that. Lets just say all the guys got a piece of banana each for good health.
Jumped the train out to the windmills for day in the countryside. After a slight detour of Holland (got on the wrong train) we finally made it out to see 4-5 windmills in action aswell as watched demonstration on how to make clogs and sampled some amazing cheese. I love cheese.
Back into the city. Weather not so great. Not much fun wandering the canals in the pouring rain so the hostel bar made a bit of money off us before catching the overnight bus to Berlin. Fun fun.
Berlin, Germany 22/8-2/8
You know you're in Germany when you wake up on a bus with speed warning signs on the motorway telling cars to 'slow down' to 120km/h. We made it in one piece amazingly. Berlin
is awesome. Different from the last visit. No snow in site. While Paul took in a free walking tour, I revisited Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and Bebelplatz where the burning of the books took place. We then trekked out to the East Side Gallery to see the awesome paintings on whats left of the Berlin wall. After a quick feed and some well deserved drinks, we visited the Reichstag building at night thinking there wouldn't be queue at 10 o' clock at night. Haha, how wrong were we! We got in eventually. An impressive building, especially the glasshouse at the top. And it was free! I love free stuff.
Having been to Berlin before, Paul and I went our separate ways for the day, while he visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, I headed for Potsdam where all the Royal Palaces reside. And I never realised how many there were! So after a bit of eenie meanie miny mo, I chose some randoms, including Sansouci (Alexander the Greats residence), Nieu Palais, Charlottehoff and Park Sansouci. All very impressive and the grounds were amazing. Definitely wished I had a horse to go for a good gallop. Excllent spot for a
cross country course! I walked for miles, definitely did my 10,000 steps for the day. Back on the train into the city, a short nana nap then joined the famous Berlin pub crawl where we met some cool people. Somehow made it back to the hostel. Whether I carried Paul home or vice versa, I'm not sure.
Spent our final day feeling a little sorry for ourselves but made the most of it with a visit to Jewish Holocaust exhibition, the Reichstag by day and enjoyed the sights of Berlin one last time before jumping on a train bound for Prague. The scenery on the train was awesome, loving transport by train rather than bus (as are all motorways). Definitely worth a few extra euros to train it in between cities.
Prague, Czech Republic - 24/8-27/8/07
Arrived in hot Prague late in the evening and yes it was still hot. Hoorah, a summer at last.
The next day we headed to Charles Bridge to join the thousands of other tourists snapping photos etc then onto the Castle/Cathedral then down for lunch just off the Old Square. Cheap food and drink here. 50p beers and 2 pd mojitos.
Awesome.
Food and drink are so cheap in this town. Just need to get off the tourist trail and get the local prices.
Spent Sunday wandering the streets soaking up the sun before a early night as we head off to Vienna in the morning.
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Mark
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Tony whats happening?
so Tony.......... whats happening?