http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Netherlands , North Holland en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:57:32 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:57:32 BST We are talking to you from the flying pig hostel amsterdam. Amsterdam has been a none stop adventure. Today we rented bikes which cause a few problems including nat falling off and analise nearly causing an accident. Celebrated sophie birthday in vondelpark which ended up with suzy's fascination of nature and jasmine nearly weeing herself. Trying to herd 16 people in one directoin proved to b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-304135.html Greetings from sunny LondonIt's actually not sunny here in fact it's pitch black Granted it is 2am and I have safely arrived at Olivia's friend Cate's house to spend the next two days in her care showing me around the amazing city of London.Firstly I'll fill you in on my previous stops on the journey from my afternoon in Berlin I got ready for our 'pub crawl' that evening which was an absolu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-303833.html Yep you guessed it I made it to Amsterdam Cheryl arrives at the Schiphol Airport in about 90 minutes and I will go to meet her there. I have only been here for about three hours and already have a favorable impression of the city. It is like a cleaner version of the nicer neighborhoods in NYC only there are canals running down every street even immediately outside the train station If Brusse http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-303642.html Russell Amsterdam is beautiful After the drudgery of Hamburg with its weather and all we arrive in this beautiful city and with it the sun Sitting in the Biblotheque Central right now as it is wonderfully free because our hostel charges more than Hamburg which was 2e for 20 mins. Maybe its because of Hamburg that I appreciate here more but its just a fantastice place that us a fusion of th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-303538.html Farvel kaere Amsterdam Hello Night Train Saa blev det sidste dag i Amsterdam tid til afsked med dejlige Lucky Lake regnvejret og kanalerne.Tog os tid til at tjekke guides om formiddagen hvor vi fik omlagt vores ikke fastlagte planer. Vi dropper Greece Og dyrker i stedet mere af Italien samt Sydfrankrig og maaske faar Mathilde et kort besoeg i Paris paa vej hjem hvem vedEfter en sidste tu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-303375.html So we are now in Amsterdam arrived yesterday afternoon after a couple days cooling our heels in Cologne.The rest of my time in Berlin was just great on the third day we went to see Potsdamer Platz. In old Berlin Potsdamer Platz was a place of commerce and retail a grand square surrounded by the grand houses and headquarters of many important people of commercial interest. As time went on t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-303142.html Here are a few photos of Amsterdam. I apologize for the lack of commentary and or description. Irsquom pretty pressed for time regarding this field school experience. Aslo it doesnrsquot help being in a foreign country trying to find your way around and figure lsquothingsrsquo out itrsquos very time consuming. Then with the time that I do have i.e. like finding a spot where on http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-303125.html Greetings from Amsterdam After sitting on the plane for many many hours we got to Amsterdam and have an 8 hour stop over which is enough time to take a train into the city center and walk around. Train stop is just by the redlight district which made for an interesting stroll along the canals and old buildings. It's summer but you wouldn't know it here. It's been a very rainy day. Still we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-302742.html This Amsterdam weekend is one I will probably never forget. The 200 hundred pictures I took will make sure and help me not to. It was amazing and different and interesting and crazy. A lot of what I will remember can't even be translated into words but is just sheer experience in such a different place. Its 900 in the morning and we have arrived in Amsterdam. The Pi Kapps and I go of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-302731.html Before I get into my time in Amsterdam Id like to share some random observations with Europe1 They LOVE dated random American music. Every cafe and bar play past hits from artists such as Paula Abdul Mili Vanilli Lionel Richie Ace of Base and so on... keeps me amused to say the least.2 Public toiletts have tariffs. I mean these old women just sit there and make you pull out anything http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-302472.html The really traveling has begunThis morning a very excited Stuart woke me up with tea as we prepared ourselves for our big adventure. We strapped on our bags a waddled our way to Rotterdam station to catch the train. Kindly Saar came with us so we could get discounted tickets and seemed to share our excitment.When the turtle people and Saar arrived to Amsterdam it was a bustling and beautiful plac http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-302463.html Ah finally an indepth update Note The pictures on this entry are almost entirely from London because I didn't purchase a new camera until just before we went there.Don L. left Amsterdam this morning and I'm just milling about for a few hours before I catch my flight to Trondheim Norway later this evening. I left Barcelona on the night of the 14th catching an overnight train to Paris. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-302247.html EVERBODYHello it's Sara speaking We have just spent two wonderfully relaxing nights in our very own hotel room and it was amazinggg. We took long hot showers ate food and watched hours of TVlovvve it. Today is our last gasp day in Europe before we go hommmmme and I'm so excited. We are going to spend the day in the Red Light District which we missed on our first time in Amsterdam so http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-302184.html Finkin' in the rainEfter endnu en god lang nats soevn i vores yndlingscampingvogn som faktisk hedder Chateau Elite var finkerne atter klar til at udfordre Amsterdam.Foerst fik vi dog bloggen opdateret for foerste gang... Under grin og spas.Hoppede paa den fantastiske lille og altid brummende Shuttlebus der koerte os til Abcoude hvorfra vi jo koerer gratis med Sprintertoget. Nice stuff.Saa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-301951.html Amsterdam udforskesFredag stod den paa byvandring og shopping. Og vi fandt ud af hvor meget Amsterdam rummer. Lige fra ultrasmukke gader huse og smaa kanaler til naestennoegne kvinder af skiftende skoenhed i de mange udstillingsvinduer i det famoese Red Light District.Moedte foroevrigt Lou's medieanalyseunderviser fra KUA Palle Schantz med kaereste og deleboern rigtig hyggeligt. Og det var a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-301784.html En lang togturEfter at have taget afsked med vores to trofaste trolde begav vi os ud paa den 15 timer lange togrejse fra Kbh til Amsterdam. Vi delte siddekupe med en tudsegammel englaender der sov meget med aaben mund og brillerne helt nede paa naesen samt en ung schweizisk gut Tom der var paa sin anden Interrail og lige havde udforsket Koebenhavn.Turen var lidt haard og vi proevede at sove http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-301774.html Greetings from Northern EuropeWe are back in Amsterdam and I Sara am SO pumped to get ready to go home. We had the most ridiculous time leaving the Cinque Terre. Our flight to Brussels from Milan was delayed for ages and we all crowded into the RyanAir plane for about 2 hours. Upon landing in Brussels it hit us that we were no longer by the Mediterranean and the 54 degree weather had us with a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-301482.html So we have just arrived home after spending an absolutley perfect weekend in Amsterdam Let me just start by saying I much prefer it to Paris. Mark knows the city and the Netherlands in general really well having spent the past three years working out there on and off so this was a very easy trip fpr us to take. He knew all the best places to go the ones to avoid and he knowa the public tra http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-301384.html So I am in Amsterdam right now in a coffee shop. I am not smking though the group of people I am with stopped off and I found this computer. The wafts of marijuana are all around me right now but this is not the case with all of Amsterdam. I was really surprised by how in the public and hidden the coffee shops are at the same time. I mean when you are walking through the shopping district or http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-301382.html Hello from a marijuana cafe in Amsterdam The last couple of days with Don L. have been absolutely fantastic. We've done some touring around Amsterdam visited the Red Light District and have drunk quite a bit of Heineken which is ubiquitous here. We're staying in a quite nice hotel called the Swisstel Amsterdam which we are only sort of sure that we know how to pronounce and it's right i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-301086.html Amsterdam is a dirt city And I don't mean that like RedLightDistrictnastydirty allthought you might have to deal with offers from both hookers and hashsellers but whom who goes to Amsterdam does not know that . No I mean The streets are really notclean Everywhere people leave there trash from fast foodstores and such. Besided that Amsterdam is a really cool city for shopping T http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-300943.html Where to beginhellipLet me provide an update for everyone about my trip before I get into the specifics of my time in Amsterdam. In my classic some may say genetic misscalculation of time I was late to my flight to Amsterdam on July 10th. And I missed ithellip I was forced to spend a painful 3.5 hours at the airport talking to United personnel my brotherinlaw and his travel agent and e http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-300484.html Hallo allemaalZo net 2 weken quality time met the family gehad in Zuid Frankrijk en nu weer in Amsterdam. Vanochtend drie uur gebivakkeerd op het Amerikaans Consulaat voor m'n visum. Bij elke Amerikaan zijn de beveiligingsmensen hartstikke aardig lachen en maken grapjes maar zodra er een Nederlander voor ze staat krijg je een strakke blik. Heb in 4 verschillende rijen gestaan dus ook 4 keer g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-300193.html Amsterdam to BerlinWhen you think Amsterdam you immediately think of the Canibis Coffee shops Red light district as it is synonymously known for. Quite simply Amsterdam is more than a smoking pot and xrated theme park for your weekend warriors or thrill seeking jocks. The Dam has breath taking sites with wounderful heritage 17th century housing and excellent museums and galleries. It is very c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-299904.html Hello allSorry that it has been so long but I have been very busy. Let me start from last week...I bought a bike It is a boy's bright green bike but it was cheap and it is amazing. I have joined the group of angry locals that rings bike bells at unsuspecting tourists walking in the streets. It seems like public shaming is very popular with the Dutch and I am embracing that custom with great ea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-299617.html Hello there we are in Ye Olde England flew in last night from Schiphol Amsterdam to Gatwick. We were met at the airport by Carol Jade and Alix. Today we went to the Michelham Priory pics up later meanwhile here's some from Amsterdam. Byee. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-299210.html Day 8Rijksmuseum and tons of celebrity paintings. One in particular with an iridescent yellow gown picture portrait leading to a blue shoe.Day 9Characters met at the 2nd hostel the fantastically named Sphinx HotelLando tall Louisianian who enjoys teaching American history and social studies Jagermeister Lil' Wayne and StingMischa bubbly Torontoian who enjoys tequilabeer au pairi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-298675.html Another oddity to note In the remaining three hours in Paris after the ticket business Daniel managed to eat a incredibly delicious kebab sandwich and I managed to get horrendously lost. Truly utterly screwball lost. As in I arrived at our Amsterdam train sweaty and out of breath. I had decided to take a simple walk but damn Paris is so beautiful that I kept being propelled from one prett http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-298672.html After spending one night in Hamburg with a friend I studied with we head to Amsterdam. On the way there we had to switch trains which normally isn't an issue except this time I got stuck in the mens bathroom at the train station thanks to a faulty turnstyle. The staff there then proceeded to yell in german for me to push I think which didn't work so he came over waived something in front of th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-298103.html Made it to Amsterdam after a five hour plus train trip from Hameln Germany. Pissing down rain here both saturated WTF Found the hotel without too much drama and guess what We're on the top floor and the stairs are like ladders. The room is tiny as well lol Anyhoo found a net cafe near the Central Station so time to have a go at uploading some pics. Bye http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-298043.html