Amsterdam

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Amsterdam

We took an overnight ferry from London to Amsterdam across the North Sea...not knowing what to expect, the ferry was more like a cruise ship, with a bar, blackjack and roulette tables, a restaurant, and a movie theatre, as well as our own room and bathrooms. This was far too classy for us, but we did our best to fit in like we knew what we were doing.

We arrived in Amsterdam and finally found our shuttle that was taking us out to Noordwijk, a small town on the beach about an hour outside of Amsterdam. On the way to Noordwijk we passed fields of cows, sheep, and windmills. Our hostel there was as much fun as a hostel could be. There was a middle-aged man named Vernon, who was without a doubt the most interesting person we ever met. He was born in Manitoba, had a British accent, and having lived in each place for at least 5 years, had full citizenship in Canada, Sweden, Thailand, Britain, and Israel. He had no beer of his own, and somehow managed to drink more than anyone at the hostel...we were definitely a victim... he was the life of the party all day. After meeting everyone at the hostel (most of whom where from across Canada), we spent the hot day wondering around the small Dutch town, and eventually grabbed some drinks and headed to the beach for a few hours (Lowry’s first time in the ocean). At night we partied with everyone at the hostel, including the staff, who played guitar and sung songs, and did whatever else people do in the Netherlands. At about 2:30am they led us down to the sand dunes on the beach, where we had a campfire and eventually made it back to the hostel (when I don’t know).

The next day we took the shuttle back into Amsterdam and checked into our hostel, The Bulldog. Within the 2 days in Amsterdam, we did a great deal of wondering the streets, which are strange side alleys and bridges over canals. The city was built on water, and looks a lot like you would expect Venice to look. We took a boat tour through the city and saw most of the sites that way. It happened to be Friday and Saturday night when we were there, and walking around the streets at night was mesmerizing. We basically just walked around from bar to cafe to bar, meeting new people from all over the world. Our Hostel was right in the red light district, so it was by far the busiest part of town. The third day we were off to Brussels on an open train ticket. Set to leave as early as possible on the train, we headed downstairs to the lobby of our hotel around 11, relaxed there for a bit, then ended up wandering the streets again for a few hours. We were rather slow in getting the things done that we needed to, like eating, getting water, and getting out more money. We just kept on walking around. Finally we caught the 3:30 train to Brussels, far behind schedule, but well worth it.

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