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Published: July 16th 2008
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Monday 28 April 2008 After sitting in the pouring rain under a leaky bus stop for a couple of hours while the bus ran late then the driver had his break, we finally got on the Eurolines bus. Barbara tried to recline her chair for a nap but the lever fell off.
When we arrived in Amsterdam, Michael's friend Pete met us at the bus station. He showed us whee to store our luggage and then took us into town for an evening tour. We began in the northwest district of Jordaan which is known as being the most picturesque in all Amsterdam. It was so nice there that we decided to stop of dinner and drinks at a canal side cafe about a block away from the Anne Frank House. Very nice.
We then moved on to probably Amsterdam's most famous attraction, the Red Light District. We were pleasantly surprised wen we saw it. It is actually all very clean, very safe and very civilized. Each girl rents a room with a glass door and a curtain and a red light. She opens the curtain, turns on the red light and dances to attract customers. When she
gets a customer, she closed the curtain. It is actually quite entertaining. Because it is all legal, it is very strictly monitored by government to ensure safety of both parties. Very clever.
After our stroll through the city, Pete helped us collect our luggage and the brought us on the train back to his place in Leiden.
Tuesday 29 April 2008 In the morning we took ourselves back into Amsterdam for a New Europe free city tour. Unfortunately the guide did not turn up at the pickup point, which was very difficult to find anyway because of construction at the railway station. We raced down to the start point then only to find about 70 people had turned up for the tour - not including abut 20 who were still at the pickup point. We declined the tour and decided to join the afternoon one instead.
To fill our time until the afternoon tour we took ourselves to a famous Dutch cheese shop. There we sampled some different varieties including a vintage Edam and a special Gouda with cumin seeds. Yummy!
We went back to the meeting place, being the plaza with the national monument,
and sat to eat our cheese while we waited for the tour. Yummy!
The tour guide was quite charismatic and entertaining. The tour took us around the red light district, the Begijnhof which is a famous old convent containing the oldest wooden house in the country, along the canals, and past some of Amsterdam's famous 'coffee shops'. The coffee shops do not actually sell coffee. If you want that you have to go to a 'cafe'. Coffee shops sell legalised quantities of cannabis to smoke.
At the end of the tour, it started to pour with rain. As the canal boat tours were very expensive we headed to a CAFE for a warm drink. It was the night before Queen's Day so there were to be many celebrations in town that night but in the pouring rain they wouldn't be much fun. So we headed back to Leiden to meet Pete after work.
Barbara decided to stay in out of the rain but the boys decided to party regardless. They partied in Leiden and then in The Hague and had an absolute ball!
Wednesday 30 April 2008 In the morning after the boys finally awoke
we headed out into Leiden to join in the town's celebrations. We donned our best orange that we bought in preparation in Cologne. The town was a buzz with bands, parades, boats on the canals, and MARKETS! On Queens Day it is tradition to set up a stall in the street selling of of the junk in your house and this is what the locals still do. The town becomes one big flea market. People reserve pavement spots days in advance.
We dropped in at the city botanical gardens and explored the gardens and greenhouses and admired the fantastic sculptures.
For dinner we stopped in at the Leiden Pancake House which serves HUUUUUGE savoury ans sweet pancakes - well, crepes really!
Thursday 1 May 2008 We decided to spend the day at the beach so Pete showed us the way to Scheveningen. We walked up and down the promenade, but then it started raining so we took shelter inside covered pier.
That night Michael and Pete went out on the town while Barbara rested. The prowled the local bars in search of food and beer and returned very late and very merry.
Friday 2 May 2008
Early in the morning we said farewell to Pete and set off on the Eurolines bus back to Brussels.
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