Amsterdam in Diary

Yeah, we went to Amsterdam last weekend to meet my friends from Loughborough. Me and Jay chose a flight that got us there just after lunch so we would have more time, but everyone else didn't arrive until early evening. So we had a few hours to wander around and get our bearings, try out a bit of Dutch beer. Our hotel was apparently five star. It had all the trappings; free toiletries, dressing gown, trouser press etc but it wasn't 'posh' enough to be five star. Don't get me wrong, it was clean and tidy enough, but I would have been happy if it was marked as three stars. We paid a good price for it though so it was fine. Our room was even on two levels!

(I hope you can see my photos, I've started an account with a new hosting site. As I've given up on professional photography, I'm going to close my paid website account when it expires in November; I have until then to download everything. Let me know if the pictures are coming up too big or not at all...)

It turned out we were staying on the opposite side of the city to everyone else so all the bars they were going to were miles away from us. I chose a hotel that was close to the train station so we didn't have to walk very far, turns out that was a mistake!

So on Friday night we tried to meet everyone but they kept moving about before we go there. Why they never waited for us, I don't know, but I ended up spending a fortune on text messages and phone calls trying to find out where they were. We eventually found them at 10pm. But not before we stopped off at a traditional Dutch restaurant and tried some of the local cuisine. Apparently the Dutch don't do vegetarian food. We ordered pea soup and it arrived with lumps of chicken in the bottom, smoked sausage on top and a small ham sandwich made with dried ham and rye bread. It's a good job I'm not full vegetarian yet! We also had Dutch stew, which was two different types of thick mashed potatoes, one mixed with green cabbage and one with red cabbage and different vegetables, with a separate pot of beef in gravy. It was very tasty.

So we met everyone at 10pm and had fun drinking and catching up; I hadn't seen anyone since July last year and there were also a few new people there too which was nice. At the end of the night, everyone arranged to meet for breakfast at 10am next day.

So, the next day, me and Jay duly set our alarms and met in the designated place for breakfast. We couldn't see anyone else, waited until 10:30am and decided to order for ourselves. We ate our breakfast, hung around until 11:15am and decided to go. We were only there for three days and there was so much we wanted to do. Apparently the first people didn't arrive until 12pm...! How rude is that? I was really annoyed but no one was bothered that they had been so rude.

Anyway, me and Jay decided to go to the Rijksmuseum, which was about two miles away but we couldn't figure out how to buy tickets for the tram so we walked. It was a nice walk, though, and we saw all the pretty canals and I took lots of photos on the way. I'm going to get some of them printed for our travel wall.

The view out of our bedroom window.

Town hall.

This is one I want to have printed.

Jay bombs one of my photos.

And here's a bunch of stuff from inside the Rijksmuseum.

I love this, it's so ugly and weird.

A 400 year old cello with a head on its head.

One for Sonja.

Apologies for the terrible photo; flassh photography wasn't allowed and I was crouched in a weird position. But I wanted a photo of this because it's 1,000 years old! Incomprehensible that it's survived that long.

A couple of Van Gogh paintings that were in the Rijksmuseum so we were allowed to take photos of them, unlike in the Van Gogh museum were no photos were allowed.

Hundreds of people trying to look at the Rembrandt, Night Watch. Jay turned around just as I pressed the shutter release so he's the only one looking at the camera, lol.

I want this, it would look awesome in our house. Sadly, it's enormous. And not for sale.

We then walked back to the hotel to chill out for a bit before heading out again to meet everyone for more drinks and food. So, more walking as we went back to the other side of town where everyone else was staying. We all had dinner in an Italian; I had seafood spaghetti which was really nice. I didn't used to like mussels, until I realised it was only frozen or not-so-fresh ones that I don't like. When they're fresh, they're quite tasty. It also had salmon, brown prawns and fishsticks.

Someone then found out there was a rock pub nearby so we went there and they had a strange but cool Dutch rock band playing. We were all sitting around chatting, when Jaxx suddenly fell off her stool, unconscious. It was all quite scary, but, for some reason, the first thing everyone did was pull her up quickly again. I'm not sure that would help! OK so she's lying on the floor and everyone is staring, but making her stand up quickly after she's fainted surely can't be the best thing? So she passed out again; they sat her on a stool but three of us had to hold her up as she was unconscious. At this point a security guard took the very sensible decision to scoop her up and run outside for some cool, fresh air. Her boyfriend was looking REALLY REALLY worried and said this had never happened before. It was decided it was just because she had drunk and smoked too much (It was Amsterdam, I'll leave it to your imagination what she had been smoking.) and it was also very very hot in the pub, so it was no surprise really. After a glass of water and a few minutes of fresh air, she was right as rain again but decided to go home just to be safe.

After a while, me and Jay said bye to everyone with promises to meet up the next evening and went home to sleep.

On Sunday, we decided to go to the Van Gogh museum. I've never been too hot on art but it was interesting to see a lot of his original paintings and learn about his life and painting style. No photos were allowed inside, though, so I don't have anything from in there. It was right next to the Rijksmuseum so another few miles of walking there and back! Jay's shoes must be badly fitting as he had massive blisters on both of his little toes by this point. We broke up the journey by stopping at The Old Dutch Pancake House, recommended by a friend who lives in Amsterdam. Well, if you go to Amsterdam, you can't leave without having a pancake. We chose bacon pancakes, and they were enormous! But very tasty.

That night, Jay said he couldn't walk very far, so we asked everyone if they fancied coming to our end of town for a change, to find some interesting little bars. They said they would, but then they didn't. They are the most unorganised bunch of people I've ever met. So, after Saturday night, we didn't see anyone again. We were staying right next to the Red Light District so, whilst looking for somewhere to eat and drink, we were walking past all the windows with prostitutes in them. I was fascinated so was looking at them all, and Jay asks "Seen one you like yet?" Ha, maybe I was a bit too obvious. They were all just standing there in their underwear, chatting with each other or playing with their phones. Every so often, a man would open a door and talk to them before going inside. It was all very strange, I couldn't help wondering what these girls' parents must think...!

But we found the only bar that looked decent (i.e. not seedy) so went in for a drink where I paid €7.80 (£6.50) for a beer! WHAT?! It was a nice enough place, but we moved on after falling off our stools at the prices and found a tiny, dingy, empty pub close to the hotel. I liked it, but Jay was really tired after one drink so we went back.

On Monday our flight was at 4:30pm so we had some time in the morning. Jay booked us tickets to visit Anne Frank's house; we walked past it on Saturday and the queue to get in was snaking on for miles, so we booked in advance and walked straight in. The first part had been built especially for the museum with an introduction and a bit of history. The next part was the house itself. All of the furniture and paraphernalia had been taken out. So, although there were photos and information about what it was like when the Frank family lived there, it was hard to imagine because basically we were just looking at some empty rooms. At the end of the tour, we got to see Anne's original diary, which was very cool. And an Oscar that Shelley Winters had won for her part in the film. I've never seen a real Oscar before, so that was also cool. Again, no photos were allowed so sadly I have none, apart from a very blurry one of the Oscar, which I snapped when no one was looking.

So then there was just time for lunch and making our way back to the airport. We tried to pack in as much as we could in three days, but there's still loads of other stuff we wanted to see apart from just museums...! Jay was talking about "Next time..." Oh, so we're going back are we? LoL.

We can't afford a proper holiday this year but Jay says he fancies another long weekend towards the end of the year. Maybe either another city break or a cheap holiday to Spain or somewhere similar. I'm hoping to be self-employed by then so I'll have to see how the business is doing!

If you haven't had enough of my photos by now, here are a few more random ones.

Most expensive beer ever? Dark Lord 2011, €225...???

I loved this pub, it's so cosy and weird.

Pretty lampshade.

This was inside the revolving door at the entrance to our hotel. I couldn't get a proper photo because, well, it was revolving and I had to walk at the same time. But I wanted a photo of it because it's so strange...!

I want to go here.

Bendy building.

So, Amsterdam; another Place I Want To Visit ticked off my list and another country added to my list of Countries I've Been To. South Africa, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Spain, Morocco, Greece, USA, Romania, Netherlands. Quite a good list :o)