Asia/Europe Travels 2008: Kuala Lumpur Thailand Laos Vietnam Germany Austria Prague (Czech Republic)
Poland Vilnius (Lithuania) Riga (Latvia) Berlin London (UK) Amsterdam (Holland) Dublin (Ireland) Hamburg

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Wed 19th Nov - Free tour of Amsterdam

We started off with a free tour of the city, well when I say free, I mean you can tip what you like. Our guide was very knowledgeable and talked about the history of the city, and pointed out a lot of the things that you would probably otherwise miss. We were told about the history of Amsterdam, once one of the most powerful ports in the world, the red light district and how the church fitted into the scene. We also heard about the 80 year war, Napoleon, and world war 2, and how the city came to be what it is today.

In the evening we just chilled out and had dinner at a restaurant. I really enjoyed walking around the city looking at the various buildings and bridges. Many of the buildings were slanting and had been structurally reinforced over time to that it remained safe. The limited land available also made the buildings tightly packed along streets with little room for luxuries.

Thur 20th Nov - Day trip to Rotterdam

Sally and Mel had family who used to live in Rotterdam, so thought a day trip to see their home from long ago was in order. Rotterdam is one of the most influential ports in the world today, and has a long maritime history, so it seemed like a worthwhile day trip. Leaving early we made it to Rotterdam station about midday and checked out the apartment. I ordered some food and was surprised to see that the lady behind the counter spoke no English. Sometimes it is good to get into the more rural, or outer suburbs of a city to see what it is really like. We walked for about half an hour into the centre of town and tried to visit the history museum which was the number one rated thing to do on trip advisor. Unfortunately it closed at 3pm, so we went next door to the maritime museum, which I suspect would have actually been more interesting in the end. It was about 8 Euros each, but I asked if we could go in for a reduced rate as it was only an hour before it closed and he waived us all in for free. What a champion! The only thing is that we couldn't go inside the docked boat in the harbour which apparently is really cool.

Most of the information was repeated in English, and the exhibits were very interesting. We learned about the Rotterdam port, and history of the shipping industry there. One of the most interesting things were old maps from early explorers about how they had mapped the world. We even saw one with a half finished Australia and early drawings of what was seen from the coast, which was really interesting. On the way back I saw perhaps one of the most hidious sculptures I have ever seen pictured here. The water also seemed to spill out onto the ground making the whole thing quite an eye sore. Well I guess everyone has different tastes!

We walked past the church and town hall, and eventually made it back to the station for the hour long return trip to Amsterdam. That evening we headed out to a small rock and roll bar in Amsterdam's red light district who's claim to fame was that the Rolling Stones drank there once. We sat round the table with the Rolling Stones band members' names written on little brass plaques mounted around the table top. I think I had Mick's place. It was quite interesting watching from the window to the street below where certain business activities were thriving. Afterwards we did go in search of another more upbeat pub for a dance, but didn't really find anything in the immediate area so hit the hay.

Fri 21st Nov - Amsterdam

I went back to the train station to try and get a refund for our overcharged tickets to Rotterdam. After a lot of messing around they said they couldn't prove it and I ended up wasting about an hour there. I posted some postcards home and returned to the hostel. We then found a head shop and made some interesting purchases before returning for an epic game of 500 - a great card game. It was an afternoon of many laughs. We then decided to go out into a different part of town where there were a variety of clubs and bars. After walking through some rather dark streets suddenly a bit of a wonderland appeared. There were fairy lights everywhere and the whole place looked like a theme park. There was even an ice skating ring in the middle of the square. We first went into a bar, but were pretty much the only ones in there as it was only 8pm. It was free entry until 10.30pm, so we decided to find somewhere else and come back.

Not far along the street was a little live jazz bar, so we settled in for a beer. The band appeared about half an hour later and the place was suddenly packed. These guys were amazing, and we watched for about an hour in awe. There was a guitar, sax, bass and drums, and they had sweet solos every now and then. At 10.20 we headed back to the other bar where a live band was playing all the great cover songs. We had a fantastic evening and danced until about 2am. Although quite touristy, there was a great vibe and everyone seemed to be in the spirit of it. They even gave us free drinks twice in the night. It was also the last night I would spend with Sally which was a bit sad as we had had some great times over the two months, but it was certainly a great last night dancing away with Mel and Steve.

Fri 22nd Nov - Amsterdam to Dublin

I packed up my stuff making sure all the heavy things were in my hand luggage, said my farewells to Sally and headed off to the airport via the train from main station. The check in was very quick and I ended up ready to check in an hour early, so I sat and had a coffee and filled in the time typing up more of the journey. The flight was one of the most amazing I have ever been on as the plane passed through the most amazing cloud formations. We even followed another plane for a short while, and saw one coming back the other way not too far away.

I arrived at the passport check in point and this is when things started getting stressful. The officer guy checked my passport and started asking all these questions about my travels. He made me show how much money I had in my wallet, checked my credit card, bank card, asked where I was staying, why I was coming to Ireland, why I had been in London, what I did for a living etc etc. After all this, he took a photo and gave me a 4 day visa. Kind of strange I guess, and I think I will bring my EU passport next time. I took the 7 euro bus to the city centre and after several wrong directions, I found the hotel I had booked into... or so I thought.

The hotel I actually booked into by mistake was on the other side of Ireland, and had the same name. I had tried to book through hostel bookers, but unfortunately you cannot book the same day you want the room, so I searched the hostel name on Google, and found what I thought was the same hostel in Dublin only to find when I arrived that it was full and I had no booking. They let me use their wireless to find another hostel, but their wireless was down, so I had to go around the corner to an internet cafe. Things started to get even worse as I snapped the headphones trying to get them to cover my ears for Skype, and the first 5 hostels I called that were within walking distance and reasonably priced were all full. The last place I called however had one bed in a mixed dorm, the last bed in the whole hostel! I was in luck, and it was only a short walk away.

That evening I caught up with Caitlin, a friend of mine from the Leeuwin trip, and then I headed back to the hostel to watch some of the new series of Southpark. At about 4am in the morning my 5 Swedish room mates came back absolutely off their trolley and proceeded to make a lot of noise. I think there was even a round of stacks on or something. I didn't try and tell them to keep it down as they were clearly having the night of their lives and I found the whole thing quite amusing. Still it was hard to sleep that night. When I awoke in the morning they had all left early. So we go now to day two in Dublin.