Amsterdam had special meaning for us. Not because the obvious reasons, moreso as it would be the scene of our last stint as a travelling group before losing another member. Dave would be heading home soon after, and we would be down to two. And of course, cause of the obvious reasons.
So with great anticipation we boarded the train from Antwerp (stopover from Bruges) and zoomed off to Amsterdam. Then promptly stopped. The train had caught fire. Typical. After that got sorted we were off! Finally stumbling into our hostel at 10pm, we were greeted by a room full of smoke and music pumping away. Thankfully, our room only had a slight haze of smoke, quite bearable.
Our first action the day after was to go on a walking tour of Amsterdam (yet another plug to FREE LONDON WALKING TOURS LINK), which showed us a lot. Afterwards Dave and I went on a wander ourselves, checking out some of the 260 coffee shops still with licenses and doing the touristy thing – no, not getting absolutely stoned off our faces and falling in the canals, but seeing the sights.
Beyond constant, constant partying, one of the highlights from Amsterdam would have to be a bike ride along the dykes on the north side of town, venturing out in the farmlands and villages barely half an hour from Amsterdam proper.
Another major highlight was the AFL Grand Final which took place at 5:30am on Saturday morning local time. Seeing how I went to bed at 4 after a big, big night, I didn’t expect to be in much of a shape to enjoy it. Turns out I was mistaken, and the next 4 hours were brilliant. Probably a new record too, 5 beers before 9am, and spending $20 AUD on a meat pie. Bloody good pie though, just what I needed to fully enjoy the game.
4 days of crazy experiences behind us, we headed to London, bidding (for most of us) farewell to mainland Europe.
P.S. Yes, I could have written about how much I drank and what kind of things I did, but you all know me well enough to make your own judgements. I will say that it was bloody awesome though
Amsterdam had special meaning for us. Not because the obvious reasons, moreso as it would be the scene of our last stint as a travelling group before losing another member. Dave would be heading home soon after, and we would be down to two. And of course, cause of the obvious reasons.
So with great anticipation we boarded the train from Antwerp (stopover from Bruges) and zoomed off to Amsterdam. Then promptly stopped. The train had caught fire. Typical. After that got sorted we were off! Finally stumbling into our hostel at 10pm, we were greeted by a room full of smoke and music pumping away. Thankfully, our room only had a slight haze of smoke, quite bearable.
Our first action the day after was to go on a walking tour of Amsterdam (yet another plug to New Europe Walking Tours), which showed us a lot. Afterwards Dave and I went on a wander ourselves, checking out some of the 260 coffee shops still with licenses and doing the touristy thing – no, not getting absolutely stoned off our faces and falling in the canals, but seeing the sights.
Beyond constant, constant partying, one of the highlights from Amsterdam would have to be a bike ride along the dykes on the north side of town, venturing out in the farmlands and villages barely half an hour from Amsterdam proper.
Another major highlight was the AFL Grand Final which took place at 5:30am on Saturday morning local time. Seeing how I went to bed at 4 after a big, big night, I didn’t expect to be in much of a shape to enjoy it. Turns out I was mistaken, and the next 4 hours were brilliant. Probably a new record too, 5 beers before 9am, and spending $20 AUD on a meat pie. Bloody good pie though, just what I needed to fully enjoy the game.
4 days of crazy experiences behind us, we headed to London, bidding (for most of us) farewell to mainland Europe.
P.S. Yes, I could have written about how much I drank and what kind of things I did, but you all know me well enough to make your own judgements. I will say that it was bloody awesome though
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Amsterdam, a city founded by 2 men and seasick dog