Yes, Hallo is Dutch for hello! Challenging isn't it? I suppose it doesn't really matter much because as I found out almost 50% of Amsterdam is multicultural! And most people speak fluent Dutch, English and Spanish, and several are also fluent in Italian and other such things as well. I was a good girl, no sex drugs and rock and roll, although I could have had all if i wanted to! So, here's my week...
Monday: Boy was it cold, driving to airport and it was 12'C at midday! Got there and had some dodgy fish and chips for dinner. There was a rather posh man speaking loudly on the phone to his wife "yes, this airport is rather dreary. yes, dinner with _someone_ Parker-Bowles was delightful". Good for him! Arrived at Amsterdam in the rain, to discover when I claimed my bag it had been put on top of all the others, because it was soft, so it was almost soaked through, where as the hard ones can at least be wiped clean! I struggled along with my backpack on my back, carrying the large pack, looking at a map, under and umbrella, in the rain, in the dark. Luckily a possibly homeless man helped me! Turns out it is a Christian youth hostel, with bible study and church outtings. I was on the top bunk, joy! And there were church bells dingling away all night on the hour, so I didn't get a great deal of sleep!
Tuesday: I woke up at 5, 6, 7, 7.30 and decided to give up around then, showered and put on my jeans that were slightly damp still from the rain the night before. I had my free breakfast, listening to Bernard Fanning being played, which was rather odd. It was still raining, but I went for a walk around. I saw red lights in the windows 2 doors down from the Christian Youth Hostel, which was odd! Went to Anne Frank's house, saw a couple of churches, went to the flower markets, which sells all different tulip bulbs, and also tonnes of souvenier shops. 
You could buy seeds to grow your own cannibus plants, and you could buy cannibus lollipops etc. Walking throught Dam Square, which is the main square, you could see every type of restaurant ever, because Amsterdam is VERY multicultural! There are bikes everywhere! Everyone has bikes, everyone rides bikes, none of them are new, they are all old style bikes, but there i heaps of them! 
It chucked down with rain in the afternoon and I got jack of walking through the rain, so I went back to the hostel with some postcards and got changed out of my jeans that were soaked up to my knees. On the way though, I stopped off at the Hemp, Hash and Marijuana Museum to see award winning plants and learn about all the things you can make from one plant, including clothes, paper, plastics, shoes, teddies etc etc etc. Anyways, then the sun came out about 2.30 and I had seen that there was a 3pm tour of Amsterdam, so I put my shoes back on and rushed to catch that. It was 2 hours in a closed in coach with comentary. The 2 hours was actually 2/3 tour and 1/3 Coster Diamond factory trying to get us to buy diamonds once we had learn about how they are cut etc. I learnt a fair bit about the city, and it was all rather interesting. I booked a 1/2 day tour for Thursday aswell. I got back, grabbed a slice of pizza (seems to be the done thing) and walked back via the red light district with ladies in the windows at this stage, (possibly not ALL ladies to begin with) to the hostel where I sat and ate pizza, wrote postcards and watched Rex Hunt on tv! I managed to move down to the bottom bunk as the girl that was there moved out, so YAY! I saw this in a window in one of the shops from the red light district...
You could buy seeds to grow your own cannibus plants, and you could buy cannibus lollipops etc. Walking throught Dam Square, which is the main square, you could see every type of restaurant ever, because Amsterdam is VERY multicultural! There are bikes everywhere! Everyone has bikes, everyone rides bikes, none of them are new, they are all old style bikes, but there i heaps of them! It chucked down with rain in the afternoon and I got jack of walking through the rain, so I went back to the hostel with some postcards and got changed out of my jeans that were soaked up to my knees. On the way though, I stopped off at the Hemp, Hash and Marijuana Museum to see award winning plants and learn about all the things you can make from one plant, including clothes, paper, plastics, shoes, teddies etc etc etc. Anyways, then the sun came out about 2.30 and I had seen that there was a 3pm tour of Amsterdam, so I put my shoes back on and rushed to catch that. It was 2 hours in a closed in coach with comentary. The 2 hours was actually 2/3 tour and 1/3 Coster Diamond factory trying to get us to buy diamonds once we had learn about how they are cut etc. I learnt a fair bit about the city, and it was all rather interesting. I booked a 1/2 day tour for Thursday aswell. I got back, grabbed a slice of pizza (seems to be the done thing) and walked back via the red light district with ladies in the windows at this stage, (possibly not ALL ladies to begin with) to the hostel where I sat and ate pizza, wrote postcards and watched Rex Hunt on tv! I managed to move down to the bottom bunk as the girl that was there moved out, so YAY! I saw this in a window in one of the shops from the red light district...Wednesday: I slept for over 11 hours after going to bed at 8pm last night. There were 2 new people in the room who didn't even hear come in (god bless the inventor of ear plugs)! My hip was sore from walking about 8 hours the day before, plus I smashed it getting off the coach. It wasn't raining though! I walked up towards Centraal Station and along from there. The sun rose but dissapeared behind fog. It was about 9'C. I could see the Windmill I saw yesterday on the coach but it was hidden in the mist and fog. Then I walked down to the zoo. It was a good zoo, one of the oldest in Europe, but it had some different animals, which was good! There was a new butterfly enclosure you could walk through, and that was amazing as they were landing on people and there were hundreds of them! 
I have discovered that the Dutch are very rude people though. They push and walk straight into you, and talk very loudly in queues, and ride their bikes almost into you, and are generally rude when it comes to social skills, but as for public relations and customer service, they were really good. When I stopped for lunch I sat near the Zebra enclosure and got to watch 2 of them try to make little zebras! Which was amusing! I then walked around to something the signs said "Kindermuseum" and I thought, yeah, ok, but when I got there it is FOR kids, not about kids, and was full, being school holidays! I got on the Canal bus to go around to the Van Gogh museum and Rijkmuseum, and you get informative commentary with that too, however to "fun" it advertised was possibly overrated! It was cool seeing all the differen houseboats along the sides of the canal though, this one had its own floating garden next to it, but most were just covered in pot plants. 
The Rijkmuseum was closed for renovation, so I went to the Van Gogh museum, which was like any other art gallery, but I'm glad I went, seeing as how I was on his territory. I was lucky that it rained while I was in the museum then stopped again. I got Frites on the way back from the canal bus stop at Centraal, which seems to be the national dish, but instead of the traditional mayo I got ketchup with mine.
I have discovered that the Dutch are very rude people though. They push and walk straight into you, and talk very loudly in queues, and ride their bikes almost into you, and are generally rude when it comes to social skills, but as for public relations and customer service, they were really good. When I stopped for lunch I sat near the Zebra enclosure and got to watch 2 of them try to make little zebras! Which was amusing! I then walked around to something the signs said "Kindermuseum" and I thought, yeah, ok, but when I got there it is FOR kids, not about kids, and was full, being school holidays! I got on the Canal bus to go around to the Van Gogh museum and Rijkmuseum, and you get informative commentary with that too, however to "fun" it advertised was possibly overrated! It was cool seeing all the differen houseboats along the sides of the canal though, this one had its own floating garden next to it, but most were just covered in pot plants. The Rijkmuseum was closed for renovation, so I went to the Van Gogh museum, which was like any other art gallery, but I'm glad I went, seeing as how I was on his territory. I was lucky that it rained while I was in the museum then stopped again. I got Frites on the way back from the canal bus stop at Centraal, which seems to be the national dish, but instead of the traditional mayo I got ketchup with mine. Thursday: I had an average night sleep. I was up at 6am and got no more sleep. I went to Madamme Tussauds in the morning, and some of the statues were really good, others looked rather waxy. I got to have dinner with George Clooney though! 
I then went back to the hostel, charged the camera, dumped some stuff and went to sit in Dam Square and people watch while I waited for my afternoon coach tour. Dam Square is the origin of Amsterdam, as it was a dam built on the only true river, the Amstel river, and the Dam became the city, from there it has expanded into a number of canals etc, however the Amstel is still the only true natural waterway. Amstel Dam became Amsterdam after time. Anyways, I watched a family hand feeding pigeons, and that can't be hygenic as the bird were up on their arms clawing them and they are the rats of the sky! Coach trip was good. Went out to one of the 2 true Delft blue factories that exist, where you got to see how it all works. 
Then on to the Hague and look at the Peace Palace, and then on to Madurodam which is 1:25 scale model of Holland. That was quite good. They put carp in the water, which was interesting, considering it is 1:25 so the carp look like whales. And a heron landed and watched the boat going back and forth across a canal, so it looked like Godzilla! On the way back was this beautiful sunset. 
I then went back to the hostel, charged the camera, dumped some stuff and went to sit in Dam Square and people watch while I waited for my afternoon coach tour. Dam Square is the origin of Amsterdam, as it was a dam built on the only true river, the Amstel river, and the Dam became the city, from there it has expanded into a number of canals etc, however the Amstel is still the only true natural waterway. Amstel Dam became Amsterdam after time. Anyways, I watched a family hand feeding pigeons, and that can't be hygenic as the bird were up on their arms clawing them and they are the rats of the sky! Coach trip was good. Went out to one of the 2 true Delft blue factories that exist, where you got to see how it all works. Then on to the Hague and look at the Peace Palace, and then on to Madurodam which is 1:25 scale model of Holland. That was quite good. They put carp in the water, which was interesting, considering it is 1:25 so the carp look like whales. And a heron landed and watched the boat going back and forth across a canal, so it looked like Godzilla! On the way back was this beautiful sunset. Friday: Up at 5.30, dressed in the dark, lugged my stuff to Centraal, then caught a train to airport. I didn't really realise on the way in but Amsterdam airport is massive! It has a casino, hotel, museum, childs play area, sleep area etc. I caught my plane back and all went well.
The rest of the weekend was spent down in Devon with my Aunt and Uncle which was nice and relaxing.
2 comments:
Hahah sounds like you have a much more exciting week than mine! Yay for STUVAC! Stupid exams are around the corner and I can't wait till they are absolutely over! OVER in the sense of OOOOOO-VER!
*sigh* hope you're having a marvellous time over in GB and doing travelling and all! Hopefully I'll get to do that someday, perhaps to Canada... I've got friends in Canada!
Try using my own account this time. So you could access my blog too :-P
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