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.
Ferry travel, how the other half live. And by other half I refer to those too cheap to fly, or too bogan to grasp that planes aren't just going to fall from the sky willy-nilly. I have never seen such a group of uneducated, poorly dressed (think "the 80's" and u'll be about spot on), loud, top-decked hairstyle wearing, beer swilling buffoons in one place, apart from Mt Druitt! (top deck hairstyle is bleached dramatically on top and dyed black underneath... for those who weren't sure, a specialty of the westie woman). There was 3 types of people on the ferry... the type mentioned above, which ruled supreme, the teenagers on school trips running around primarily unsupervised, and older people who had brought their caravan on and were going to see europe for a week of 2. Anyways, when I arrived in Calais, I caught a shuttle to the train station, then bravely caught a public bus to where I assumed the hotel was. It is quite a challenge to catch a bus when u don't know exactly where u want to get off! Then I checked in to my glamorous F1 hotel, complete with double bed, bunk ontop and sink. The toilet was down the hall! JOY! AS wa the shower, so I just did my best with the sink (to wash, not to toilet, I'm not that grose!). Right next door was a massive supermarket, so I wondered over there to get some pain and some poulet for dinner and an Orangina (aka chicken and bread rolls and orange fizz). Then I got back and had me a little picnic, and realised I was bored. So I flicked through the 7 french channels realising I did not recall enough french to have any idea what was going on, then I flicked up again and it was Neighbours, in English! Turns out, I guess for the tourists, they got BBC1 and BBC2 in the hotel! Hallelujah! Come 9.30 I was buggered tho, so I went to bed.
"Nevermind, I'll go explore the centre of town" I thought to myself, so I caught the same bus back into town and started at the train station. I walked up through the main street, purchasing a croissant and a brioche for brekky, and a sardine, as you must sample the local wares (sure, it was a chocolate wrapped in foil, but it was still sold as "sardine"). 
Then I wondered around a shopping centre, bought a couple of xmas pressies, headed back up the main street, and realised I had reached the end of the exciting stuff. It was 11am, there was still a heavy blanket of fog. I decided to walk back to the hotel, and stop of for lunch along the way. I stopped for lunch at the shopping complex next door to the hotel as I didn't fancy stopping anywhere else, I had stumbled across the bad part of town. I had me some Calamari and Frites and then thought I would go back to the Hotel, read a book and wait for the sun to burn off the fog, and go back to look around the fort. My feet and legs were killing me from the walking for 4 hours, so I needed a break too. I ended up watching darts competition on the tv and then the new BBC1 version of robin hood (which is really very good, even tho I missed last weeks) all the time keeping an eye on the window, and the fog NEVER lifted, not even a little! So I gave up and for dinner had the rest of my pain from the night before. I did achieve one thing tho, I spoke french ALL day (mostly "gare sil vous plait" or "merci" or "oui", but STILL french!).. well, except for the one time a lady pulled over in her car, honked at me and asked where something was in french, she asked again, I still didnt understand, so I felt compelled to say "i dont speak french" which if i said it in french would have confused her EVEN more, so I didn't!
I had une escargot for breakfast (not the snail, but the pastry, altho it was rubbish, i didn't eat it all, very stodgy, the puffy ones from oz are much better), and a quiche for lunch as I wondered around the long way to the ferry port. On the way I came across a few monumenty things that were fotoworthy, now I could see! Then I arrived at the ferry port at 1.30pm and my ferry was at 4.10pm. I handed in my ticket and she said "would u like the next one? it leaves at 2pm?" so i happily nodded and went thru th security check, where a massive security breach had just occurred, a lady was bringing a can opener, one of those big chunky one with ergonomic grip handles, in her bag, and the security ppl did not know what to do about this! Anyways, I got on the ferry, with even more bogans on this one, inlcuding lots of loud, tracksuit wearing yobby men with long hair who went straight to the bar. There were also lots of aussie accents, apparently they were on a coach tour and the coach was on the ferry down below, so they had all come up to get pissed and buy large amounts of duty free beer! It was a 3.5 hr drive back again, well, almost 4 hrs, I was doing so well, and just before the turn off for Bristol we all stopped and everyone merged over, cos an accident had JUST happened, there was a mini-cooper inbetween the 2 slower lanes, facing the oncoming traffic, very dinged up, both airbags had gone off and there was a smash in the windscreen. But I couldn't see the ppl from the car, or what it had hit. 4 cars had stopped and were obviously witnesses, I passed the police and ambulance coming from Bristol to the crash site, so they were still there sumwhere. Odd.
Then I wondered around a bit more, and got a bit lost, which was frustrating, cos i needed to pee, and the only public toilet i had seen all day was by the tower, and it cost 0.60 euros to use. So I wandered around in circles trying to get back to the tower, walking through loads of kids who were finishing school and loads of uni students on lunch break, and finally found that I had walked further away, but was able to get back to the tower. I paid my 60c and then walked back to the shoebox, dumped my souveneirs and things I had bought, to lighten by load, then walked back to take fotos of the sunset with the tower, and had some rather average fast food, massed produced lasagne, which they probably bough in the UK, but it was cheap and easy! Then I walked back to the shoebox and went to sleep, there were 2 other girls there when I arrived, and the original girl had left, and my room still had just me. Saturday: I woke up to discover another person sleeping in the hazardous bed beside me, which I didn't expect, cos I hadn't heard her come in (god bless the inventor of earplugs!). The I got up, showered, walked to the tower to take sunrise pics, which I managed to get 1, then the sun disappeared behind clouds and never reappeared all day! 
I walked back, checked out, packed, and left, with the plan of walking to the airport (about 5 miles away) via the river and the other non-touristy side of Pisa. About 500m down the road it started to drizzle, so I had to stop, take off my huge pack, rummage around for my wet weather cover for it, put that on, put MY wet weather jacket on, and head off again. It then drizzled for the next hour or 2. My pack was getting so heavy, walking around with it fir the first time as an actual backpack, not just luggage, that my feet were aching, being pushed into the ground. I had to keep stopping, but taking the pack on and off was no easy feat, cos ur slinging 10kilos around ur back, and as soon as u undo the straps to release it, u stop carrying the weight evenly and it all goes thru your shoulders. Anyways, I made it to the main station, went inside for a 40c pee and a slice of pizza, and then the heavens opened, so I chickened out and caught a bus to the airport. Which was a good idea, cos about 90 mins later it was CHUCKING it down and thundering too, and I had I walked I would have been stuck in that. Plane came, number 3 to check in, number 5 to board, got leg room seats! YAY! Then when I got back to Bournemouth I drove 3 and a bit hours up the centre of England to get to my aunt's place for my cousin Louise's b'day lunch on Sunday.