Nether Again: Madness in the Netherlands

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  Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

After leaving Antwerp it was a pretty smooth ride into the Netherlands. The architecture didn't change too much but there seemed to be a lot more canals and windmills, both being engineered to mitigate rain and flood waters. We decided that the town of Utrecht sounded like our kind of place and we arrived around four in the afternoon. Utrecht is a town with approximately 200,000 people. It's an old university town where everyone rides bikes and I mean everyone. The amount of bikes that were sitting in the park around 4pm was incredible. After negotiating traffic for almost an hour (turns out some people still drive) and finding Karl a park in a side street we went for a stroll in town. The town centre was quite lovely, there was a large dramatic cathedral which had a number of canals running beside it. Bordering the canals were many classy cafes and restaurants that were full of locals having a good time. We walked around for a while and didn't blink once, the amount of gorgeous women in the town was indescribable

ha€rold "Legend"

. We decided to celebrate our discovery of the garden of Eden by having a few beers. We grabbed some tinnies and sat in the park well aware that we were not supposed to be drinking in public. Midway through the first tinnie a couple of policeman rounded the corner, on bikes of course. We played the old "I'm a dumb Aussie" get out of jail free card and they just told us to move on. We walked up the canal to a quiet spot that was hidden by a few bushes. In our new spot we were able to drink some more beer and feel a little homesick until two new policeman (on bikes again) told us that we were unable to drink in public. We cut our losses, threwwhat we had left in the bin and hit the town.


At our first bar we met a fella named Harold, he was a local guy aged 30 who was a self-confessed Australia tragic. After travelling down under for 10 weeks a few years ago he has been trying to get back ever since. In particular he was impressed by the hospitality of us Aussies. He and his girlfriend Maluse bought us a round and told us we were welcome to come visit them the next day along with the invitation to use their shower. Given that a shower and a shave was a few days overdue for Matty and myself (I'm too embarassed to say exactly how many) we were very grateful and exchanged phone numbers. The friendly couple left quite early and the rest of the night was only just beginning

Utrecht bar hopping

. What followed was (in paricular order): meeting heaps of locals, visiting a number of cool bars, doubling on two girls bikes through the narrow lanes of the city to a new bar and me singing to earn a falafel from a girl that we met. It was a great night but as we walked home in the dawn light we knew we'd probably pay the price the next day.


Karl put on a sauna for us the next morning and when we could no longer breathe we decided to take on the world. We rang Harold and made sure the offer was still valid, we jumped for joy when he said to come over whenever we wanted. We drove 15mins out of town to the couples house and chilled out with them. They told us about their Australian trip and we told them about out itinerary for this trip. We showed off Karl and then took up their offer. Exiting as new men, Harold took us for a ride in the river in his speedboat. It was a little windy so the water was bumpy which added to the exhiliration. We drove out to a small village and he showed us the important dykes which prevent the city from flooding. After we got back we bid farewell to our new friends and headed back to Utrecht. That night was relatively quiet and we had the best nights sleep we'd had alll trip.


The next day we set off for Amsterdam

Pre boat ride

. We arrived around 1pm and miraculously found some free parking right near the centre. Indeed it was a bit of a slum but I'm still writing this blog in one piece and hence it did the trick. We walked thorugh undecided on whose sense of direction was worse Matty's or mine. It was a dead rubber, we managed to get lost many times while we explored. I think the orientation of Amsterdam is like no other city I've seen. Whilst being a large city it still has a town feel to it. There are dark narrow lanes lined with old shopfronts, beautiful big canals criss crossing the city, no exceptionally large buildings and a buzz in the streets like no other. The city definetly had it's own pulse and considering the Netherlands were playing against Russia in the Euro Cup that night the pulse was electrifying.


When the game was about to start we went to a Sports bar and drank Heinekens. The bar crowd was mental and going to the toliet was like running the gauntlet, nonetheless it was a good game and it was interesting to finally see the European passion for the world game in person. Unfortunately the Netherlands lost, it was then that we both realised we were both wearing white shirts (Russian colours) and we quickly covered up with our respective jackets. My collared shirt was a loud floral-like number that I bought overseas. Much to Matt's horror I wore it for the rest of the night. After the game we strolled the streets (repeatedly theough the red light district) and looked at all the different coffee shops. I'll tell you what we got upto in person over a beer sometime but let's just say I thought I floated home. The next day we backed up whilst walking around the city. If it wasn't for Mat leading the way I'd probably still be lost in those streets with a expressionless look on my face. That night we decided that two days of the Amsterdam experience was enough for us. The next morning we packed up Karl, pulled out the trusty road atlas, said goodbye to the ghetto and pointed our bumper towards Deutschland a.k.a Germany.

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Co pilot	A bit windy	Getting lost in Amsterdam	The lopsided buildings of Amsterdam
...	The shirt in question	Mad fans turn out in numbers	Mark Gasnier twin
Sex museum Amsterdam	Amsteram main square	Playing it cool	Entering Holland
Utrecht	Karl Pilkington	Utrecht night out	Utrecht night out

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