Our recent adventure was to Amsterdam.. the place where Anneka's name (and Grandpa) come from. Now, on the Thursday night we decided that we wanted to go away as Jamies boss had swapped one of his shifts so we realised that we had a whole weekend free, Yay!! then the next morning we booked our flights and accommodation and that night we were off! Talk about last minute travelling but we had an awesome time!!!
As soon as Anneka finished work on the Friday i took the tube to meet Jamie at London Bridge, then we had a few more changes onto different tube lines, then after about an hour and a half (which is good for London time in rush hour) we arrived at Heathrow. In the past we have gotten one of Jamies relatives to drop us at the airport but now we have mastered the transport system we can get pretty much anywhere ourselves. Who said you need a car a!! Checking in at the airport was such a breeze compared to what we were used to. We were flying with a Dutch airline KLM and they had these online checkin in machines just before where you check in your luggage. This was such a great idea and one that the other airlines should adpot! We went straight through and checked in our luggage in no time. Once making our way through security and a quick drink at good old starbucks we were off! (Anneka also noticed that they had a sign up saying that Heathrow is introducing body scanning machines now, definately enchanced security at airports now after 9/11, we even have to take our shoes off all the time now, after a bomber hid his bomb in the sole of his shoe!)
The plane ride was so quick, it only took us 45minutes to get there. Once we arrived at about 11pm our first mission was to try and find out hotel! Anneka had checked with one of her bosses first who is Dutch and he advised catching the train into central Amsterdam so that is what we did. They had really cool double decker trains, something that London should adopt as in rush hour you are like animals squashed in a cattle cart, sometimes i am standing there and someone else is looking right at your face, but there is no where else to move as your so wedged in!! Then the train stops and even more people squish on!! Lucky i catch the bus to work now haha.
Anyway once we arrived in central Amsterdam only about 30 minutes later we decided to catch a tram to where our hotel seemed to be located on the map. (I think we should really enter into an orientation competition as we are getting so good at navigating our way around the different places now!) And lucky enough our navigation skills were right and we saw the hotel on the corner. This was great as the tram had different place names coming up but due to being in Dutch we didnt have a clue what they were saying!
Once we arrived at the hotel we were pleasently suprised as even though hotels list their photos on the web you never know what it acutally will look like. We had managed to book the hotel the night before at a special rate which included buffet breakfasts every night, a bottle of champagne and chocolates!! Yay and it was even a four star. Talk about luxury. Haha. Once we had checked in at about 12.30am eaten the chocolates, drank the wine we quickly fell asleep!!
On Saturday we were up to an early start as we had lots of things to cover in the few days that we were here. We made our way down to the breakfast area and had the most delicious breakfast!! Looking around we realised that the other people surrounding us were ot the usual type of young people that we were used to in the other hotels we stayed at they were pretty much middle aged, well presented, and you could tell they all werent short of a penny. We sat there chuckling as they proberbly paid full price for their accommodation and the buffet breakfast was like 19.50 Euro each so we were quite impressed with our find. I loved the traditional dutch pancakes with crossionts, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, fresh juices etc etc. mmmmm. Anyway after feeling completely bloated we made our way to the city centre.
Our first impressions of Amsterdam were that there were loads of bikes everywhere, canals, and "coffee shops" for those of you who don't know what coffee shops are in Amsterdam its where you can buy Marijuana with your coffee!! They have an excellent transport system and its funny as when you are crossing the road you have to watch our for cars (which drive on the opposite side of the road) buses, trams, bikers (who have their own bike lane), and other pedestrians! Jamie forgot about the "bike lane" and a lady ran into him and nearly fell of her bike! She yelled something, which im sure would of been something down the lines of stupid tourist! and rode off.
Our first stop was the main square in Amsterdam. I was amazed at how busy the place was. As we were walking down the main street we came across a museum which was the "Sex Museum" so out of curiousity we decided to go inside and have a look around. Now this place was definately an interesting museum, with rooms fill of photos (and i wont go into description!!) of every position, theme and way of having sex that is possible!! I quickly hurried along from this room and there were other displays of different objects such as a chastity belt and other objects you could use on you or on another! I was amazed at how busy the place was full of people off different ages and colours looking through all the photos on the wall... Anyway moving on from the musuem..... (not my favourite place so far)
The next stop as we were walking down the main street was Madam Tussawds Museum. This cost us quite a bit to get in but it was worth it. The museum was fill of wax figures of all sorts of famous people like the royal family, pop starts etc and looked so real it was amazing! If you look at some of the photos we have posted you will see what i mean.
After Madam Tussawds we just kept walking down the main street and taking in the surroundings. Jamie wanted to go and have a look at the famous "coffee shops" so when we came across one as we were walking along we decided to go in and have a look. It was quite amazing they just sold all sorts of marijuana in all sorts of forms in the shop behind the counter!!
We then made our way back to the hotel for a much deserved rest before our next adventure of the evening. After a few hours we caught the tram back into the city and had a lovely meal. We then walked around trying to find the red light district as you cant go to Amsterdam and not see what its all about!! Well we definately knew when we were in it. There were glass windows (which were also doors) down streets and streets, with women standing in them, all of different ages and colours. You just walked past and if you were interested said your amount then they opened the glass and you went in. Amsterdam is renowened as a favourite for men in the UK to go for their stag weekends, yes they have whole weekends not stag nights as we have in New Zealand. I have never seen so many males together in one place, apart from the football or rugby!! And i was also amazed at the different ages and nationalities of people that were going into the shows.. and i dont mean the theatre shows!!
After strolling around and getting an offer from a black american lady of about 50 something for both myself and Jamie to go into her "booth" we decided we better be getting back to the hotel and after an exciting eye opening day fell asleep.
The next day we woke up early and had another delicious breakfast. Our first place to visit today was the Heinekan factory. When we brought our ticket we got 4 tokens to use along the tour of the factory. The tour took you through the begginning of the Heinekan factory, to how the beer is brewed, past advertising and the final product. Our first token was redeemed for a beer each! Which was much deserved and Jamie couldn't get over how nice it tasted and how different to the New Zealand Heinekan beer. Along the tour they had all sorts of interactive experiences which made it heaps of fun, and there was even a place where you could record a small video clip and send it to your family or friends back home. The last stop on the tour was another bar where you could redeem 2 tokens for 2 beers each! Since im not a beer drinker i could only drink half of one so Jamie was well pleased when we got 3 and a half Heinekans to drink! On the way out we redeemded our last token for a present which was a small fake bottle of Heinekan but it opened up and there was a bottle opener inside! This was particulary exciting as Jamie was going to buy one from the shop but as it was 5euros he didnt and then we got 2 free!! If anyone travels to Amsterdam this is definately a place to visit.
Our next stop was onto a tour that we had booked of Amsterdam. It included a city tour, windmall stop, canal cruise and then a visit to Anne Franks house. The tour was really nice and we were able to see parts of the city of Amsterdam that we hadnt already, specifically out by the main river. They actually told us an interesting fact that the city of Amsterdam is built entirely on water. Quite amazing really! Alot of the canals are man made, and the soil that they dug up to make the canals they used to further extend the city. Anne Franks house was also a real eye opener. The house had been kept amazingly well in its original state. It was amazing to think the history that had gone on there and to think that two families were in hiding in the most confined space for such a long time.
We spent the evening relaxing after a busy day of exploring!!
Today was time to go home - so another early start and yummy breakfast. We spent the morning looking around the shops and buying a few souviners before it was time to catch our plane back to London.
We definately enjoyed our time in Amsterdam, such an interesting city, i would say a city of two sides completely different in the day as it is in the night. Worth a visit if you ever come to this side of the world....
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