Amsterdam

...was in 2004. I was 18 and it was my first trip overseas sans parent.

I’m going again for 2 days in early September, after my exam results but before I go up to University. Despite this being a post-break-up trip,I’ll be somewhat well behaved, and I’ll be staying at the Flying Pig again!

I’ve traveled to Holland twice. I was only 7 the first time we went, so I don’t remember much. My mum, dad & older sister immigrated from there to New Zealand by boat in the mid 1960’s, so I’m a 1st generation kiwi & most of my extended family still live in Holland. 1989 is the second time we went there. I have heaps of photos, but sadly they’re in hard copy & I don’t have a scanner, so I can’t post them here. I’ll conduct an experiment & see what I can do about that.

We went to visit a friend in June and had a nice time biking around the city taking in the sights. There is terrific shopping in Amsterdam – check out Egg Mercantile, Kitsch Kitchen, Papa Bubble.

I also loved the fact the Netherlands don’t hold back with the cheese. The stroopwaffles are also delicious.

I wish we would have done the red light district tour, because I ended up leaving with so many questions. Just to give you the heads up (and please correct me if I am wrong), my friend said rooms with a blue light are transvestites, there are multiple red light areas around the city and they tend to group the ladies based on age or ethnicities. Also remember, do not take photos of the ladies!

The city is very beautiful, but it does attract some seedy tourists. It’s a complicated and interesting place that left me with many questions. Rent a bike (I liked Amstel bikes because they weren’t marked and looked more like the locals).

En c’est moment the plan is to head over to Amsterdam with a group of my mates for a bit of a lads holiday circa the last weekend in August, to do a small amount of sight seeing and a large amount of psycadelics! While I know that this is not the most detailed of plans I think that the level of specification above will be more than adequate for this type of holiday! Roll on August.

its worth visiting if you have never been anywhere else in holland. pretty touristy and a bit shady. great city overall, if you are going to party then go to rotterdam.

Biked through visiting the canals and country sides. It was a very clean country. Very flat.

People watch in the cafes
Visit the Anne Frank House museum

After seeing the photos in this post and this post, I want to visit Amsterdam.

Trip to Mars under shrums, very long, astonishing and difficult (mentally and physically) dream!
Take them carefully and stay in a cosy place, do not rush into the streets (very dangerous) and don’t eat them in one go, eat them slowly!

Cheers Mates,

Ben.

Amsterdam is beautiful and somewhere I could definately see myself living. For being such a busy city it is relatively quiet and peaceful. I’ve been twice but not had a chance to sample the nightlife yet though but I definately mean to go back. The coffee shops are great especially the chain Bulldogs which are scattered about the city but if you aren’t into that sort of thing don’t worry you’ll never be bored. There are plenty of museums, boat trips and various other places to visit. One place I would definately recommend going is the zoo Arta. It is fantastic. Usually I find zoos a bit depressing but this one is great and also includes an aquarium and planetarium. A great day out. I would also recommend the canal bus which provides a great tour of the city from water level and also allows you to hope off and on at all the essential sights.

Can’t wait to go back.