Update two: AMSTERDAM
Ahhh, I'm in the Czech Republic. It's so pretty here, and cheap too!
Okay, so after Paris we hit Amsterdam, and spent two days there too. We stayed at the infamous Hans Brinker hostel (Improve your immune system at Hans Brinker!) and spent the first night getting lost in the streets - it all looks the same in the dark. Our first full day there was Museum Day - got a bit lost looking for Anne Frank's House, which is suitably sombre, then made our way to the other side of town for the Van Gogh Museum. We would have visited the Rijksmuseum too, but it's currently under renovation and only has a few paintings on show. I was slightly surprised about this because it's currently the 400th anniversary of Rembrant and thats where most of his paintings are displayed. Anyway, Van Gogh was fun and it had a great exhibition of Japanese artwork too, because VG was heavily inspired by it apparently. We relaxed in Museumsplein with our feet dangling in a large pond, watching a bulldog swimming round and then posing for the cameras.
Then it was off on the Amsterdam pubcrawl! Katie doesn't drink so I went on my own, but soon met up with some of the girls from my dorm. We had a VERY good night and I woke up perfectly okay the next morning, something that surprised me very much. Usually I only have to sip a drink and I'm guarenteed a headache in the morning, but maybe Dutch beer agrees with me?
Day two was our cycling tour of the city, and this was fun because Katie had not ridden a bike for about 10 years and thought she might have forgotten how to! She rose to the occasion though, didn't fall off or anything. We went around the old part of town, then out into the countryside to see a windmill (well, pose in fromt of one) and visit a cheese and clog factory, which was owned by an extremely smarmy guy who I found absolutely hilarious. We tasted cheese, debated with ourselves over the sensibility of buying clogs, then cycled back into he city to see the modern side. What was interesting to learn was that the traditional housing of Amsterdam, the bendy canalside houses, were actually saved by illegal squatters from the property companies that wanted to bulldoze them all and build modern buildings. Thank God for the squatters I say!
Okay, so after Paris we hit Amsterdam, and spent two days there too. We stayed at the infamous Hans Brinker hostel (Improve your immune system at Hans Brinker!) and spent the first night getting lost in the streets - it all looks the same in the dark. Our first full day there was Museum Day - got a bit lost looking for Anne Frank's House, which is suitably sombre, then made our way to the other side of town for the Van Gogh Museum. We would have visited the Rijksmuseum too, but it's currently under renovation and only has a few paintings on show. I was slightly surprised about this because it's currently the 400th anniversary of Rembrant and thats where most of his paintings are displayed. Anyway, Van Gogh was fun and it had a great exhibition of Japanese artwork too, because VG was heavily inspired by it apparently. We relaxed in Museumsplein with our feet dangling in a large pond, watching a bulldog swimming round and then posing for the cameras.
Then it was off on the Amsterdam pubcrawl! Katie doesn't drink so I went on my own, but soon met up with some of the girls from my dorm. We had a VERY good night and I woke up perfectly okay the next morning, something that surprised me very much. Usually I only have to sip a drink and I'm guarenteed a headache in the morning, but maybe Dutch beer agrees with me?
Day two was our cycling tour of the city, and this was fun because Katie had not ridden a bike for about 10 years and thought she might have forgotten how to! She rose to the occasion though, didn't fall off or anything. We went around the old part of town, then out into the countryside to see a windmill (well, pose in fromt of one) and visit a cheese and clog factory, which was owned by an extremely smarmy guy who I found absolutely hilarious. We tasted cheese, debated with ourselves over the sensibility of buying clogs, then cycled back into he city to see the modern side. What was interesting to learn was that the traditional housing of Amsterdam, the bendy canalside houses, were actually saved by illegal squatters from the property companies that wanted to bulldoze them all and build modern buildings. Thank God for the squatters I say!