Amsterdam
For William's birthday, we sailed to Amsterdam. On the way there, I surprised Will with a picnic on board (pate, smoked trout, 5 types of cheese, 3 types of charcuterie-type meats, olives, grapes, apple, baguette, quiche, chianti, and chocolates) which he described as "the most thoughtful gift" anyone has ever given him. We also bumped into 4 of my co-workers, which was weird and coincidental. A lot of drinking and cruise ship bingo took place, along with laughing at the obnoxious group of scousers, and the awful cheesy entertainers, singing and dancing to Christina Aguilera (in Dutch). One of the singers on board was this American guy from Tennessee, and he was actually a really good musician, so we watched him all night, instead of the 4 Dutch dancers in their silver glitter hotpants.
Once we got into the city, we stayed at the Hotel Ibis Stopera which was quite nice inside, and the room was huge, considering we were on the continent. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, the architecture is amazing. And all the canals add to the picturesque quality. We first made a visit to Madame Tussauds and took way too many pictures, did a bit of shopping at the huge department store, then wandered around the green light district, the red light district, and Dam Square, capped off with lunch at a Thai place. As dusk approached, we took a canal cruise, and by the time we docked it was dark. William and I then headed to the red light district to have a proper look (no one was out during the day, of course). We spent a good 30 minutes ogling prostitutes and searching for all the little red windows (unfortunately we turned a corner and found ourselves on Tranny Row.. scary!). In the canal running the length of the RLD, there were no less than 40 huge white swans. Everyone was stopping to stare and take pictures, which I thought was funny, given that we were surrounded by half-naked whores beckoning from windows. I did enjoy seeing all of them, though. Huge black woman with their legs in the air, 12-year old Russian childbrides gyrating their hips at us, Asian girls with huge fake boobs.. Amsterdam has it all. Later, we stopped by a fondue restaurant we'd seen earlier, to have dinner, which was really great except they tried to overcharge us. After that, we made our way to Abraxas (coffee house recommended by Joe) and shared a space cake and chocomel, then went back to the hotel and laughed at a reality tv show about competitive dog showing.
The second day we got some coffee and croissant, people watched for a bit, and wandered around the city some more. A couple hours before we met the coach to take us back to the boat, we went into another coffee shop and had more space cakes... which were a lot more potent than the previous nights. By the time we were sat waiting for the coach, I had my head in my hands, going, "Oh, William." It's been years since I've been stoned, and I just felt slow and dumb.
Once we settled into our cabin (on the 11th deck, aka The Deck of Fire) we tried to rest a bit but the weather was horrible and the North Sea was pitching our boat all over the place. Will and I both thought we were going to die, we thought for sure the boat would sink. So we got dressed and went down th one of the main decks, to try to calm down (and also be nearer to the life boats just in case haha). We had dinner in one of the restaurants on board, and at one point a bunch of glasses were thrown onto the floor by the violent movement of the ship. We saw many people fall down, but for once didn't laugh. :/ Turns out being stoned on a boat in really rough weather isn't so fun.
It calmed down, though, and we finally went to bed. I was absolutely exhausted. The next morning when we docked in North Shields, we stopped by Wetherspoons for breakfast, then came home, which felt very nice. I don't think I moved off the couch until that evening.
Future trips include; The US in June to visit family, Sicily next year to obtain birth/marriage certificates of my great-great-grandparents (I'm eligible for an Italian passport), and trips to Cornwall, Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh (again), York, and the Lake District, among others, until then.
Once we got into the city, we stayed at the Hotel Ibis Stopera which was quite nice inside, and the room was huge, considering we were on the continent. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, the architecture is amazing. And all the canals add to the picturesque quality. We first made a visit to Madame Tussauds and took way too many pictures, did a bit of shopping at the huge department store, then wandered around the green light district, the red light district, and Dam Square, capped off with lunch at a Thai place. As dusk approached, we took a canal cruise, and by the time we docked it was dark. William and I then headed to the red light district to have a proper look (no one was out during the day, of course). We spent a good 30 minutes ogling prostitutes and searching for all the little red windows (unfortunately we turned a corner and found ourselves on Tranny Row.. scary!). In the canal running the length of the RLD, there were no less than 40 huge white swans. Everyone was stopping to stare and take pictures, which I thought was funny, given that we were surrounded by half-naked whores beckoning from windows. I did enjoy seeing all of them, though. Huge black woman with their legs in the air, 12-year old Russian childbrides gyrating their hips at us, Asian girls with huge fake boobs.. Amsterdam has it all. Later, we stopped by a fondue restaurant we'd seen earlier, to have dinner, which was really great except they tried to overcharge us. After that, we made our way to Abraxas (coffee house recommended by Joe) and shared a space cake and chocomel, then went back to the hotel and laughed at a reality tv show about competitive dog showing.
The second day we got some coffee and croissant, people watched for a bit, and wandered around the city some more. A couple hours before we met the coach to take us back to the boat, we went into another coffee shop and had more space cakes... which were a lot more potent than the previous nights. By the time we were sat waiting for the coach, I had my head in my hands, going, "Oh, William." It's been years since I've been stoned, and I just felt slow and dumb.
Once we settled into our cabin (on the 11th deck, aka The Deck of Fire) we tried to rest a bit but the weather was horrible and the North Sea was pitching our boat all over the place. Will and I both thought we were going to die, we thought for sure the boat would sink. So we got dressed and went down th one of the main decks, to try to calm down (and also be nearer to the life boats just in case haha). We had dinner in one of the restaurants on board, and at one point a bunch of glasses were thrown onto the floor by the violent movement of the ship. We saw many people fall down, but for once didn't laugh. :/ Turns out being stoned on a boat in really rough weather isn't so fun.
It calmed down, though, and we finally went to bed. I was absolutely exhausted. The next morning when we docked in North Shields, we stopped by Wetherspoons for breakfast, then came home, which felt very nice. I don't think I moved off the couch until that evening.
Future trips include; The US in June to visit family, Sicily next year to obtain birth/marriage certificates of my great-great-grandparents (I'm eligible for an Italian passport), and trips to Cornwall, Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh (again), York, and the Lake District, among others, until then.