AMSTERDAM 24th – 30th Oct

They tell me I visited Amsterdam but I don’t remember.......................

.......................................I can see why many visitors here feel that way; just be careful where you go for coffee and everything is fine!

Had a great run in from Copenhagen on the overnight train. We left at 18-10 hrs and once we had eaten and settled into our bunks we slept well until 02-00 hrs when they pulled into God only knows where (I think it was Hamburg but who knows! Who cares?) and then started shunting the wagons around for an hour or so before continuing on our way. We arrived at Amsterdam Central at 10-20 hrs the next day. Unfortunately we couldn’t check into our accommodation til 15-00hrs so we dumped our gear in left luggage and went walk-about for 4 hours.

The houseboat is fantastic and a real ‘home-from-home’. We were greeted at the boat by the owner and shown around. As they departed and left us to it we were given a ‘welcome’ of fresh flowers and a bottle of wine. We were then left in peace to enjoy our ‘new home’ for the next 6 days. And what a home it is; such a change from the previous hotel rooms and enabling us to just relax and chill out.

The boat has everything we could need. Bathroom, kitchen,

lounge, dining room and double bedroom. There is even a spare double bed 'below the waterline' and a laundry, complete with washing machine and drier at the front of the boat. 

The views are just stunning both in daylight and at night. It’s actually hard to leave the boat to do anything as once we did our shopping for basic provisions we were happy just to lounge around and do nothing.

Our day starts with feeding the ducks and swans; this costs a small fortune in bread but well worth it. They’re cheeky little buggers and as soon as the light goes on in the morning (its late Autumn here) they’re at the window looking for food!

Of course the seagulls like to get their share and do their best to muscle out the ducks and swans but don’t have too much success.

 We have our little favourites like this little black chappie and he and his mate are the most vociferous of the lot.

We then go out and roam around just taking in the sights. We got ourselves a three day ‘Canal Bus Pass’ for $32 each so we just hop on and hop off the canal bus at will. This takes us to most of the primary local sights and is hassle free.

Of course we had a look in at the so-called coffee shops – you don’t have to buy the product, just sit and inhale; the high is for free!

There’s a great little fairground smack in the city center and more shops and attractions than you can poke a stick at. We took a tour of the Red Light District; Another eye opener if ever there was one. (I don’t fancy yours though)!

We did plan to visit Anne Frank House on Friday but the queue was ridiculously long. Turns out the kids were on hols that week so we left that til Monday. Instead we visited the Amsterdam Dungeon; a scary concept if ever I saw one. It was a great tour though and well worth the visit.

Sunday we took a day trip out of the city to visit Marken, Volendam and Windmills.

Unfortunately Saturday saw the change from daylight saving and the clocks went back one hour Saturday night.

That meant that the tour didn’t get to the windmill zone until late evening so we never got to see the windmills at their best. Still a great trip though and the town of Marken is supposedly a genuine, traditional Dutch town.

It was bloody cold though and Julie and I were well and truly rugged up against the cold winds. As Aussies we are really soft when it comes to the cold weather over here in Europe. Julie is sure gonna feel it in England in the Winter!

Monday we went to Anne Frank House. What an eye opener. I have read the diaries, know the story and thought I would take it all in as a bit of a ‘ho-hum’ bit of a tour. The main reason I wanted to visit was simple – "I’m in Amsterdam so I ‘must’ visit Anne Frank House". Wow! All I can really say is that it left me emotionally drained. It has turned out to be one of, if not THE highlight of our visit to Amsterdam. We weren’t allowed to take photos and so I can’t post any here. Then again, photos can’t do such a place justice. One has to be there in order to feel the spirit of the past. It is haunting and memorable; an experience never to be forgotten.

On that note it’s time I checked out of this blog. Tomorrow were off to Bruges, Belgium for 6 nights. There we hire a car and visit a few of the WW1 sites of France and Belgium.