Sleep Deprivation

Amsterdam street-scape
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Well, there is one thing to say... I am exhausted.

Our flight from Perth was delayed, and we had to run at Singapore and find the transfer desk. That was only half of the problem... we had to find the RIGHT transfer desk. We found it, and had just made the last call for our plane. But not without a quick interogation from the airport staff.

There was also a truck going by, emptying bins using a huge vacuum cleaner... that was pretty weird.

One of the many canals
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The flight between Perth and Singapore was great though on the Airbus A330-300. The video on demand was awesome... except Graeme missed out the last 5 mins of Mission Impossible 3, because we had to land... he's spewing, and is still anxious to know what happened.

The flight was long, and I hardly got any sleep, and we arrived in Amsterdam about 5 am. The first thing we did was catch a taxi to the hotel. Something should have clicked when all of the taxi's were Mercedes, BMW's, and Audi's, and all of the drivers were in suits. It wasn't cheap. It cost us almost $70, but was a fun trip never-the-less with some fast driving in first class on the autobahn.

Town hall
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We got to the hotel, and stashed our bags, and proceeded to explore a desolate Amsterdam at 6am on a Sunday morning. Eventually after lots of aimless wandering, we found a cafe / bar that was open, and enjoyed a Heineken on the walkway in the rustic architecture. One cool thing was heaps of shops had resident cats... probably to keep the pigeons away. There was also a truck going by, emptying bins using a huge vacuum cleaner... that was pretty weird.

Because of our lost time at Singapore, Graeme never got to buy a digital camera. So we walked around looking for a decent price on the model that he was after, but didn't find much costing less then a small fortune. Graeme also had some problems being toasted by the sun. We found a shop, and they kindly sold him some 50+ lotion for an absolute bargain at $50. He should be able to be dipped into Chenobal with that stuff (we hope).

Another canal
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Eventually our check-in time for the hotel came, and we finally got to shower. The room is about the size of a match-box... mind you there are very few large buildings around. The architecture around Amsterdam is beautiful though. There are more canals here then Venice.

Anyway, I'm rambling a bit... too long... no sleep. Major sleep deprivation. Blisters on feet. Sore legs. But I'll be back to it tomorrow.

Next stop... Heineken brewery :-)