Amsterdam!

Mik at Hard Rock Cafe
see all photos »

Hello Everyone.

Well- we have just spent a busy couple of days in the famous city of Amsterdam. It has been a very interesting and educational experience overall. We also had the great opportunity to spend one of the days sightseeing with our friends Emilie and Robin. Even though they dont live in Amsterdam our friends still knew lots about the city and we were really lucky that they could guide us through our sightseeing journey.

Ge Zellich - cosy, nice atmosphere

"Coffee"
see all photos »

The first night we spent figuring out the city for ourselves, the place we stayed was a little further out from the city. This was a good thing as we learnt how to use the public transport system pretty quickly. Also a lot of the attractions were on the tram route into the city so that made life a lot easier. We checked the place out for a bit, noticing all the things that you hear about Amsterdam along the way - tons of people on bikes, the canals and of course, "coffee" shops! The weather had been quite bad on the way there (Robin told us that two interstate trains had been hit by lightning-he got worried) but we were blessed with a lovely sunny evening when we arrived in Amsterdam. Here it stays light until at least 10pm- quite strange feeling for Aussies. It only feels like 4pm or so, you look at your watch and it's time for dinner! The first night we settled on the Hard Rock Cafe, as neither of us had been before. As you'd expect the music was loud-but good, food was pretty good and we had a great view of the canal just outside our window. We also got souvineer glasses from the Apple martinis we ordered-just in case anyone asks we have proof!

Miss puss
see all photos »

The next day we had planned to go to Apeldoorn to see the Apelhuil (attraction where you can see monkeys roaming around) but the weather was terrible. We caught the tram into the city but had to get off halfway due to big lightning and pissing down rain. Those trams are jerky enough without a storm-not so good for the nerves. Anyway, we cancelled Apeldoorn as it was going to be an expensive gamble. Instead we decide to stay and buy an I amsterdam card which gives you lots of discounts and free entry to museum and attractions. The first place we headed to was the cat museum (no actual cats, just art), but that was closed so instead we checked out the nearby Bibles museum. Not expecting all that much, we were pleasantly surprised, it was a really interesting museum. We saw some objects and stories relating to the Old testament, even some real Egyptian mummies. There was a room all about Christianity, Islam and Judaism. It discussed similarities within these three faiths and the fight over Jerusalem. We watched this really heavy video and left the room very puzzled and full of questions. In the basement there were rooms preserved from the 18th and early 19th centuries and a collection of aroma jars with scents used in biblical times. There was also a pretty garden with some intstallations in it.

On the Canal cruise with Emilie and Robin
see all photos »

All that reading and puzzlement gave us an appetite so we headed over to Van Dobbin's sandwich bar to redeem out free croquetten roll. Mnnn.. three day old squishy meat. It really tastes good!

As the weather was still nice we headed over to Artis Zoo. We saw tons of animals and the Planetarium (all in Dutch but interesting anyway). The Planetarium is a huge dome-movie theatre, they showed a kids film similar to finding Nemo when we were there. The zoo had lots of Birds, including Kookaburras, Elephants, Zebra, Giraffes, Monkeys, goats, Alpacas, Lemurs, Seals, Meerkats, Wallabies, Polar Bears, an Insectarium and a greenhouse with butterflies in it. It was a great zoo!

Mik and Robin on Canal boat
see all photos »

After dinner at Rembrandtplein serenaded by little people and violins we headed to Hortus, the botanical gardens in Amsterdam. As well as lots of beautiful plants including some Australian varieties the gardens had a resident cat, miss puss. We had a pleasant stroll around the gardens followed by miss-puss. They even had another greenhouse with butterflies in it.

We then headed back to the hostel and met Robin on the tram. We had a few beers with him and turned in for the night, very Gezzelich.

Poffertjes
see all photos »

The next day we met Emilie in the city and spend the day sightseeing together, We went to the Rijksmuseum - wonderful paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer, lots of Delft Blue including a violin and intricate silverware. We went on a 1.5 hour harbour cruise including the canals where we saw lots of significant buildings including the Anne Frank House. We had lunch at an old style pancake restarant- traditional poffertjes - very nice!!

After lunch we headed to the open air markets and later to the Red light district- just to have a look of course. That's so weird though- for those of you who haven't been there walking around there is a unique experience. A bit confronting really.

Canal by night
see all photos »

The four of us then headed to the exclusive shopping area of Amsterdam- also just looking. We had dinner at a lovely student restaurant, good food and great company.

All up it was a great day. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Emilie at the train station- Thank you so much again, for everything, please come and visit us soon!

Then we left with Robin to head back to his parents house. Will write more about that, next uo- North Sea jazz Festival!!!

Lots of Love to you all,

see all photos »

Anna and Michael xoxoxoxoxoxox