Lets throw chronological order out of the window here by revealing a World Exclusive(!!!!!) for fans of a certain show with four judges on it, that has been imported to a ton of countries to highlight bland pop singers. Liz from Easyjet was on our flight home, it was her last ever flight because she’s going to be famous. Look out for ‘Airport Liz’ coming to a screen near you soon and remember where you heard the name first.
Right back to the ‘dam, having been woken up by a cacophony of morning noises, the highlights being; spoons thrown into buckets, that mosquito (again), people arguing loudly (usually about 6 in the morning), rubbish being hurled from a great height into metal bins and the least musical array of church bells you’ve ever heard, which incidentally used to go off at 8:20 and 8:50 each day for some bizarre reason. The first order of the day was a shave, for some reason the air in Amsterdam makes my facial hair grow, then we would set out into the unknown, which already seemed familiar as we had criss crossed it countless times on day one.
on our first day (no rules chronology here) we thought we’d all cram into a nice quiet café and have a meal, the woman serving didn’t seem to pleased to see us but we didn’t think anything of it, having ordered a drink we got a menu then realised with names like the Full Monty, Queen and Princess burgers, we had stumbled into a gay place. happily we got free mints after paying the bill and the meal filled a hole, so it was probably the best gay bar experience we could have hoped for.
Having said that there were some great places to eat and drink, the Outback bar have staff willing to explain to you the parameters of Aussie Rules football, Hill Street Blues is a great graffiti haven right next to the police station and many others, each one being distinct from the next except for the prices, ‘Its a fiver every time you sit down’ was one of the more witty observation of the day.
The weather was lovely, we all turned red when we went to the beach, yup that’s right a beach in Amsterdam, lovely it was as well, we all turned bright red and because we are who we are, we even went to a different beach first which had scary dogs on it and a stretch of sand that looked a couple of hundred metres long but went for a mile, no depth perception in the desert, we were lucky to get out alive and find the official one which actually had people and frisbees.
All in all after a top time away, my highlights were probably, the man on a mobility scooter pulling tricks and going round on two wheels, the lax airport security at Amsterdam which let us onto the plane without having our bags checked and then surviving the runaway train effect as we landed in Manchester, and also finding the worst restaurant in the world. I didn’t see a name on it but it took fifty five minutes to bring out a hot dog and a plate of chips and a bagel never arrived. Only in Amsterdam, it seems, could you get such good and bad melded together, I would describe it as a chilled out Gotham City.
Well I guess part 2 was slightly better than the hotel with character… 😉 Definitely seems like…an “interesting” place to visit.
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It’s got a very eclectic mix of people, everyone seems to have an awesome time though, even about the bad stuff. No one got hit by any form of transport so that was a big plus too.
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Lol at the beach…chilled out Gotham city…nice :).
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It’s the strange thing with Amsterdam, it combines farce and amusement in equal measures to all foreigners lol.
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Book recommendation: Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach set in 17th century Amsterdam is terrific.
Read it just last week, great read.
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Checking it out now, looking forward to going back to Amsterdam in a literary sense now! it does sound a compelling book.
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Glad you all made it home alive, was worried there for a minute 🙂 It’s still one of my favorite towns to visit – could just sit in a cafe for hours and people watch (which is one of my favorite activities in any city, now that I think about it….)
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Yeah I love to people watch too, although I usually have a book clamouring for my attention. I think Amsterdam is a top place to watch the world (and the swans) go by.
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I am honored to nominate you for The Traffic Raiser Award! Please pick-up your award at http://nackynice.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/double-recognition/ Copy and Paste the Award to your blog and follow the rules of acceptance. I wish you all the best in life and Congratulations!
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You are awesome. But I bet you already knoew that. Thankyou muchly.
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Aw, thank you so much!!! And it’s always been my pleasure to nominate you more in the future!
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Wonderful pic, oh i so want to go there. Maybe in a few years. Enjoyed your post.
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Thanks very much, I’m not the most talented with a camera phone, stupid thumb gets in the way but it’s such a great city to photograph, you’ll have a great time when you get there.
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Possibly prefer this to book reviews… random bits n bobs and experiences, good and bad, in a place I don’t know loads about. of course I like the book reviews too.
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I thought my writing lacked spark but glad you liked it. I think I am recovered now though. I’ll keep trying to mix things up post wise when/if exciting things happen to me.
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Amsterdam sounds like a place with a lot of different cultural mixings and borrowings. As you and some of your readers say, it seems like it would have to be a great place to people watch.
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It definitely has some odd people to watch, I’d love to go back again and just soak up the atmosphere, and read a book too, of course.
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Wow all that for a stag/bachelor party. Guys, wacha gonna do! 🙂 I’ll take a good book any day of the week! 🙂
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I took a ’70’s pulp horror with me, so the book was probably best left alone what with all that going on hehe.
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I reallly hate to say this, but from the sounds of it, the book may have come in handy as a weapon in needed! 🙂
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I would never contemplate the thought of the book itself getting damaged, that would be worse than losing a limb, almost.
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Yes, a very good point, Every single book is of value, always!
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I don’t know, there are a couple I could launch into a black hole, but you are right different people get different things out of a book, even one with giant crabs in it
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HA! 🙂
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oh yes, amsterdam is great, i was there in the late seventies, ok, long time ago, but nevertheless, its a wonderfull citiy for people that loves any kind of modern art
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I never quite made it to the Amsterdam art world, however if I go back again i will definitely check out all the sites this time.
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I LOVE Amsterdam! I was there last september and i fell in love with the city.
What did you think about the red district? And the floating houses on the river?
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The red Light District had its good points lol…although we forgot where some of the best things were due to our not very sober nature hehe!
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lol that must be very fun then!
Did you visit the famous “coffee shops”?
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One or two were visited lol. Not that I remember all the details hehe.
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