I woke up in fine fettle on my last day in Amsterdam, ready to get the real travelling under way. Humming Bilbo's travelling song to myself I headed for Amsterdam Centraal Station, and got the three part journey to Hamburg started.
First leg - Amsterdam to Hilversum
Nothing much happened on this leg as it was only half an hour, apparently there are no international trains from Amsterdam so I had to go to this backwater place to really get going.
Second leg - Hilversum to Osnabruck
Struck up a conversation with some Irish birds heading for Berlin and had a game of UNO with them, which helped pass the time. Also, when we crossed the German border, three blokes got chucked off the train by policemen with guns. I presumed they were carrying some illegal substances across the border but I never found out unfortunately.
Third leg - Osnabruck to Hamburg
The conductors messages all being in German are now beginning to annoy me as I have no clue what he is saying. A nun sat next to me for a while which was a little awkward, I though about sharing some militant atheism with her but decided against it, the message would only be weakened in translation.
As soon as I stepped out of the train station and saw lassies wearing nice dresses with Nike air max trainers, I knew I was in Germany. Magic.
I made it to the hostel ok, and went to check in. Unfortunately I booked the hostel for June, not July. Well done son, well done. Fortunately there was a spare bed for 2 nights so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
After having a siesta (is it still called a siesta if you have it in Germany?) I decided to get some proper German food. What else am I going to eat here other than hamburgers? After that I headed for the debauchery of the Reeperbahn. It was like a mini-Amsterdam, but not as good. I wandered about for a bit, got a few drinks then fired back to the hostel.
Hamburg so far hasn't been all it's cracked up to be, the nightlife is supposed to be the biggest draw, maybe it's better in a group but for me Amsterdam beats it without breaking a sweat. Hopefully I can find some sights tomorrow to make up for it!
Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Day Two - Party Time
Day 2 started well. I decided I wanted some grapes for breakfast so I went and found some. Check me out all continental with the fruit breakfast eh? The grapes plus the mouthful of banana I had last night mean I've eaten more fruit since I got here than I have in the past six months, if they served bananas at home like they do here I think I'd have a potassium overdose.
I thought about doing some touristy things, so decided to go and see the Amsterdam ArenA - home of the mighty Ajax. I got to the stadium, where a security guard showed me a group I could join who were about to start the tour. What the Dutch clown didn't tell me, was that I needed a ticket before I joined the group. I got halfway round the other side of the stadium where the tour entered and the boy chucked me off it. I wasn't waiting another hour in the middle of nowhere for the next one, so that was a colossal waste of time.
After that debacle, I decided the gods were telling me not to do any sightseeing, so I headed back to my hostel in the middle of the red light district (where there were more than enough sights to be seen). The rest of the day is a bit of a blur as I ended up getting hammered with 4 English boys from my dorm in the hostel, although my post on Facebook to let Auntie Angela know what was happening seems to suggest I had a blast!
I thought about doing some touristy things, so decided to go and see the Amsterdam ArenA - home of the mighty Ajax. I got to the stadium, where a security guard showed me a group I could join who were about to start the tour. What the Dutch clown didn't tell me, was that I needed a ticket before I joined the group. I got halfway round the other side of the stadium where the tour entered and the boy chucked me off it. I wasn't waiting another hour in the middle of nowhere for the next one, so that was a colossal waste of time.
After that debacle, I decided the gods were telling me not to do any sightseeing, so I headed back to my hostel in the middle of the red light district (where there were more than enough sights to be seen). The rest of the day is a bit of a blur as I ended up getting hammered with 4 English boys from my dorm in the hostel, although my post on Facebook to let Auntie Angela know what was happening seems to suggest I had a blast!
Monday, 25 July 2011
Day One - Pedro does Amsterdam
An early start this morning as mother Reilly drove me through to Edinburgh airport, and the discussion soon turned to trying to remember which James Bond film had the gondola chase scene through Venice in it. Neither of us could remember, so if you know leave it in a comment as it's driving me nuts and googling is cheating.
After that stimulating conversation, I saw something I couldn't quite believe. The plane being boarded before mine was bound for Greenland, and it was full! Do these people not know if they waited an hour to walk through that door they wouldn't be going to a place full of ice, they'd be going to a place full of hookers and drugs? The stupidity of some people!
The flight was not uneventful either, as I was sat next to a man I nicknamed "Weegie Boab" in my head, who proceeded to tell me "Moan the weed". Clearly Amsterdam attracts a highly intellectual crowd.
After getting checked into the hostel, I decided to go for a wander, having no map and no actual clue where I was. Predictably after an hour, I was lost in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully my bloodhound like sense of smell (which is being worked overtime in this town) managed to get me back on the beaten track and headed towards the hostel again, at which point I came across the famous Bulldog coffeeshop, around the corner from the comically named "Grill Toby" kebab shop.
After an afternoon of drinking coffee, I decided to go for a nap as the coffee aroma was very strong and had made me somewhat dazed.
As I write I've just woken up extremely excited as they are going to be showing Dunfermline v St Mirren tonight, which has got game of the season written all over it in invisible ink. Who knows, I may go down to a local fruit and veg shop to get one of my five a day. It would be rude not to wouldn't it?
After that stimulating conversation, I saw something I couldn't quite believe. The plane being boarded before mine was bound for Greenland, and it was full! Do these people not know if they waited an hour to walk through that door they wouldn't be going to a place full of ice, they'd be going to a place full of hookers and drugs? The stupidity of some people!
The flight was not uneventful either, as I was sat next to a man I nicknamed "Weegie Boab" in my head, who proceeded to tell me "Moan the weed". Clearly Amsterdam attracts a highly intellectual crowd.
After getting checked into the hostel, I decided to go for a wander, having no map and no actual clue where I was. Predictably after an hour, I was lost in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully my bloodhound like sense of smell (which is being worked overtime in this town) managed to get me back on the beaten track and headed towards the hostel again, at which point I came across the famous Bulldog coffeeshop, around the corner from the comically named "Grill Toby" kebab shop.
After an afternoon of drinking coffee, I decided to go for a nap as the coffee aroma was very strong and had made me somewhat dazed.
As I write I've just woken up extremely excited as they are going to be showing Dunfermline v St Mirren tonight, which has got game of the season written all over it in invisible ink. Who knows, I may go down to a local fruit and veg shop to get one of my five a day. It would be rude not to wouldn't it?
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