Amsterdam..

After departing Bruges I made my way to Amsterdam for a five night stay before moving on to Berlin. On arrival to Amsterdam I walked in to the flying pig uptown hostel and went to check in. After a hectic struggle up like 40 steps to the 3rd floor with my massive pack on my back I walked up to my room, and sure enough the two girls that were in there were high. haha Well at least I knew I was in the right city haha. Since I arrived in the afternoon I didn't get a chance to head out that day, so instead made the effort to get down to the red light district and get it out of the way.

The "red light" girls line the streets everywhere.. and there are many that you would certainly pay for lol however they are very expensive. After roaming through the area and seeing the windows and walking past the countless "coffee shops" it was pretty obvious to me that the dutch culture is a very open and tolerant one, well at least moderately tolerant of the dumb partying tourists.

After having a few drinks with some nice English blokes I also met Daniel, the Danish-Israeli, who showed me the Burger Bar, this place is essentially the "white castle" of Amsterdam, they served the best burger and fries I've had in my whole life. =D

"The White Castle"

The I am Amsterdam sign

The following day I made my way along to the free walking tour and met Saunder (A Belgium born and US citizen who lives and studys in Belgium), Caitlyn and Erika (Two Canadians), we got to walk around and see a few sights of the city, sadly the main buildings like the central palace and one of the museums was closed off for refurbishments so it wasn't possible to get any spectacular photos because of the annoying scaffolding.

However here's where Napoleons half-wit brother King Louis (who was unfamiliar with Dutch) declared to the population (while giving a speech at top of the royal palace) that he was the "rabbit of holland" rather than the "king of holland" so hence was a bit of a laughing stock haha.

Top of the Royal Palace where Louis declared himself a rabbit (Sadly the rest was covered in horrid scaffolding)

We also saw the smallest house in Amsterdam (which is located next to the widest canal bridge [there are over 200 bridges!!]) it was absolutely tiny, apparently only a few metres tall and a few small rooms housing a single resident. Apparently this house was built because previously in history you paid more tax for the size of your house, I guess this guy wanted to stick it to the man by still living centrally and paying minimal tax haha..

Tiny House (Shotty not living here..)

On the broadest canal bridge in Amsterdam

After the walking tour we made the most of the day and decided why not jump on a canal cruise aswell, we made our way through the canals of Amsterdam getting to see some more of the great city before we sailed out into the harbour. There were heaps and heaps of ships, boats and sailboats littering the water as the Sailing 2010 festival was being held over the weekend in Amsterdam. Anja (from germany) and her partner joined the rest of us for the cruise and then we all decided it was cheapest if we all make our way to the supermarket and grab something to whip up in the hostel kitchen for tea. Which was great! It only cost us about 2 or 3 euros each.

After getting out and seeing a bit of the city the previous day I had a bit more of an understanding of the layout and the way things run, but it's still confusing haha. Not to mention the thousands of cyclists everywhere, and they have right on way, NOT PEDESTRIANS so you've got to keep your eyes peeled or you may end up flattend like a pancake. I met up with another few cool people who were chilling out at the hostel and we decided we'd make our way down to the nearby Vondel Park to have lunch, it was beautiful, greenery like you've never seen and it takes a whole 20-25 mins to walk from one side to the other on foot! All over the place people were lying in the grass, eating lunch, and just generally having a good time. There were various statues, ponds and the softest grass, it felt like walking on pillows, no wonder everyone just lays in the grass. =)

Vondel Park (everyone just laying in the grass)

Vondel Park

One of the many many "Coffee shops"

I met up with a couple of nice english fellow sthe next day, Mike and Adam, we had a pretty good day and ended up watching the Liverpool football match that night with a few hoegarden beers before we made our way to one of the many local coffee shops, we certainly had a good night, eventually making our way back to the hostel where we made dinner and ate it very very quickly haha. One of the coolest things I've ever seen though was this chilled out cat sitting inside the smoking area at the coffee shop we stopped at, I've dubbed him "stoner cat" because even when we went to pet him or anything he'd just yawn.. roll over and go back to sleep haha Gingy also had some fun...

Stoner Cat

Gingy having a spliff..

After a good night meeting a few cool people I thought it was time I organise the redlight crawl, which goes through the redlight area again, but stopping at the local night spots, (eg. pubs and clubs) in the area. Meeting up with Erika and Caitlyn again Saunder and I spent the night in good company and had alot of fun and laughs along the way. I got chatting with an Irish fellow who was running the tour (I bought him a drink and scored more free drinks) and a few more Canadians and we basically just partied the night away. All in all well worth the 15 euros, especially since i got about 6 free drinks! (on top of the standard 6 that were free upon entry to each place) We said our goodbyes to the girls and hit the hay.

L to R: Saunder, Anja (wearing my hat), Caitlyn, (Can't remember his name!!), Ash and Erika

The final day in Amsterdam I made my way to the Heineken brewery to get a taste of holland gold. The tour way heaps of fun and they ran us through the processes that they use and mentioned there "super secret 'A' type yeast" which makes the beer have it's distinct taste. Perhaps I should have tried to obtain it and black mail them? haha The tour basically just gave an insight into heneiken since the global brand name started. Kalea (another Canadian ahah) and Mel (Aussie from Perth who used to date Dom from Tame Impala) both managed to scored free drinks when we got to the bar where we got free drinks.. but they didn't have to give up there tokens.. well at least not at first.. then i went up with them and scored a few free beers on top of the 2 token ones... geeze girls are lucky, flirt with anyone and get anything for free haha.