At the beginning of this year i expected the next time I'd be on a plane it'd be a 12 hour, 6500 mile flight to Japan and yet as it happens it was a tuesday morning in an hour soo early i'd previously thought was a myth, for a 50 min flight to somewhere so close i think i could probably skim a stone from one coast to another.
My friend Katie had always wanted to go off to Amsterdam and with us missing out on tickets to Glastonbury this year we just thought why not. So 2 quick easyjet flights booked and a cheap b&b in the center of the red light district and we where there.
I'd been once before with work a few years back and thought i still had a decent idea of where things where, i'd remembered barney's as being this awesome little breakfast bar 2 mins from the station and seeing as it was still before i'd of be waking up for work despite the extra hour time difference and the fact that i'd been up 6 hours and still hadn't eaten, i thought it was a decent idea to head there first. So after a quality much needed breakfast served by what must of been passively stoned happiest waitresses in the world we headed over to the hotel to drop our bags off and get out and about for drinks. And in all honesty (and yes i know how lazy it is to write something like this) the rest of our day kept to a pretty regular pattern from there on in. We walked, we drank, we talked and smoked and then repeated until one of us could barely do any of them 4 things. Somewhere within that time we managed to fit in a change of clothes and a shower but i'm kinda clueless as to when and how we managed that, truthfully i was just impressed we had both made it back to the hotel (not sure how) and that also i'd managed to muster up enough coordination to hang my clothes in the nearest wardrobe (absolutely no recollection)
The next morning was a whole world of pain but one you could kinda sense coming, it'd been a good day, we'd done something along the lines of a 16 hour bender which is just something you have to do while in Amsterdam, to not would be like going to Paris and skipping the Eiffel tower :)
The next day was really our only full day from having woke up in amsterdam to going bed there at night so we'd decided to hire bikes and go off and explore. We headed off towards the "wester kerk" church and to anne franks house. The church we didn't go in, it was too warm for that, and the queue for anne franks house is ridiculous and although i'm sure it's pretty interesting on the inside there's absolutely nothing to see from the outside, so after a brief stop, and an obligatory drink, we carried on. We headed north over the drawbridges and onto the small islands, it starts to get a little less busy around this area and just riding the bike around the canals is more enjoyable then i think any stop off point would of been (I miss my bike dammit). From here we cycled all the way back down towards the vondelpark and the "i am amsterdam" thingy.
The next morning was a whole world of pain but one you could kinda sense coming, it'd been a good day, we'd done something along the lines of a 16 hour bender which is just something you have to do while in Amsterdam, to not would be like going to Paris and skipping the Eiffel tower :)
The next day was really our only full day from having woke up in amsterdam to going bed there at night so we'd decided to hire bikes and go off and explore. We headed off towards the "wester kerk" church and to anne franks house. The church we didn't go in, it was too warm for that, and the queue for anne franks house is ridiculous and although i'm sure it's pretty interesting on the inside there's absolutely nothing to see from the outside, so after a brief stop, and an obligatory drink, we carried on. We headed north over the drawbridges and onto the small islands, it starts to get a little less busy around this area and just riding the bike around the canals is more enjoyable then i think any stop off point would of been (I miss my bike dammit). From here we cycled all the way back down towards the vondelpark and the "i am amsterdam" thingy.
Anyone who knows amsterdam knows that it's not exactly a large place and that that'd probably take about 15 mins worth of actually cycling.. so to say it took us just over 7 hours to reach the park i think it's safe to say we favored the sitting and relaxing in the sun rather than any sort of hard work. It was just so nice and hot that it would of been a disservice to the weather if we hadn't of enjoyed it as much as we did. Also a special note on the "i amsterdam" sculpture thing, i'd never been to it the last time, i don't know if it just wasn't there or whether we just missed it but it's amazing, i mean it's only "i amsterdam" in big 3-D letters but there's something satisfying about kids and big kids being allowed to clamber all over it without security people shooing you off it or a fence around them as a health and safety precaution, although i am thinking this might soon change after katie decided to fall off one the giant A's and damage her knee.
After a night much similar to that of the first night and a similar headache following the next morning. We set off to drop our bikes back at the "bicycle repair man" rent-a-bike shop, and after an emotional good bye set off to get Katies tattoo, you know as you do on a 3 day break! The place was called hanky pankys and was actually pretty highly regarded and had some fairly big celeb clients. We made an appointment and set off to the Heineken experience museum. Again i was kinda surprised at how cool it was, i mean it's a brewery and we knew you got a bunch of free drinks but the rest of the stuff was ace and i didn't really expect it. After katies tattoo we had a bunch of hours to just enjoy the sun, or in my case shade seeing as face was practically glowing red by this point, and then it was time to call it a night and get to the airport.
Amazing weather, amazing city.. cya again Amsterdam
After a night much similar to that of the first night and a similar headache following the next morning. We set off to drop our bikes back at the "bicycle repair man" rent-a-bike shop, and after an emotional good bye set off to get Katies tattoo, you know as you do on a 3 day break! The place was called hanky pankys and was actually pretty highly regarded and had some fairly big celeb clients. We made an appointment and set off to the Heineken experience museum. Again i was kinda surprised at how cool it was, i mean it's a brewery and we knew you got a bunch of free drinks but the rest of the stuff was ace and i didn't really expect it. After katies tattoo we had a bunch of hours to just enjoy the sun, or in my case shade seeing as face was practically glowing red by this point, and then it was time to call it a night and get to the airport.
Amazing weather, amazing city.. cya again Amsterdam