Amsterdamage

Oh, what a difference a few days make!

After what can only be described as a testing few days of loneliness and self doubt in Groningen, I arrived in Amsterdam expecting to spend a lot of time on my own, with only my camera and iPod for company.

I made my way to the hostel by tram, and after missing my stop due to not having the exit procedure sorted, I found myself doing the obligatory tourist moment of standing on an intersection, surrounded by my own luggage, staring at a map and the nearby street signs. I figured it all out with minimal fuss and arrived at my hostel feeling pleased with my ability to navigate from Amsterdam Centraal to the Flying Pig hostel near the tourist hotspot of Leidseplein.

I had a few beers while checking in and immediately noticed that the staff was younger and happier to engage in conversation. This made a welcome change from Groningen, as did my room, which slept 4 and had its own bathroom, compared to the 10 sleeper I had just left.

Stepping out into the streets of Amsterdam I was more excited than at any point on my holiday so far. I wasn’t too tired to think as I was when I arrived in London, and I wasn’t in a place I’d never heard of, as I was in Groningen. I was in the almost universally admired city of Amstrerdam, the place where they displaced the sea and set up the most intelligent drug and censorship system in the world. I walked through Leidseplein, which was full of tourist and basically the same shops that you’d find anywhere in the world, and up to the famous Dam square. There was a soccer court set up in the middle of Dam square, along with a large DJ tent and another tent where women dressed in pink were giving other women manicures. It was a hive of activity, but I found myself a little disappointed. It lacked soul. My first impression with Amsterdam is that it was a large tourist filled shopping mall with a few canals. First impressions are often wrong.

Back at the hostel I met one of my roommates, Nic. He’s from San Francisco and he’s just finished his junior year of college at Gonzaga University. Nic was feeling a bit trippy after partaking in some of the more colourful products that Amsterdam has to offer. He went out to get some food and I went downstairs to the bar as the hostel’s bar was recently renovated and they were having a party to celebrate. After a few beers and chatting with some people I met the other roommate, Renee. She’s from Sydney and was also on the Busabout tour, heading off to Berlin in three days, same as me.

There was also a group of about twenty guys and girls from Worcestershire in the UK. They’re all in their late teens and early twenties and were pretty good fun. I talked with a few of them, and tagged along with them as we went out to go to some clubs. At the first clubs everyone baulked at the 9.5 euro entry fee so we went to a bar for a few drinks, and then went to another club where the girls got in for free and it was 7.5 euros for the guys. Unfortunately they baulked at that too, so we ended up going back to the hostel bar and continuing to drink. Then people moved off all over the place. I started predominantly hanging out with two of the British girls, Kate and Helen. Both of which are absolutely hilarious and probably a little more mature to speak to than their friends. Helen was drunk out of her mind however and whenever we would lose her, Kate and I would find her sitting in the first floor stairwell with some more alcohol in her hand. In some of the numerous times we had lost Helen, Kate and I would walk through Vondel Park, which is directly in front of the hostel. It’s a beautiful park in the daytime, but was absolutely stunning in the middle of the night as the mist comes down and makes it look amazing.

After deciding to go to be three times, and every time finding Helen on the stairwell with more alcohol and staying with her I finally got to sleep around 5am, a big change from the early nights on Groningen. It’s nice to have friends.

The next morning I woke up feeling surprisingly good having only had 2 hours sleep. Renee had hooked up with some Canadian dude, but she looked like she had just fought a Bengal tiger. Obviously hickies are still cool in Canada. After she got over the initial shock of the sight of her neck in the mirror, we went out to do a bike tour of Amsterdam. I was feeling fairly average by the time we left at 10:30am, but promised Renee I would go, so dragged myself out, and it turned out to be the best decision I made in my time in Amsterdam.

The bike tour was fantastic. I cannot stress this enough, if anyone is going anywhere in Europe, always do a bike tour. The terrain in Amsterdam is completely flat, so the bike riding is really easy (as long as you remember to look the opposite way for oncoming traffic). However, by far the best thing about the bike tour was all the information you get about the city from the tour leader. Shaun was great and had been all over the world himself, and had a great informal delivery relating to all things Amsterdam, ranging from the way they pumped out the water to reclaim the land, the reason their drugs laws are the way they are, and to why Amsterdam will forever be linked with pornography. All in all it was a fantastic way to spend 3 hours, and even included things I didn’t even think of, such as going past the Amsterdam Hilton where John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged the infamous “love in” in 1969. The Hilton, in their infinite capitalist wisdom have left all of John and Yoko’s writing on the walls, and now charge 1700euro per night as the fee to stay in that room. After the bike tour, I had a much greater respect for Amsterdam as a city, and felt like I was beginning to understand the culture.

When we got back from the tour we went back to the hostel and caught up with a few of the friends from the night before and potted around on the internet. I went to walk away and nearly bumped into some girl who was just arriving. I said “I’m sorry”, she replied with “no worries mate”. I replied “Aussie” and that’s how I met Hannah. Renee, Nic, Hannah and I all went do to the supermarket and got some meat, cheese, bread rolls etc and went for a picnic in Vondel park. The place was packed. That’s another reason to love Europe in the summer. Everybody is outside enjoying the long hours of summer sun. Any area of grass or parkland is taken up by thousands of people, cooking little portable barbeques, playing soccer or just sunbaking.

We had planned to go out to a club called The Winston tonight for some drum and bass. We would be meeting the big British group out at the club for a bit of drum and bass mayhem. On the way in we went to the red light district to see the complete and utter weirdness that makes up this classless tourist institution. After walking through the streets of the red light district we went to the Winston. The drum and bass was good, but the club was ridiculously hot and you could really only stay in there comfortably for about 10 minutes at a time. After a few hours of this we walked back to the hostel. I got a message from Kate when she was back at the hostel and we went out for a chat and a walk around Vondel park.

The next morning I went out to meet Karianne for a coffee. I’d met her on the plane to Amsterdam a few days ago. She was missing her holiday, and I was able to tell her some of the cooler moments regarding mine. After coffee I did a canal cruise and took some obligatory tourist shots around Amsterdam.

Again we got some food at the supermarket and went down to Vondel park for a picnic again. I left the picnic early as I was meeting Louise, the Aussie beach volleyballer from Groningen, for a few drinks in Leidseplein. Louise played indoor volleyball at the Sydney Olympics, and as such has some absolutely amazing and hilarious stories (none of which I am liberty to share) about life on the Athletes village and at other pro sport events.

I got a reasonably early night on my last night in Amsterdam, being as I needed to be ready to leave on the bus the Berlin at 7:45am this morning. A few of the other crew hit it pretty hard, and as we sit on the bus today, they feel pretty worse for wear. Germany looks to be another beautiful country with rolling hills and picturesque towns. I can’t wait to see what Berlin has to offer.