Europe Winter Trip (Part 1 - Amsterdam)

Day 1

So it was about time to leave for the half-a-Europe trip but I still hadn't got everything packed properly yet. By the time I had I missed the last train (1:06am) to Hauptbahnhof (Main station). Sorry Enrique! We ended up walking all the way from Studentenstadt to Hauptbahnhof, which I didn't find too horrible coz it was interesting to see how everything was "connected". But still, sorry Enrique!

Train left at 3+am. We wanted a train straight to Amsterdam but the offers were really pricey. So I used another method and bought Munich - Düsseldorf, then Düsseldorf - Amsterdam, online. Much cheaper. But we had to change a total of 3 times, at Frankfurt am Main Flughafen, Köln (Cologne), and Düsseldorf. Somewhere along the journey the train travelled along the banks of a river (the Rhine I presume), it was quite pretty.

Sunrise along the Rhine

The Hauptbahnhof in Düsseldorf

The train rides were all OK, we didn't make any reservations but we able to find seats by the tables. We were delayed between Düsseldorf and Amsterdam because (according to the announcement), they found a WWII-era bomb (!) and had to remove it first.

After reaching Amsterdam, and after some confusion after getting off the tram, we managed to arrive at the hostel to meet up with Bernard and his friend Arvin. And then we rested... and it was already dark. So we didn't do much except walking around nearby and having cheap €1 burgers at McDonald's for dinner. I had a McKroket (Croquette), which I kinda like. Went to Albert Heijn (local supermarket chain) to buy stuff.

Day 2

We just strolled about in the morning and then went to the meeting point for the New Amsterdam Free Tour (walking) opposite Amsterdam Centraal. We then proceeded to another meeting point, the WWII memorial. We then proceeded around Amsterdam, learning about its past, its liberal policies, etc. (p.s. Gun Kiat, this trip should be quite worth it) We had a break in the tour for lunch at V&D's La Place Marché (which has nice food, at normal expensive European prices. =P Went back there for lunch the next day). There were some Singaporeans in the tour, as well as this PRC girl who studies in NTU, on exchange in Denmark and will be working at CAAS (where I'll be doing my internship too).

At Dam Square

Me, Arvin and Enrique

An old male prison. Now turned into a shopping mall (which some people might view as a boyfriend prison)

Narrowest house in Amsterdam

We wanted to go for the "Red Light District Exposed" tour at 6pm as well so we still had quite some time. So again we strolled around town, went to the sex museum (€3). Nothing extraordinary inside there actually. Bought some Pommes Frites (French fries) afterwards (€2.70 + €0.40 sauce). Then we went to a shopping centre (to get away from the cold).

I know my hand signal is "up yours" instead of the usual "V". It's on purpose.

The tour was interesting (as are the previous free tours I've gone to), but this wasn't free (€8). It felt a bit strange to look at the girls in the display windows. But truth be told most of those we saw were not very pretty and were a bit (or some cases, rather) fat... haha... There was also a "blue" light region, where the people in the display windows were only female waist up (urgh). The tour was not all about sex and prostitution though, our guide (Anna) also told us about drugs, "coffeeshops" and magic mushrooms. We barely entered the red light district when we saw this prostitute trying to grab a cellphone away from a PRC girl. Guess she tried to take some photos (this is not allowed in the red light district). Poor girl. Wonder what happened to her afterwards. After the tour we had a complimentary Jägermeister shot this Christopher Inn Hostel. A rather tall Irish guy (slightly drunk) chatted with me there, apparently he's been to Malaysia (and complained that food was cheap but beer was not! And he drinks a lot! etc.). Was trying to stand further away from him coz for some reason he kept talking into my ear. Lol. Left with his friend afterwards. Dinner at McDonald's again and went to Hard Rock Cafe.

The Red Light District! It was safe to take photos from here.

For the homosexual guys, there are the gay bars... we wouldn't have known where they were if not for our guide, coz most of them were rather obscure with very very plain exteriors. This was an exception.

Day 3

We moved to our new hostel, "The Shelter" or something like that, which happens to be a Christian youth hostel, so they told us no alcohol and drugs allowed in. We wandered about on our own in the morning, making a large loop around Amsterdam. The windmill was too far away so we skipped it (though we could see it). After lunch we passed by Heineken's brewery on our way to Van Gogh's museum. I spent a bit too much time there though; sorry guys. They wanted to go to a local flea market but it was closed by then.

Snowy Amsterdam, with the ubiquitous bicycle.

"Siam Kalkoen". It was nice to have some spicier stuff. Lonely planet said Netherlands doesn't really have any special food of its own so we didn't really go around looking for local traditional food.

Heineken Brouwerij

At night we shopped for souvenirs and bought some magic mushrooms at Takanka (a "Smart Shop", a safe place to buy), which is not really a drug. According to Wikipedia:"Psilocybin mushrooms are non-toxic and non-addictive." and "...rated psilocybin less toxic than Aspirin". So nothing to worry about. The Netherlands is banning it soon by the way. Apparently it is because of incidents that have happened for example someone who jumped out of a window. I think with proper guidance (by the supplier/seller) and heeding to the advice on the label (do not consume with alcohol), it is not very dangerous. As for what happens after you've eaten it, well, you can ask me in person =P

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Other points:

Didn't take as many photos as usual because it was too cold!!! I didn't want to remove my gloves.

Dutch is rather similar to German and most of the time I can roughly guess what the signs etc. mean. Our guide was kind to tell us that "Spui" (a place in Amsterdam) is pronounced "Spau", so all the "Huis" were actually "Haus".

The Dutch are really good at English, even more so than Germans. They are a tolerant society (ignore the murder of Theo van Gogh for a second), and they have a lots of Chinese stuff around. A Chinatown, temple and floating restaurant:




Everywhere we went in Europe the sound of the ambulance sirens were different, but Amsterdam's was by far the "cutest", and, which most of us agree, didn't really seem suitable as an ambulance's siren. The ambulances there go... "Do sol mi sol, do sol mi sol..."