At the end of September, we went to Amsterdam with Josie and Humphrey. And when I say we went, we REALLY ‘went’. At about 4pm on Thursday, Ash and I caught a bus from our house to Liverpool Street Station. It took an hour and a half, and it was smack bang in the middle of London’s mini-summer-in-autumn. Hot, crowded, slow… I love buses. We met Josie and Humphrey at Liverpool Street, then caught a train. We possibly caught the wrong train. Eventually, a good few hours later, we arrived in Harwich on the east coast of England. We then got on a big transport ferry, where we stayed overnight as it made its ponderous way to the Hook of Holland. Staying on a ferry was a pretty awesome thing to do (thanks to Josie for the idea!) We had tiny little cabins, deep within the ship – bunk beds, no less – and spent most of the evening exploring. The highlight was the Truckers Bar, from which we were barred to enter, and getting reasonably drunk in the passengers’ lounge/casino/restaurant, waiting for the ferry to depart. The passengers’ area of the ferry was a strange little world unto itself.
We were meant to be awoken by a very loud tannoy at 6.30am, announcing breakfast. However, I set my alarm for 6am so that I could get a headstart on the breakfast buffet. No time to waste when one has a breakfast buffet to enjoy. And it was amazing…. unlimited hashbrowns, coffee, juice, bacon, beans, toast, plus all the European breads/cheese/yoghurts. After stuffing ourselves, we were then allowed to disembark and hop on another train, which took us from the Hook of Holland to Amsterdam in about an hour. Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we had a 20 minute walk to our houseboat on Prinsengracht Canal. We arrived by about 10.30am, absolutely shattered after nearly 18 hours of travelling. Way more fun than Easyjet, though.
Our houseboat was like all my Sylvanian Family daydreams come true. The photos don’t do it justice. After meeting Ad, the owner, to get the keys, we settled ourselves in. We spent the first proper day in Amsterdam alternating between sitting on the deck, sitting on the couch, sitting on the window sill… relaxing in the 24 degree + sunshine, feeding swans, being attacked by swans, drinking Heineken’s, visiting the local supermarket no less than three separate times, waving at the thousands of boats as they took photographs of us on their way along the canal. I wonder how many holiday snaps we feature in… It was actually quite disconcerting to have big tourist barges go past with cameras aimed and ready. Most people waved as well.
Day two, Ash and I stopped by the organic food market before walking down the canal to Anne Frank’s house. As one of the many pre-teen girls who read her diary (at least 20+ times, in my case), it was absolutely surreal to go behind the bookcase and up the narrow staircase into the annex. It actually brought a tear to my eye!! Anywhere jampacked with tourists loses its authenticity somewhat, but even that and the queueing outside for 1 hour (including Italian tourists with NO idea about personal space) didn’t take the shine off it. Really amazing. We then went for a big walk across the city before meeting Josie and Humphrey back at the houseboat, where Ash and Michael’s school friend Mark sooned pulled up alongside in his motorboat. We hopped on board with wine and pepperamis, and were treated to a free tour along the canals and out into the harbour. I think most Amsterdamians have access to a boat of some kind, and *everyone* was out in the canals making the most of the sunshine. There were a few near misses, plus rapid hiding of Heinekens when police boats went by (!), but it was fantastic. Mark dropped us home for a shower/rest (all this holiday business can be tiring) then in the evening, we met him and his girlfriend again for dinner and a walk around the city. Amsterdam’s cuisine is a strange mix of Dutch heavy meals with Indonesian-type highlights. Go the colonies… Anyway, we had a quick look through the red light district, which was pretty strange. The girls looked bored and pretty in a fluorescent, slutty kind of way, and it would have been much nicer without the hordes of drunken young guys leering through the glass at them (but I guess that’s the point..). We sang Humphrey happy birthday around a big bottle of Chimay beer, somewhere just outside of the red light district, before a loooong walk home.
Day three, Ash and I went to the Heineken factory. The Lonely Planet promised we could pat the draft horses, but I only got to look at them through a glass wall. After a few too many midday beers, we slowly walked home back through the canals. None of us were too keen on the idea of leaving Amsterdam. It’s such an amazing city… Everyone is so friendly and relaxed… it’s one of those cities where life happens on and around the water, or on the back of a bicycle… nothing happens too quickly. I would *love* to live there. But we got on the plane back to London, and arrived home by about 1am, just in time to get some sleep before my first day at Barts and the London!!
