24th-27th Sept
Flight from Dublin to Amsterdam
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GET READY!! testing testing one two three

Well, flew into Heathrow then Amsterdam on the 24th with the boys, they complain more than girls!! haha its been fun having these 2 guys here...Dublin I dont think they liked it...well, basically its too cold for those 2 geeks...u know Sam how he gets cold even when u toss a flaming goat at him, weird i tell you, im used to the cold now, getting myself used to it actually, not easy but its working...

I booked the hostel called "flying pig hostel" (dont ask)...only hostel left, there were 5 other girls in our room, then me, Sam and Dan. The place was pretty nice, not bad actually, the people were quite nice and the place was cheap.

Bikes leaning on the canal railings

The weather is not so good at the moment, unfortunatley its raining kebabs and hommous and we're not happy...oh well, at least it hasnt been so heavy and it stops occasionally. We walked around before hitting our hostel on the first night, nice sights, they were all wet, but still nice...the houses are amazing, the way they were built in the "golden years", Amsterdam was such a strong city in the 11th and 12th centuries, it was governed by very rich and prominent families, so they didnt necessarily have "government trained officals" running the country, it was basically who had the money and the name! because of this, these families did not want to lose their power so there was a lot of marriage between these same families and even sometimes incest to keep their families positions in society...one word "EWW"

Amsterdam was built on swamp ground and the main canal 'the Amstel' was dug out and shaped by the very early farmers. The Romans were the first here but they didnt like the swampy grounds and decided to move on, it was then that Amsterdam was created and became the capital port for shipping goods to and fro, this is what got Amsterdam noticed as a very important city in their time, this was known as the 'golden era' and Amsterdam pospered and grew to become what it is now...After overcoming the World Wars, they didnt want any part in it but were dragged in it after Hilter attacked and in 1945, the holocaust, killing hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Netherlands...dirty pig Hitler...no wonder he committed suicide...anyway, sorry about the history, have been reading up on it and thought i should write it down before i forget!

Let me tell you about the chips in Amsterdam...oh...my...goodness...you cannot get any better than amsterdammian (lol) chips and MAYO. If you havent tried the mayo in amsterdam, seriously, u are missing out on one of the wonders of the world (ok, so im exaggerating there a tad) but seriously, i have been around europe and there is no other place that can ever beat Amsterdam chips wise...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! bring on the mayo

ok, so dope...(yes you! hehe) no, i mean the drug, its legal here, soft drugs are legal...hard drugs like cocaine is illegal and you can get into a lot of trouble if you are caught with this...there are 'coffee shops' everywhere and they are always full, this is not my sort of things so its just interesting to watch people and see them smoking and drinking 'space tea' in the shops...and the funny thing? Amsterdam has the lowest drug addicts in the world! haha, figure that one..

The Rijksmuseum, amazing peice of architecture

Today has been good, ive seen a lot of the city centre and am now on Damrak in the internet cafe, going to head back to the hotel and meet up with the boys...took many photos (even of the red light district which you are not supposed to) saw some girls and even some grannies in the windows posing in lingerie, eww...but hey thats life here, its sad but thats how they make their moolar...
Tonight we walked around and had a look at the red light district and the Amsterdammers, interesting night life, not as dangerous or seedy as people think it is...the city is absolutley amazing and beautiful and the houses keep amazing me, I saw the 'Grasshopper' the pub-bar-coffeeshop that we tried to get into last time I was in Amsterdam with the Vernun, Dolmaties, Lena and Ann, also saw the coffee shop the 'Bob Marley' coffee shop where we had a photo taken outside, it was such a great feeling to see places that I have been to ages ago...I felt like I knew the place a bit more and now Im happy to say I know A LOT more of the Dam and a lot more of the History and how the people live

Me and Dan infront of one of the canals on one of the streets in Amsterdam

WOW, everytime i come here it just keeps getting better... I had a whole day to myself again which i LURRVED! I did a MIKES BIKES TOUR!! we met up infront of the Rijkmuseum which was AMAZING!! I cant believe I hadnt seen it before, a crazy assed building with a lot of history behind it....

Anyway...ive always wanted to do a bike tour in Amsterdam and I can now say that i have done it! it was soooooo much fun and I met heaps of people. There were about 45 people on this one biking tour and a lot of them were bloody aussies! I met a really nice American guy who i hung out with the whole tour, he was really cool! we talked about America and Australia and all about the world, i learnt quite a bit from him and he learnt a very important fact....that we Australians dont dress, talk and feed our kids to the crocodiles like Steve Irwin does! haha, I cant believe he thought that, apparently all Americans love him, gotta wonder why...oh, and I learnt about sororities and fraternities and the $10,000 a year budget that they have just to party! umm, crazy...

Halfway through the bike tour, out of the city and in the countryside

We toured basically a bit of Amsterdam city and cycled out into the country side next to windmills and green green grass, turned around to look at the amazing windmill and what do we all see? a butt naked boy posing infront of the windmill while his freind takes a photo, you know the first thing that came in my head? 'he must be aussie' and how right was I??? then the other aussie strips and has nothing but his hand covering his chamiches and proudly poses infront of a centries old windmill...charming...

Tour was great, saw amazing sites which I never would have seen, went to see how cheese and clogs were made and cycled back to amsterdam city, had a nice heiniken beer with the new freinds and headed back to basecamp, after a 5hr tour, I was tired and a bit tipsy from the one beer i had! im glad i didnt cycle into an Amsterdam granny, I dont think i could ever come back here again if I did...but all in all, the 25euro was worth it

What I learnt from the Mikes Bikes Tour...(this is boring for those who dont like History) oh, by the way, written out of Historical order...

-our guide was very knowledgable about Amsterdam HIstory...liked talking A LOT (wouldnt shutup actually) so hey! Amsterdam is the first city to have changed from a Republic to a Monarchy...I didnt know that! they were basically forced to elect a king and change as things werent working out for them as a republic

-Amsterdam is actually under about 3metres of water (well, where we were standing anyway) the name was derived from the river Amstel and the Dam that was blocking it, so ingenious Amsterdammers came up with the well researched name of "Amsterdam" (woweee, who would have guessed)

-There are, on average, about 15-55 bodies found in the canals every year, most of these bodies end up being that of a drunk man who accidently fell into the canals after a long night of drinking and 'merrymaking' and was trying to relieve himself in what he though was a toilet, ended up being the canal, how did the police know this? cos most of the bodies recovered...had their zips down!! (1 of 2 theories I guess ;P )

-'Locks' are used to clean out these canals every 2 days. The locks are 3metres deep and are like huge wooden gates in the water that open every 2 days and the canals swap water, sort of like a cleanse, not too clean but better than to leave the water static without movement, this creates deadly fumes which can cause the paint on the boats to peel off its that bad...imagine what it does to the lungs!

-Amsterdam was neutral in WW1, from this they gained a lot, their cities werent in ruins and they werent bombed or overcome with depression and desperation like the other countries. In WW2, tried to do the same thing but Germany invaded and in 4 days only took over all of the country and setup camp, in a way, this did good for the city because all the original buildings remain intact because all the germans were camped in Amsterdam at the time! I guess thats ONE good thing, considering the Holocaust occured and a quarter of the population were brutily murdered and condemmend from the spasticated psycho-path named vorig Hitler, there is no wonder he killed himself... having all the weight of the dead on his back...

-first stock exchange was created in Amsterdam, and guess what? the first stockmarket crash was created here as well! and who would have though a flower would make a city lose millions...but yep...the TULIP was what made the stockmarket crash, people were investing and putting millions in these babies that they self combusted...well, I guess that would teach them...

-Napoleon, invaded Amsterdam and told everyone that they now had to be French, his brother Louie took over, not really knowing what to do...the Amsterdammers eventually kicked him off the thrown and were a republic once again, but this didnt end up working so they chose their own king

MAN I LOVE ALL THIS HISTORY, whatta geek...if youre bored, oh well...close internet explorer...

Tonight did nothing because I was too tired, the boyz werent too happy with me but at least I had time to write in my journal and sleeeeeep...i think im getting old cos all im doing is sleeping early and getting up earlyish but im still tried, whats the happs there...

BYE!! write in Prague