Amsterdam Pictures 2005
Last of the Europe 2005 pictures are finally up.
We spent our final three days of the trip in Amsterdam – We stayed in a nice, but very expensive (like everything else there) hotel near the centre of town called the NH City Centre.
Schedule was pretty conistent except when we were locked out of hotel late one night. There was a group of about 8 of us who ended up standed outside banging on the door at 2AM – including a very jovial 6’8″ Texan Scotsman, and a programmer from boston.
Daily schedule was as follows:
- 8:00 – We would get up fairly early considering it was vacation
- 8:30 – Grab some breakfast at the local supermarket, pack some pastries and sandwich meat for later in the day
- 9:00 – Check Email, and plan activites for the day
- 9:30 – Begin walk of the city, hitting 2 or 3 sites for the day. City is definately walkable – plenty of nice canal taxis as well
- 17:00 – Return to the hotel for some nappage
- 19:00 – Out for the night – pound some dinner food, and hit the streets
- 1:30 – Back to hotel for the night
Riding it
The trip in Holland got better the longer we stayed. When we first arrived, initial impressions were not that favorable. The garbage collectors were on strike, and the streets were very dirty, and at first we didn’t know where to go. Out hotel straddled the redlight district and the the nicer jordaan area to the east – and it took awhile to determine where we should head.
We were also fortunate to be in Amsterdam during SAIL 2005, which happened completely by accident: “For six days, Amsterdam will be a living exposition of saling heritage and nautical wealth. During SAIL Amsterdam 2005, approximately 20 Tall Ships as well as 500 historic sailing boats and motorboats are expected in the IJ harbour.” The Ships added to the festive atmosphere.
During the SAIL festival, we did some salsa dancing lesson, saw a hip-hop concert attended almost solely by senior citizens, and dropped by one of the nicest gyms I’ve ever seen. (a day later we followed a group of mexicans marching through the streets singing – raising awareness for Jesus, i think – they were fun)
Mamma’sMom’s Cooking
Fortunately, we were also able to spend some time our friends in NL. We had a night out were we tried some traditional Dutch food at gradma’sMom’s kitchen, pounded some 1st class Gelato Icecream, saw a great classical concert on the canals, and rode a gyrating beer bottle- I ended up getting stuck in the thing, but did win some free prizes.
On the way back we bumped into our Turkish friend, who was on his way back to UToronto for his MBA – we were on the same plane back, and my discussions with him confirmed my beliefs that he is out of control!
Edit’s made according to biggie – see the crossed out text
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Texan?? No, no, he was Scotsman.
Firstr class gelato….? Maybe in Italy and Vancouver but not in Amsterdam – it was first class Ben & Jerry’s.