Amsterdam - Part I

Arrived in Amsterdam! It sure is a busy sort of place. We have checked into our hostel for 2 nights, with bonus excellent canal view because they mixed up our reservation and so we had to be put in a different room!

Me on the windowsill of our room here - when we arrived there was even someone playing lovely piano across the canal. Gorgeous.

So there's pretty much one reason why most people come to Amsterdam. That's not the reason we came here. But its kind of inevitable that you come into contact with all kinds of weird stuff. For example when checking in to the hostel, the staff offering drug paraphenalia and tips on use before you have even put your bags down. Also we are in a perfectly respectable and lovely neighbourhood, just a 5 minute walk from the central city and train station, but just one door over and all down the street there are ladies in their red-lit windows. For conservative ol' me, this is a very strange place.

But, its also a really beautiful! We decided to have a wee look around today, and then see the sights tomorrow. We started off wandering around

Lovely canals

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!!

Madame Tussaude's House of Wax; JLo and Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in the background

Tried on the clogs for size


This one's a bit big

Hamish in his orange souvenir

We tried a savoury pancake for dinner this time; chorizo, olives, oregano and cheese. It was delicious, better than pizza!

We had also heard that the canal cruises here in Amsterdam were worthwhile, so we hopped on one. We learnt all sorts of interesting stuff - like;

- An average of one car per week is accidentally driven off the road into the canals, even with the railing
- There was a housing shortage in Amsterdam so that's why lots of people have house boats
- Most of the canals are only 3m deep
- There is a tunnel under the harbour canal that connects the north and south sides of the city
- The Houses along the canal are so thin/skinny in width because the owners were charged more to build wide houses
- Lots of houses have crane-type hooks on their gables in order to hoist furniture up to the top floors through the window
-Heineken owns one of the swankiest hotels here

More to come tomorrow! We're going to see Anne Frank's house, and hopefully the Van Gogh museum, as well as as many landmarks around the city as we can get to! xxx