European Adventure

Well Amsterdam is definately something different, a unique blend of history and moderness. The canals were beautiful even if the water reminded me all too much of the Yarra, and the bicycles were cute until they tried to run you over.

The first day I headed off to Anne Franks House in a beautiful part of town that obviously had a dark past. It was extremely interesting although it was crowded at this time of year I would have hated to be there in the height of summer. A change of pace and thought patterns led me to another infamous building, the 'Sex Musuem' which was certainly graphic to say the least. A walking tour of the red light district was meant to be on that night but as a group of us waited no one came, so we tried to explore the area ourselves with not much success as it less interesting if you dont know the back story (pardon the pun).

The next day I did a walking tour during the day seeing the main sites and even Amsterdam's smallest house which is about as wide as two doors maybe even smaller. That night we tried again to do the tour - we finally found a guide but then had to go hide away from the station as apparently the police and other less pleasant people dont actually like the tours. But it was fascinating to walk the Red light district with someone who could explain it, even introducing us to some of the girls who were more than happy to chat.

The next day I decided to do a day trip down to Den Haag and Delft, one for a painting and one because in year 12 we spent 6 months studying Girl with a Pearl Earring, set in Delft and as such I had to see it. Den Haag had little to offer other than the gallery which housed the aforementioned painting, which was a lot smaller than I expected but worthwhile nonetheless. I then trained it to Delft and wondered around the town for a short while before it began to rain. And it rained and rained and rained, heavy continous rain that left me soaked through and hurrying back to the station to catch a train back to Amsterdam in wet silence.

The last day I just wondered around the city and relaxed, positive that I had caught pneumonia from the day before. So it was then onto a train to Brussels, a long way away for a city so close.