We have been in the Netherlands for a bit over 2 weeks now. Most of the time was spent in Linden with Becs Exchange host family. There we spend time riding around the town and local area, lying in Hammocks and generally just relaxing from our first few months of travel. It was great to see the family again and feel at home somewhere for a while. After we went to Graspop we both got a bit sick so it was also great to be able to have somewhere to be sick and recover properly :)
Over the weekend, some of the family left for their own vacation to Columbia to visit another of their exchange students so we decided it was time to move on and see some of the Netherlands. which of course means Amsterdam!
We lucked out in the hotel we chose. In general everything in Amsterdam is expensive! not even Air bnb could save us so we decided to go with a hotel for this leg. We are staying on Damrak halfway between the station and the palace and practically opposite the red light district. our hotel is called The exchange and it is an art hotel where every room is decorated differently by a range of designers. the room we got has all walls draped in material that you can move to be more or less covered. The view is also amazing and you can see all of the comings and goings of the center of the town.
<<<<Nicola in our king bed that is like a cloud The view from our balcony>>>
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| Nicola driving her clog boat :) |
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| On our first night we decided to do a canal tour through the city. This was a really beautiful way to see everything and totally recommended if you find yourself in Amsterdam. Below are some of the photos we took from the boat. |
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| The canals in the Red light District. We walked through the area during the day and also at night but really the best way to see the district is at night. We went to a Prostitution museum which gives you the experience of being behind one of the windows. it was pretty awkward to be behind the windows and overall the experience was disturbingly interesting. |
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| Nicola Found Amsterdam!! |
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| Bec needed to have her Minion Bananas in the photo too :) |
A couple of Nientjes/Miffies for Aimee and Amber :)
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| Becs REALLY excited to see some windmills- our trip out to Zaanse Schane- A village just outside of Amsterdam with traditionally styled Dutch buildings and houses from the 18th-19th century. here we saw many windmills, clogs, cheeses, cocoas, tulips and ducks :) ooden architectural style, |
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| Nic found a new Clog boat and decided just to be 'super chilled' and watch the windmills turn... all life on the canals |
A very Unique hotel in Zaandam, between Zaanse Schans and Amsterdam. greal little shopping ares along side a canal to go for a walk also
Our trip to the Heinekien Brewery :)
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| A very cool ceiling of bottles that had lights projected through it to light the room. It gave a very cool effect |
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| Nic pouring her virtual beer... Then we went to drink the real thing and there are no more photos :) |
We are Leaving Amsterdam tomorrow. we have eaten many Pannekoeken, Poffertjes, Korkets, Frietjes and Kaas. and of course tasted our fair share of beer. It smells less like pot here than Nic thought it would (in her head it was a giant cloud consuming the city i think) but there was definitely the fair share of that too :)
We also learnt the difference between and red light (Ladies) and Purple light (trans) in te district but couldnt find any purple... but at least we learnt something :)
Tomorrow we catch a bus to Hamburg for a few days. from there we are going to head across and begin our Scandinavian adventures in Copenhagen :)
Tot Kijk Idereen!
