Amsterdamaged!!!

AMSTERDAM has a reputation for carnage.

Hardly earth-shattering news really, but after travelling around for a while you find sometimes things can be exaggerated. True, The Netherlands’ liberal drug laws meant that a few were looking forward to partaking in the local specialties, but surely it can’t be that different to other major cities…

Of greater importance to me though wasn’t what was waiting in Amsterdam but rather who. My brother Daniel is travelling Europe for a couple of weeks, so we’d arranged to meet up in Amsterdam before heading across on Big Blue to Berlin and some randomness. Also waiting was a good friend Jaime, who joined us out on the first night.

The fun started even before we arrived in town. The Amsterdam authorities had decided to hold a big bicycle race in our honour called the Giro d’Italia, which made getting around town was a bit of a mission. Once there Daniel suffered a nightmare that no one ever wants: a cash machine swallowing his one and only ATM card! This naturally caused a bit of concern for the lad, so after sorting out monetary access it was time to join the crew for a bit of a drink and boogie. Ask anyone there about “the caterpillar”…

Our first full day was, like all bar one since I arrived in Europe, cold. Bitterly cold – especially if you’re from Queensland. The one bonus though was that the chill zapped our hangovers as we jumped onboard Mike’s Bikes tour around the Amsterdam hinterland. Dodging around the Giro d’Italia we took in the Vondelpark, the Amsterdam Forest, a lot of canals and the like before heading into a clog and cheese factory with one of the most random dudes running it. It’s hard to explain his jokes, but like this one, they were cheesy…

All that riding around had made us thirsty, so it was off to a brewery; well, the Heineken Experience at any rate. A quick experience of being a beer and a walk around later we were ready to sample some of the stuff, which turned into quite a few more when we arrived in the Leidseplein for the Ultimate Party pub crawl.

At this point we must skip forward to the next day on account of the pub crawl being one big blur. Hazy photos and hazier memories suggest a good night out; certainly everyone enjoyed themselves! This included Daniel, who finally stirred late afternoon to head on out to the Anne Frank Huis. This was our first real introduction to the horrors perpetrated by Nazi Germany, and afterwards Daniel reckoned it was well worth the effort of leaving his warm, cosy bed/bar.

A few beers and a quick trip to the Red Light District to have a look around and it was back to the hostel for a few quiet ones to reflect that yep, Amsterdam certainly has a reputation for carnage.

And that reputation is very well-earnt.