London Part 1

Sitting at the train station in Venice waiting for mom and Megan to arrive, since I read during the train ride I figured I could start typing up London for the 15 minute wait for them to get here.

July 8:
Got up early (7am) and finished packing, then off to the bus stop. Jumped on 197 and had a long ride to Schiphol. Traversed the airport, checked our bags, then off to the gate. Now on the bumpy delayed plane about to take off. London here we come! Gatwick airport - tix to Gatwick express train to London. 20 pounds each - pricey! Got to the train station and got some "King Tango" (like Fanta) and a sausage roll (not bad). Got on the train. Now off to London for reals. Arrived, waited in line to buy an Oyster card at Victoria station and ended up buying day passes instead. Rode to Pimlico, walked to our hostel and up 2 flights to our room (#8). Got settled in, changed to shorts and a tank top (hot!) and headed out to try to find a place to fix my phone and explore. Took double decker bus #24 to Victoria again and found the Apollo Victoria Theatre playing Wicked. Checked out the box office and Nathan bought two tickets for tonight! 25 pounds each, not bad. No luck on the phone - they don't make this model in the UK :-(. Hopped on the underground and got off at Westminster for exploring! Big Ben, London Eye, parliament, and hot dogs and roasted peanuts for sale on the bridge. Finally grabbed pasties and headed home to shower, change, and back to Victoria for the show! Great show - could really hear the accents! Weird thing was the crowd - people in tank tops and ripped jean shorts eating chips and popcorn, more like a movie theater! Bought a poster there - hopefully we can keep it nice. Hanging out at the hostel bar now - looking up phone info and skyping with the fam. Hopefully its not too hot to sleep!

As an aside, melting here in Venice (at the hostel now), I didn't know what hot was yet in London :-p

July 9:
Writing on the tube. Woken early by Aussies having a chat in the room at full volume around 7am - no respect! Got ready late and barely made breakfast at 10:30. Too late for the free tour so we took our time and then headed to the Tower of London (bus 24 to Victoria then train to Tower Hill). Huge place! Latched on to part of a tour, saw exhibits on the mint and torture, and inside the white tower was a big exhibit on weapons and the armory. Also waited in a long but quick line to see the crown jewels. A lot of gold, etc but almost just looks like costume jewellery. Grabbed some ice cream and a pin of the white tower, then went to a ticket shop to see if they had Book of Mormon fix - no luck. Now have to rest, relax, hopefully grab some fish & chips for dinner, and maybe see some sites at night. Took a long nap then up and out walking looking for food. Finally decided on Prince of Wales - took us awhile to figure out that we had to order food at the bar. We got bangers and mash (but they ran out of mash so subbed chips, and the sausage was gross) and fish and chips which were greasy and delicious. Caught the 24 bus home then hung out and in the room and chatted with Lyle from Louisiana (34, in the army, bearded). Now hanging out in the hostel bar trying to figure out how to do the rest of London in a day and a half. Looks like an early to bed night, shower, and breakfast tomorrow. (The hot chocolate here was not good).

Amsterdam Part 2

Going to change up the style here and make the journal entry in italics. Hope that doesn't confuse y'all.

July 6:
Overslept and missed breakfast :-( Got up and walked over to the Rijksmuseum - passed a fashion week display. Tons of paintings, sculptures, Van Gogh, Hague students, etc. Bit overwhelming! Then to the supermarket for bread, turkey, cheese, and stroopwaffels - caramel waffle cookies. Back to the hostel where we cooked the bread and toasted sandwiches with soda and Doritos. Quick break in the room then off past Rembrandtplein (street artists!) and to a market. Bought a pin, but they were all closing up shop at 5pm. Wandered back to R.plein and bought some postcards on the way. Now off to buy a some street art (I decided that my souvenirs for myself this trip, other than pins, would be art created by locals if at all possible.) Went to Amstel dam square for our red light district tour - chose to go with the rated R tour guide "Lee" with bright red dyed hair. Pretty entertaining and more info about the district - project 1012 making it more family friendly, different streets have different types of women, tried men in windows but it worked too well, etc. Stopped for a 2 euro peep show (on the tour!) Followed the guide to Durty Nelly's Irish Pub. Sat and made friends there for awhile. Nathan had some tasty Somersby cider. Met some nice Canadians and a few Irish as well. Then they went to Casa Rosso sex show and we walked home - stopping for Frozz frozen yogurt and fries with cheese and forks and a brief chat/eating on a bench. We are going to try to go to the beach tomorrow! Public transit is tricky though...

July 7:
Had a rough nights sleep - woken by roommates' lights and snoring, ugh. Up around 9, ate breakfast and packed up for the beach! Walked to Centraal station, bought tickets from a person after a machine demanded a PIN. After a little confusion we jumped on the train to Zandvoort an Zee. Nathan took a nap on the train - I enjoyed the scenery. Got here and followed the long train of people headed to the beach. Convinced Nathan to come down onto the sand and found an orange rock for Vicki. Now to relax, eat our picnic lunch, and maybe go out in the water. Went for a walk up and down the beach. Saw quite a few topless ladies (young and old). Headed back and slept on the train ride home. Kept looking for a free toilet but no luck, eventually paid 0.50 euro at KFC. Back to hostel around 4pm. Ate stroopwaffels - YUM!  We must buy more... went to Albert Heijn supermarket and they were out! Went to Anne Frank house - no pics allowed but very interesting/depressing. Headed toward the Dam square and stopped at another AH supermarket and looked for stroopwaffels - too many options and none looked right! Sent Nathan in to look while I sat out front and updated my journal. Mailed a couple postcards. Next to find a Febo (vending machine fast food place) and another delicious hot dog from that street vendor near the HRC. We did except hot dog man was gone :-( so we got more fries instead. Walked back, packed, showered, and then my phone was knocked down and the screen completely broke! Hope to repair in London...

Amsterdam summary:
Overall I really enjoyed this city. Weather was nice, all walkable, traffic with bikes, transit, cars, and peds was terrifying. Everyone was pretty nice and it was easy to get by with no Dutch. Our hostel was a bit far from the main part of town - next time stay more downtown. Red light district seemed tame - saw more flesh at the beach! Paying to use toilets was a pain, soda was pricey in restaurants, and paying for ketchup sucked. The meat I'm burgers and hot dogs seemed tastier - more spices? Probably spent too much $ but will try to keep a better eye on it. Tours (Sandemanns) were great, boat cruise was meh. Museum was way too big and overwhelming. Anne Frank house was depressing and moving but I don't think it would have been worth a 2 hour wait in line - unless you'd recently read the book. The airport is huge and well signed. Public transit probably wasn't as confusing as we thought but we just rarely used it. Zandvoort was a great beach but not much else around, other than restaurants. Overall, a great town with lots to see and do!
Four stars out of five

Okay so that wraps up Amsterdam, right on the day I leave Florence. Not sure how much I'll be able to do in my future travels but one city out of 10 is a good start! I'm three weeks into my trip today and about to go to my 6th city out of ten. Halfway done! Mom and Megan leave from Venice on Saturday, then I meet up with Amanda in Vienna.

Amsterdam Part 1

We'll see how much I actually post sitting in my bed in Florence but I've decided to at least attempt updating about my grand European adventure.  We'll start with Amsterdam, taken directly from my handwritten journal:

July 3-4:
Left work around 3:15 and met Nathan at the light rail. Rode it down to MSP. Long flight to Reykjavik (6 hours) but we got "upgraded" to the exit row. Couldn't keep the bags under the seat I'm front and couldn't recline so not sure if it's really an upgrade... my window seat was VERY cold! I watched Argo and tried to sleep. Short layover at KEF - Iceland is weird! No trees at all, just rocks, grasses, and lichens. Our flight to Amsterdam was delayed - waiting for a late plane from JFK. Arrived in Amsterdam (2.5 hour flight), got our bags, and went to find the bus. After some confusion we got our tickets and on the bus. Got off at "Museumplein" and then a 600m walk to The Flying Pig Uptown hostel. Briefly "lost" our bags (someone kindly hauled them up to our floor) then got settled in (top bunk!). I showered then cleaned and Nathan napped and showered. Here the pen color changed as I indicated I stopped writing in order to take a short nap. After our nap we went on a wandering walk through Amsterdam. We first looked for an ATM and then just headed toward the city. Walked past the Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) and then stopped for some food at "Pancake Corner." Had giant pancakes topped with ice cream. Also some yellow "orange" Fanta. It was okay. Kept walking and exploring and finally found an ATM for Nathan. Finally turned and headed back - never really got lost. Another nap, a short walk, and then back to the hostel bar for WiFi, pizza, and Coke (& vodka for Nathan). Made semi plans for the next day then off to bed (after reading Chris Kluwe's book for a bit).

July 5:
Got up at 9am, got dressed, and went down for free breakfast. Chocolate flake cereal, toast with peanut butter, and a not great undercooked hardboiled egg. Back to the room for a bit then down again for the free city tour at 10:30. Again I took a break here and picked up after the tour. We really just got hauled to the dam square for the Sandemann's tour at 11:15. The tour was great. Nathan is telling me to write that I'm eating old BK fries. Tour: guide was Kate, walked thru the red light district and the old church. Scantily clad ladies in the window. Church and district had good business sense - could pre pay for sins. Passed coffee shops and Chinatown, the highest point in Amsterdam (3m above sea level), the porch weigh station, cannabis museum, break for lunch at meeting point on Amstel dam/Royal palace/white monument (we ate at BK and got charged 0.50 euro for ketchup!).  Also went outside the cheese shop - 2 year old cheese and I won distribution duty/leftovers. Ended outside the Anne Frank house and the tallest church. Nathan and I went to Paradox coffee shop and had cake and Coke with two people from the tour (Leon and Winni from Perth). Took a walk through Vondelpark (right next to hostel). Ponds and lots of people. Took a 2 hour nap then went on the river cruise canal tour - audio guides, narrow turns, tight bridges, house boats, and (no offense Amsterdamers) nasty Heineken beers. After we split the tastiest hot dog and stopped at the HRC for a pin. We then walked to the red light district which was packed full of people. A long walk back, had to stop at McDonalds for a toilet. Footsore and tired muscles mean shower and bed.

Okay this task is very daunting. So I'm going to stop here and pick up again later.