Amsterdam

So, I've been on my trip for 4 days, getting a plane and train on my own was hard work, but I managed to do it without making any mistakes, which should make Davies proud.

My hostel while staying in Amsterdam has been pretty rubbish, as far as I can tell it only has one massive room full of beds, and no proper lights. It also has a reception area with two sinks in it and two toilets and two showers behind thin doors. The main problem with it is not having anywhere that people can just hang out and meet each other.

On my first night, I saw the hostel was crap and just went to a bar up the road, got myself a pint of Jupiler and started talking to a guy called Paul. He was here with his friend, but his friend didnt drink so he stayed in the hotel. Paul said he'd been and done it at the red light district about an hour before, but he didn't seem like he'd enjoyed it. He was a bit weird so I left him after a while, met some Canadians in another place and then went to bed.

I spent most of my first day there just wandering around soaking up the atmosphere of the city and nearly being killed by cyclists. I watched some street performers in Dam square, one of them was absolutally turd, it was a fat man in a rubbish spiderman costume stood on a ciclre of carpet, i've got a picture of him but my camera cable is in my bag in the hostel, so can't put it on yet. The other I watched was a guy that basically just shouted abuse at people and did a bit of juggling with an apple, knife and stick thingy that was on fire, he was pretty good. I went to a few more bars that night and spent most of my time with a guy from Hampshire and two guys from Belgium.

The next day I went on a free walking tour, but I gave a donation because it was really good. Some of the more interesting things the tour guide said were that pot actually isnt legal here, it's just that if you're smoking it and not causing any trouble the police look the other way. He said he once saw someone smoking a joint, drinking and pissing in the redlight district shouting "whores, whores, whores" and the police came and fined him for drinking, smoking, pissing and being abusive in the street, but he then said the police look away if you aren't causeing problems for others. I went and had a look round the red light district that night, it's a lot weirder than i'd imagined it, I thought they'ed be high up and set back a little bit, but they're right next to you in some places, and some of them are really good looking. The tour guide said earlier that some of the really good looking ones get a lot more money doing this than they would do in a modelling career.

Yesterday I went to the Ann Frank Museum, I found it really interesting but I think i'd have got a lot more out of it if I knew more about the war. Her diary is the second most translated book after the bible. Went to some bars later, met a post man who moved here 24 years ago from Ethiopia, he was pretty cool, bought me a pint when he left aswell.

Today I've just had another wander, found a market and bought some fish things, I don't know what they were, but they were quite good. I'm getting the night train to Berlin at 7 so that'll be interesting.


byeeeeeeeeeeeee