Girlie Weekend :)

I have returned from a very enjoyable Girlie weekend in Amsterdam. I’m still rather tired … but only have a 3 day week at least (hmm like last week).

In the style of Learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons (link from Mad’s blog) I will also incorporate a dutch lesson into this entry. We found our German became rather unrusted in understanding written dutch, mind you when it came to speaking lots of english was spoken (phew).

It was freezing (het bevriezen) out there so our first purchase was a pair of woolly tights to go under our trousers (we’d not thought to pack our walking thermal long johns). We found that Dutch woolly tights have a weird bum panel & I thought they had very long legs (as mind did a very good Nora Batty impression).

We started with a boat trip (included in our Stayokay (Dutch YHA) citybreak package) for a bit of orientation. We just missed a boat so went and purchased tights and return for the following one, having not had to stand about in the cold (koude). We found that we actually had a canal boat to ourselves! This was good at one canal where we didn’t get the pic we wanted … so the boatman reversed the boat to go back! However a Bateau mouche isn’t that great in the fast flowing choppy waters of the Ij (pronouced I) as it bounced around a lot.

Next was coffee/ lunch and tight putting on in the loo before more walking exploration of the area around southern Amsterdam. After all this exploration we went for the easy option on food (as it was so cold and we’d rather not have the hassle of going out) we had Satay (Indonesian food is big in Holland, its a former colony) & chips (of course with mayo).

Saturday was shopping day, as we used our 24hr tram pass (part of the package) to do a raid out to the Amsterdam scout shop. We purchased lots of badges, a clog woggle (we’d seen them earlier in a souvenir shop but with urgh scarves) and a birthday pressie. Mind you we also caused a bit of disturbance to the shop for ¾hr of its 2hr opening (we’d like to apologise for the other shoppers as we were dealt with by the dutch equivalent of Scout Fellowship/ TG). The important shopping done, we did 1st museum, Jewish Historical Museum, its usually over 4 old synagogues, however due to building work it’s only the Grand Synagogue and the the shop synagogue until later in the year, then hoped on a tram up to Dam square for the Royal Palace (once more closed for renovations) before late lunch in Hema (department store, Ikea meets BHS/ woolies), then headed back to our preferred shopping area of KalvertorenStraat, but generally resisted. Then tram back to Hostel and had our 3 course meal (on the package) of Kip Kurrie (Chicken Curry to you lot). Mind you before dinner we had a pre-dinner Gluhwein at a bar in the park ((Vertigo, part of the Film museum); warm drink and alcohol in one ideal for the Amsterdam weather we were having))

Sunday was museum day … having not made it out the door that early on Saturday our 24hr passes were still valid until 10:30am .. so we made the effort to get out the door early up to Anne Frank House for near opening time (as we would be working our way back from there into walking distance blocks). We both really liked Anne Frank Huis, those who have read the diary will be aware of what happened. The museum had the whole thing at the right tone and level that it was all tastefully done. They have to balance the tone of the subject with the desire of visitors. The annex is very bare (thus allowing the visitor numbers) but we felt actually this was better as it made you think about how cramped it was. There were the items to show how they made it homely as well as the lengths those protecting them went to. Added to this was the time and day we chose to visit, as for quite a lot of the visit we had the bells of Westernkerk (the big church in Jordaan) ringing its bells for the Sunday service, to think of hearing the bells, but knowing you couldn’t escape outside and see the church. Rather ominously as we ended our tour in the annex section and went into the part on what happened the Westernkerk had a single bell ringing out 11:30am as if a warning bell. We then went into the section above the front half of the office where they went into the fate of the families in the annex and the various camps they died at (other than Otto Frank who survived), then you had the original diary itself and the legacy of the diary. The museum was simple and clean in its design, but also very moving we felt that they had got the museum just right. Following this, my current reading will be the diary once more (having read it at about age 11). We then moved onto the Amsterdam Historical Museum and it café, for recommended pancakes (thanks Andy R & Rachel H they were fine pancakes, the ginger & pineapple one comes with lots of ginger be warned!) then museum. The museum doesn’t seem the most obvious choice (it had been recommended by Andy & Rachel as good place to visit) but gave us a really good understand of the way Amsterdam (and to a certain extent Holland) had evolved. We spent nearly 4 hours in there without realising! Following the museum we followed Andy comment on a good chip & mayo place around the corner … we found one around the corner that was mighty fine, whether it was the chip hut he suggested is another matter. We also drooled over the rubber stamps in a shop next to the museum (as used by the Queen of the Netherlands) but it was closed. We walked back to the hostel, dumped bags, went to Vertigo for a restorative pre-dinner/ pre-shopping Gluhwien and headed to Albert Hejin (the waitrose of Holland and dominates Amsterdam) for some dutch food to take back home. So Sarah got some Salt Liquorice (Drop Zout) for her office and I found Dark Chocolate Spread (chocolatepasta puur) for Dr T to try (Alas Tesco Finest Dark Choc Spread is no longer). Back to the hostel for dinner (by far and away the cheapest place to eat) to try out some dutch food. Conclusion Hutspot is better than Borchenkasel (?sp). Finished off the bottle of NZ wine I brought over for girlie weekend (we met on the GGUK trip we did to NZ in 2003, so opt for NZ wine on these occasions) whilst trying to get everything packed to come back.

Then final day … Van Gogh museum (where we found out we missed a dating session based on Chinese new year on Friday night late night opening), which was well laid out and we found we actually like the pictures from the end of life before he went a shot himself due to mental illness, dying 2 days later. I’d not thought about it before but Van Gogh only painted for a reasonably little time, so there isn’t the volume of other artists. The museum also has painting from his contemporaries and inspirations (as well as those he inspired) which completes the story well. Afterwards it was a main meal lunch special at a Indonesian restaurant, it was lovely and we were amazed at the amount of food they fitted in a bowl! We were stuffed at the end. Then for the final bit we hopped on a tram back to Spui for the stamp shop we saw the day before… and purchased a couple of rubber stamps (lovely non cutesy stamps available, and lots of browsing)… and took photos of the amazing cards in the window for some inspiration on card making. Then a rather quick goodbye at the tramstop in Spui as our 1hr on the tram ticket was nearly up so Sarah headed north for Amstelkring and headed south for sew on badge for the camp blanket and bag pick up before departing Amsterdam for the train journey home (Thalys & Eurostar).

Final dutch lesson, Nee, which is no; which leads to impressions of the Knights that say Ni! Monty Python has a lot to answer for!

Then on Tuesday it was a bit of a lie in @ parents, mooch around Canterbury shops (I do miss all the independent shops you get there that aren’t in Portsmouth, we have to go to Chichester).

So all in all we had a great time in Amsterdam and have been left with the feelings of wanting to explore more of Holland at a later date (if only to stay in the YH that’s in a castle near Haarlem).

My, what a long blog entry … photos will appear in flickr in due course.