Norway to Holland – Day 5
Thursday 31st of July 2008
A canal tour boat full of tourists in Amsterdam city
I woke up to excellent weather this Thursday. I was tired after riding from Hamburg the day before so I was planning a whole day of not riding my bike. The showers on Camp Zeeburg were broken, there were barely enough water coming out of the shower to get clean, but I was’t going to let that ruin my day! I packed my GPS and headed for Amsterdam city! My motorcycle GPS has 3 hours of battery life which is great for walks around new cities, whenever I’m not sure where I am or where I’m heading I just turn on the GPS and BAMM! I know exactly where I am and what direction my destination is – excellent!
I decided to do as many of tourist attractions as possible on my first day. I started with The Amsterdam Dungeon which was awesome. Without ruining the experience for you if you’re planning on going there sometime, I can tell you that it’s a guided tour that’s both scary and educational at the same time. You learn a lot about life in Amsterdam in the past – it wasn’t quite as pleasant as today, that’s for sure! I can highly recommend this tour, it was a lot of fun.
I did a lot of walking this day. You can really get to know the entire city centre in one day if you’re determined. Vondelpark is situated in the north of the city centre as is quite large and has a great vibe and lots of people. It’s a great place to relax and people seemed very laid-back.
Next tourist attraction was the erotic museum. Needless to say, a very popular attraction. Entrance is €5 which is quite cheap. It was actually quite interesting seeing all the history preserved in the museum, everything from chastity belts made out of iron to old drawings. It’s all very well laid out and I’d recommend anyone to visit it.
Next up is the marijuana museum… when in Rome at least pretend like you’re interested, right. Although it’s not completely legal, Marijuana consumption is generally accepted in Amsterdam. Entrance is €5 and you get to learn the history of hemp and marijuana, their many uses and health benefits/problems. It’s actually quite educational. I didn’t try the weed, but obviously alot of people do and I guess you could ask the staff a lot of questions if you wanted to learn more about a specific topic. I’d recommend a visit to anyone who has an open mind and want to expand their knowledge about the many uses of the marijuana plant (hey, they even make sweaters out of that stuff!)
So, what else could I do this day to piss off any priests reading my blog? It was time to head up to Holland Casino! Entrance is once again €5… see a pattern here? I only spent 10 minutes there and left €10 richer… It was at this point I was reminded how incredibly boring gambling is. I played roulette, it’s about as exciting as watching paint dry. I was getting hungry…
What could I eat that was typically Dutch? Pancakes of course! I stopped by a little restaurant that served all kinds of pancakes. I chose the Hawaiian pancake and got one huge pancake with cheese, pineapple and capsicum. I took a photo of it and the locals around me started laughing… they obviously understood that I was a tourist.
It started to get late and it started raining and there was thunder and lightning too! I took the bus back to camp.
One of Amsterdam’s many canals (left), A huge pillar in the City centre (right)
City centre (left), An awesome looking house boat with a terrace and everything! (right)
A wooden shoe boat! (left), Hawaiian pancake (right)
Marijuana plant at museum (left), Entrance to Vondel Park (right)
Vondel park is a nice and laid-back place, a great place to relax.
Make sure you bookmark www.BikerThomas.com so that you can come back and read about the rest of the trip. Day 6 of the trip will be out real soon!
