Yes, I am back in Aus and yes, I am very behind on my blog... I have been too tired, busy and sick to be bothered to finish up my blog until now, so where was I up to?
Ah yes... Amsterdam...
On the way to Amsterdam we stopped in a small town called Edam which is also in the Netherlands. Edam is known for its cheese which some of you may have heard of before; Edam cheese. In Edam, we went on a relaxing bike tour riding past the canals and windmills in the town. I say relaxing, but we had a couple of close shaves with death. First when the tour guides son (who looked about 10 years old) was trying to race some of the guys on the tour and did not see the bollard in front of him and completely stacked his bike :(. Second, when Hannah did not see that the group had pulled over to the side with the tour guide and almost got side swiped by one of the girls trying to join the group. Somehow, all 50 of us plus the tour guide and her son made it safely back without too many cuts or bruises. We then went to a cheese and clogs factory just outside of Edam. There we had demonstrations on how both cheese and clogs are made. The young man showing us how to make clogs was particularly interesting as he demonstrated a number of different ways in which you can use and wear your clogs. These included; using the clogs as a hammer, a cup, saving a cow from dying and of course as fashionable footwear (not). After the clog demonstration we got to taste about 15 different types of cheese. My favourite was the smoked ham flavoured cheese which I purchased and brought back home for mum. After the cheese and clogs factory we powered on into Amsterdamage!!!
Our final two days as a Contiki family were spent in Amsterdam. The first night we walked through the red light district and saw an interesting show before heading to a pub for our second last night partying together.
The next day we were dropped off at the "I amsterdam" sign for our final group picture then cured our hangovers with what ended up being a very long and exhausting canal bike ride. We all jumped into these canal bikes which seated four people, two of which had to pedal the bikes to move them through the canals. We were given a very unhelpful map, some snacks and
one hour to explore Amsterdam via the bikes on the canals. We started off following each other as a group thinking that the first bike was leading us to Ann Frank's house. We soon realised that no one had any idea where we were going and we had ended up on one of the main canals in Amsterdam where canal bikes are actually not allowed to be. We quickly pedalled off the canal onto a smaller one and split up from the group as our hour was well and truly up and we needed to find one of the locations where we could dock our bike. We eventually docked the bike half an hour after we were supposed to and straight away sought out a bathroom and food.
We spent the rest of the day exploring Amsterdam on foot (which was much more leisurely than the canal bike). We saw the flower markets, ate some dutch pancakes and finally found Ann Frank's house where there was the longest line of people I had ever seen. There was no way we were going to join the line which was hundreds of meters long so we instead took a photo of the house which looked rather ordinary from the outside (it actually took us awhile to figure out which one it was). We then headed to our pick up point and went back to the hostel to get ready for our final night on Contiki.
The night began with a boat cruise through the canals which took us to our dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Sea Palace. Now you might wonder why we went to a Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam. Well our trip manager said it was because Amsterdam is very multicultural and the food is heavily influenced by other countries (similar to Australia I guess). The dinner was really good and it was nice to eat Chinese food again.
After dinner we headed to a shooters bar where we tried a number of cool shots. I tried a few including the 'Contiki' shot with my trip manager as well as a marsh mellow shot and one that was set on fire. We then went to a club for the remainder of the night.
Ah yes... Amsterdam...
On the way to Amsterdam we stopped in a small town called Edam which is also in the Netherlands. Edam is known for its cheese which some of you may have heard of before; Edam cheese. In Edam, we went on a relaxing bike tour riding past the canals and windmills in the town. I say relaxing, but we had a couple of close shaves with death. First when the tour guides son (who looked about 10 years old) was trying to race some of the guys on the tour and did not see the bollard in front of him and completely stacked his bike :(. Second, when Hannah did not see that the group had pulled over to the side with the tour guide and almost got side swiped by one of the girls trying to join the group. Somehow, all 50 of us plus the tour guide and her son made it safely back without too many cuts or bruises. We then went to a cheese and clogs factory just outside of Edam. There we had demonstrations on how both cheese and clogs are made. The young man showing us how to make clogs was particularly interesting as he demonstrated a number of different ways in which you can use and wear your clogs. These included; using the clogs as a hammer, a cup, saving a cow from dying and of course as fashionable footwear (not). After the clog demonstration we got to taste about 15 different types of cheese. My favourite was the smoked ham flavoured cheese which I purchased and brought back home for mum. After the cheese and clogs factory we powered on into Amsterdamage!!!
Contiki family with the windmill in Edam
Enjoying the bike ride
At the cheese and clogs factory
Our final two days as a Contiki family were spent in Amsterdam. The first night we walked through the red light district and saw an interesting show before heading to a pub for our second last night partying together.
The next day we were dropped off at the "I amsterdam" sign for our final group picture then cured our hangovers with what ended up being a very long and exhausting canal bike ride. We all jumped into these canal bikes which seated four people, two of which had to pedal the bikes to move them through the canals. We were given a very unhelpful map, some snacks and
one hour to explore Amsterdam via the bikes on the canals. We started off following each other as a group thinking that the first bike was leading us to Ann Frank's house. We soon realised that no one had any idea where we were going and we had ended up on one of the main canals in Amsterdam where canal bikes are actually not allowed to be. We quickly pedalled off the canal onto a smaller one and split up from the group as our hour was well and truly up and we needed to find one of the locations where we could dock our bike. We eventually docked the bike half an hour after we were supposed to and straight away sought out a bathroom and food.
Contiki family at I amsterdam sign (the people on the top are intruders... not part of the family)
Hannah and Abby pedalling hard
Shayna and I relaxing in the back of the canal bike
We spent the rest of the day exploring Amsterdam on foot (which was much more leisurely than the canal bike). We saw the flower markets, ate some dutch pancakes and finally found Ann Frank's house where there was the longest line of people I had ever seen. There was no way we were going to join the line which was hundreds of meters long so we instead took a photo of the house which looked rather ordinary from the outside (it actually took us awhile to figure out which one it was). We then headed to our pick up point and went back to the hostel to get ready for our final night on Contiki.
Flower market
Classic houses in Amsterdam
The night began with a boat cruise through the canals which took us to our dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Sea Palace. Now you might wonder why we went to a Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam. Well our trip manager said it was because Amsterdam is very multicultural and the food is heavily influenced by other countries (similar to Australia I guess). The dinner was really good and it was nice to eat Chinese food again.
On the boat cruise
Sea palace restaurant
After dinner we headed to a shooters bar where we tried a number of cool shots. I tried a few including the 'Contiki' shot with my trip manager as well as a marsh mellow shot and one that was set on fire. We then went to a club for the remainder of the night.
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