Just to prove that yes this is actually Amsterdam

Outside Anne Frank’s house. Unfortunately there is a rather strict no photos policy inside

Bikes and canals, yep its Amsterdam

Second time to Amsterdam for me and the first for the other two, but like the Munich stopover with Contiki this one also lasted about 23 seconds so it was good to be back for a decent amount of time without constraints. We ended up deciding on 4 nights, which I initially thought would have been too long but it turned out to be good in the end.

First day Tristan and I headed off to the Anne Frank House and Museum. Even though we got there at 9am when it opened there was still an hour wait to go in. And on top of that you werent allowed to take photos anywhere inside which I find very annoying as there is no record of even going there. Very glad I went though as ive been reading her diary over the past few weeks so it was really fresh in my mind and seeing it all in real life kind of put it all in perspective. They had a great shop so I bought a few things as usual.

Next up was another necessary tour, the Heineken brewery. I wasnt sure if I wanted to do it as I had already done it 2 years ago with some Contiki peeps, but im lucky I decided to do it again because the entire thing was different and new. As usual you walk through having people talk to you about how awesome the beer is and its the greatest beer on the planet blah blah when its really far from. Still sweet though cause you get a few free beers throughout the tour.

For the first night we did what everyone does (or maybe just guys), walked around and stared at all the hookers. Took a walk around the entire Red Light District just checking things out and seeing anywhere to go out. Always great walking down one of the lanes full of windows and seeing someone negotiate a price or seeing someone come out all embarrassed. The gimmick wears off after a while though so we just headed back to the hotel.

Second day for me was just spent walking around everywhere getting my photo on. Trying to get all the postcard cliche shots of the city and anything else I thought was good. Think I took about 9000 photos of canals.

Tonight we all headed out on the ‘Ultimate Party’ pub crawl. Turned out to be a pretty wicked pub crawl. You pay about 15 euros and you get into all the pubs/clubs for free and also get a free drink token for a beer or wine. Also when you walk into each place they pour a vodka cranberry mix down your throat. So needless to say you get on your way pretty fast. First bar we went to a chick laid down on the bar and proceeded to take her top and bra off, had cream and midori put all over her chest and her girl friend licked it all off, wicked start. Although we are still pretty sure they are somehow employed by the club or pub crawl as it was just way too random. Second bar we went to an English girl came up to us and already couldnt walk, such an attractive look. So the bars went on and on, talked to mutiple randoms all over the place from all over the world. Talked to a dutch chick and said how stupid some Americans sound without knowing two girls from Florida were standing behind me, good times. Ended up walking home in the most indirect route I think could have possibly done and arriving at about 8am and waking up for the first time at midday feeling like death.

So pretty much the entire third day was recovery for myself and the other two. Went in and out of sleep till about 5pm (productive day), had some maccas at some stage as well im pretty sure. Had to recover though to take the Red Light District walking tour at 6:30pm. A nice group of German chicks we met on the pub crawl were doing it and you cant say no to Germans, right? Was a great tour, led by im pretty sure a still drunk wee little Irish girl. She explained the whole hooker situation and what people pay for and get, was quite funny. Want her to say your name? Thats an extra 10 euros. Want her to take her top off? Thats another 10 euros, and on it goes. They hire out windows for 8 hour shifts at around 100-150 euros depending on time and location, so yea they can get their money back very quickly. They are also all ‘self employed’ and arent pimped out which I didnt realise and have panic buttons in all the rooms for any psycho weirdos they get. Oh yea and the blue lights are chicks with dicks so you should probably avoid those windows…

Then somehow we got talked in to doing the pub crawl again by zee Germans. It was pretty damn sweet the first time so I guess why not. Was a different night obviously so we got taken to a whole bunch of new bars this time which was good. Ty unfortunately ate some bad pizza and nearly died multiple times, in front of a lot of restaurant patrons. Had to have an early one and rest the stomach. Tristan and I powered on through the drinks and clubs. The last club though was a giant sweat box filled with fog machines. They pumped so much fog in there at some stages you couldnt even see your own hand infront of your face. Was cranking some good tunes and the beer was cheap so that made up for it. Was a bit more of an earlier night this time though as we had to catch the train to Berlin rather early, we got in at about 5am and got a much needed 3 hours sleep.

Somehow we woke up in the morning and had the energy to pack and make it to the station. The hangover was definitely worth it though, two great pub crawls we all had fun at and a very enjoyable stay in Amsterdam overall.