Having left Berlin at what felt like the crack of dawn, passing a few people still stumbling home from the previous night we jumped on our train for the 6.5 hour journey to Amsterdam. We arrived admist a heap of construction going on around the station and huge crowds of people which left us a little disorientated but we eventually found the street we needed and ploughed through the people. The streets were packed! We thought Prague was busy but this was even more so. So many people everywhere you looked even up the little alleyways gave you a impression that there was alot going on in Amsterdam. Half way to our hotel we had to admit that we had no clue where we were and pull out the trusty map. Unfortunately it acted like a beacon saying "lost tourist here" and meant we were approached by your typical crusty bum to help us find our way. Dispite our suspicions he didn't lead us astray, although did request a tip, and we arrived at our hotel. Having become accustomed to hostels it was an extremely pleasant surprise to walk into a newly refurbished hotel room with a amazingly comfy bed and most importantly... TV! Probably our single most missed item from home, that and our own pillows... what is it with european pillows!With only a day in Amsterdam we headed out straight away to see some of the sights. The first thing that hit us was the queues to get into everything. Massive lines of people were waiting to get into Anne Franks house and Rembrants house. With the temperature around 28 degrees we thought b***** that and got ourselves a nice local beverage beside a canal before we ventured off into the Red Light District and its "Coffeeshops". Well what can we say... when in Amsterdam!

In summary Amsterdam, just outside the city, is beautiful. The city itself is an eye opener to say the least and you end up walking away smelling of smoke whether you went into a coffeeshop or not.The people here seem to a have a time of their own, kind of like island time in that it'll get done when it gets done.

We now leave Amsterdam for Brussels.