We arrived in a fairytale yesterday. After a very bumpy flight across the channel we are in Europe. After deciphering the signs we worked out the trains and got in to Amsterdam central. We wandered around a little before finally getting to our hotel. The streets are confusing in the pronunciations. We counted a street last night with 22 letters in the name. How do you begin to pronounce them with an Aussie tongue?
Our hotel is located in the old quarter (funnily enough the name of our residence) and in the red light district. The streets were very busy last night as it is the busiest part of the city for tourists. We wandered around and came across many sex shops, coffee/ dope shops, live sex shoes and callgirls in windows. We had a good laugh as their is no place in the world quite like this. It's probably not the place that a single girl would want to wander around alone though. We grabbed some local cuisine and retired to our room for a quiet evening after wandering around for a few hours.
The city itself is as I said, a fairytale. The canals, old buildings and lights gives it an amazingly picturesque look which we have never come across before. The only place that comes close in beauty is maybe Queenstown, NZ.
We had a lie in this morning before just making our free breakfast with about 10 mins to go. Nothing like bacon & eggs to start the day. We then headed towards the harbor which is the largest in Europe. It Has been continually expanding to account for the larger ships being built. From their we came back in to the city to wander through enjoying the canals and architecture. Kababs and Frites are big over here so we accepted the Dutch way of life for dinner. We finished the day with a canal ride through the city so we could learn the sights. A very relaxing and beautiful way to end the day. Jac even stayed away for it all.
Jac isn't feeling well (women stuff) so we've returned home again so she can curl up. Hopefully my poor girl will feel better tomorrow. We plan on seeing Anne Franks house and going on a free tour of the city but only if she feels up to it.