The Netherlands, Holland and a world of the Dutch

Pete and I went to Holland for a long weekend.

We arrived Friday around 9pm ish... and it was crazy bright still. Not used to the light so dark... having been/lived close to the equator for the last few months.

Sadly we arrived into town pretty late for their National Day. Everyone (well, loads and loads of people) were on their way home. You could hardly walk at central station. Their national day is the 29th so many of these people had been partying in the streets since Thursday night. It was a site to see though... a sea of Orange. Orange on EVERYTHING, everyone, and anything possible!!

Mind you... holiday weekend.. and last minute trip. We were 3 kms outside the city centre... but still 'in' the city. And the prices were TRIPLE the normal costs. As in a 16 or 20 bed dorm room was anywhere from 35 to 60 Euros EACH! With that in mind Pete booked us a room... and one of the only rooms we could find (ok, we did book it Friday!) so we didn't have to deal with 15 crazy drunk people for 2 days straight!!! On the way to the hotel... i got kicked... 3 times.. on the crazy packed Metro. None of them were on purpose... but drunk people do drunk and stupid things. I got walked on, spilled on. Seriously, even Pete was doing it. I thought maybe I had a label on that I'd forgot to remove.. or some sort of target!! Well, we finally dropped off our bags and decided to walk back into town and see who was still about.

The town was 'dying' down. Well, not really. There were bits we walked around that were sooo crowded you couldn't get past. There was trash EVERYWHERE, there were bits closed off. Basically, one could see that it'd been a GREAT party during the day. To me it seemed like people were sooo far past their happy point and were just stumbling around. We walked around a bit but I was freezing and exhausted and wanted to go back.

Saturday... I had the best of intentions to wake up early and make the most of the day. But instead... jet lag really got me that day... so I slept in. Think i got out of bed in just enough time to go get a cup of tea before breakfast closed at 11. We ended up getting in line at a museum to decide we didn't have enough time before the walking tour. We met up with Daniella (someone Pete met in the South Island in NZ) who lives an hour away in Holland. We did the walking tour.... with 61 other people (in just OUR group)... there were 3 or 4 groups that day. Literally, thats how crowded the city was! We ended up getting Mexican for a really late lunch... sitting inside... meeting up with an old co workers of petes... taking Daniella back to the station.. and exploring the Red Light District. (which I'll get to in a bit)

Having just spent 8 months in summer and no where near anythign cold.. I didn't have a proper jacket. I had picked one up from Davids (one of very few things I got to keep) but for some strange reason didn't bring it. I also had thrown out ALL of my scarves, gloves and hats. Don't ask. But in my mind May= spring and warmth. Oh, i know, i had taken my RAIN coat thinking with a jumper it'd be plenty. Remember... I was thinking warm... not FREEZING!! Turns out. I was wrong. I was no where NEAR warm. I had gone from 30+ degrees for 8 months to 3 degrees. And when you realize I'd spent the last 4 months closer to 40 degrees... it was over a 35 degree temperature flux!! I didn't handle it well with just a thin jumper and rain coat!!!

Ok, so basically the weekend went like this: sleep in, freeze, avoid the cold, freeze, complain, repeat, continue. I was miserable!!

Sunday: sleep in... freezing in line in the rain for 2 hours for the Van Gough museum....walking through the museaum..... waited at HardRock (i have to buy shot glasses) to decide that we wnated Mexican instead... finding the mexican.... searching online for an hour for a new hotel (that would take us for just one night)... finding the new hotel which was in the city centre so we could explore.... searching for an ATM... paying for said room.. and getting into room and realizing it was the size of a tissue box but a cool loft style room.... me falling asleep while Pete looks up somewhere to explore for the night.... me convincing Pete that its TOOOOO WAY TOOOO Cold to leave the room to go anywhere... and then... both sleeping.

Monday: Sleeping in (ok, I said I'd gotten lazy)... going to the Anne Frank House... deciding that I wouldn't stand in the cold and rain for 2 hours... even though it was teh ONE thing I wanted to do in Amsterdam. Walking around to coffee shops (which mean a place to smoke pot) and looking at random things. Going to the train station and heading to Delft to stay the night with a friend of Pete's from uni. Getting to Delft... looking at old pics... walking through the city centre to a pub... going to another pub... cooking an awesome gluten free vegan dinner....starting a movie... me falling asleep.

Tuesday: waking up at a reasonable hour... enjoying a breakfast FEAST... train back to Amsterdam...back to the Anne Frank House.. this time we waited as it wasn't as cold or wet...enjoying it but getting really depressed... walking around the red light district.. enjoying a couple shots... more mexican.... more walking around.. and then off to the train... airport...flight.. and then getting the millionth degree from immigration in the uk!

Wow. The Red Light District. Its a bit shocking. And a bit not as exciting as I'd heard it talked up to be. There are chicks in windows... literally. All day long, even across from the 'Old Church' trying to get you to open their door for 15 mins of pleasure. It'll only cost you around 60 Euros. It was crazy to see that even during the day there were so many girls in the windows. There are different areas: for those with different preferences (think ethnic, cross dressers, big boned, etc) you just have to search and you can be as happy as your heart or pocket book would allow. Now my thought always goes to the guys walking into/out of these rooms. What do they think? Do you think they have any thoughts about what the people that see them think? Or when you resort to a prostitue does it not matter what a random stranger thinks when you walk out of a room? I dunno.. but I was feeling bad FOR THEM.. and they sure as hell didn't seem to care!!! also in the Red light district are sex shops, sex shows, coffee shops, and anythign else you can think of.

However, in saying all this... it was no where near what I thought it'd be. I'd heard Amsterdam worked and talked up to be this crazy place. I had such a laid back, relaxed and low key weekend. I had a couple drinks... mostly cuz the last day Pete set out to find a good brownie and I decided I'd have a drink or two as I wasn't going near Pot. Seriously, we didn't party, we enjoyed a bottle of wine in Delt, i had a glass of wine another night. I think i've become boring.

Now for those as confused as I was.... Holland is The Netherlands as The Netherlands is Holland. Its a nickname that has now taken over the Dutch world! Haha!!!!

It was a fun trip.. and glad we chose there as it was one place I didn't get to in my backpacking adventure in the Summer of 07!