Last Thursday (don’t faint, I know its a shock that I am almost up to date) Lindsay and I went to Amsterdam, to meet Cassie and Jimmy. Cassie and I are friends from primary school. Jimmy, her boyfriend is working in Bristol, so they came over for a weekend to see Amsterdam with us.
We met them at the train station and walked together to our *hotel*
Along the way we came across a bakery giving away left over pastries.
For Free! Being the travellers that we all are, we reveled in the free food.
We got to our hotel. In the photos it was a large bright room. We got there and found a tiny room with 4 single beds squeezed into it. But it was clean, and with a nice view.
The room was so small there was nothing to do but to go out and explore. 
For dinner we had Shoarma brood, and we introduced Cassie and Jimmy to hot chips with Mayo.
We then walked through the red light district, which was certainly an eye opening experience. No photos, because apparently if you take photos in the red light district the prostitutes through cups of urine at you or break your camera.
We stopped by a canal to admire the view.
Lindsay took some brilliant photos.
They should be made into postcards!
Around the corner from our hostel was Rembrandtplein, which is full of cafes, pubs and bars. We found an Australian pub and stopped there for a drink and to enjoy the kitsch australian furniture, aboriginal art on the walls and read the australian menu.
We set out alarms for an early morning because we were to go on the 11am walking tour through Amsterdam. Our hotel was directly above a club and gay bar that partied on through the night until about 6am, which is when the trams started. So there was not much sleep to be had. We all slept in until 11am, and decided the 1pm tour would be more suitable.
The tour started here, at the national monument
nicknamed, the giant Dildo.
directly opposite the palace
while waiting for the tour to start we took the opportunity to take some photos.
such a photogenic lot.
we were all a bit tired
look, Madam Tussards!
the tour was running late….
Look cobble stones!
The tour finally started! first stop was the red light district, and I don’t stink of old urine, so no photos.
Our guide pointed out how many of the houses along the canals lean forwards
this is so when furniture is pulled up by the hooks in the gables of the house, it doesn’t bang against the outside of the building.
House that lean sideways…are not supposed to lean sideways.
We visited the old offices of the Dutch East Indies Trading company, it is now the Library for the Amsterdam University.
this contraption was used to prevent men from weeing on old buildings. The angle causes the urine to be sprayed back at the man. At times an electric current would be running through the metal thing resulting in an unpleasant shock for the man.
The skinniest house in Amsterdam
Taxes were charged based on the width of a house
After the tour ended we bought tickets for a hop on, hop off canal tour boat. because canals are everywhere and very pretty.
on an unrelated note, i was rather happy with my hair do.
The canal boat arrived, we hopped on and took photos!
of Cassie and Jimmy
And of Lindsay and I
We took photos of Bruce, the blue Hippo?
We took photos of the 4 of us
And of just Cassie and I
And Just Cassie
We caught the canal boat to the Hard Rock Cafe so Cassie could buy a hat pin, and so we could have Pancakes! yummy.
We caught the boat back to the Anne Frank House. On the way Cassie and Jimmy fell behind.
They were too busy taking photos
As they crossed the bridge to join us, we yelled out to them to pose.
And so they did.
We waited for about 20 minutes to get into the Anne Frank house. Once inside it was really emotional to walk through the rooms that the Frank family hid in for so long. We took out time walking through the museum before meeting Cassie and Jimmy again.
The boats had stopped running, so we walked back to the centre of town and bought dinner at Albert Heijn, chips and fruit salad for Lindsay and I, olives and cheese for Cassie and Jimmy, Tompuce for everybody!
Cassie and Jimmy went to the Hemp Museum, we met them after wards back at the Australian Pub for half price cocktails! Yummy!
Lindsay and I slept well, we had ear plugs,
but poor Cassie and Jimmy managed only a few hours sleep.
we packed up our tiny room
and walked to some markets. Lindsay bought me a beautiful new hippy jacket, Cassie got a lovely skirt and headband.
While we waited for the Canal bus we took, more photos!
Jimmy made a new friend
the new friend joined us in front of our favourite sign
We all got on the boat for one last ride together with the 4 of us.
There was enough time for some souvenir shopping, and eating of appel flap (apple turnovers)
We walked Cassie and Jimmy up to the station, helped them buy their train tickets and said goodbye, we are seeing them again in a few weeks.
Lindsay and I hopped back onto the canal boat to use the ticket up until it expired at 5pm.
The sky had cleared up beautifully
and it was lovely and warm on the boat.
the boats were really full
We cruised past the NEMO museum.
and we cruised past a diamond factory
also past the brand new hermitage museum
it used to be an old people’s home!
While looking for some lunch we passed this cafe,
we spotted this house from the boat, people were in the process of moving into their house, a pulley is used to haul furniture up to the top floors.
Soo many bikes!
So now I am up to date!
Lindsay and I are going to sit very still, not go anywhere or take any photos, just so I don’t have to blog again for a while!