Greetings,

So here we are, in Amsterdam and this is our first blog (or I could say, clog).  We flew out in the mid afternoon, which took a ridiculous amount of time as there appeared to be major storms in Europe.  Apparently only one of Amsterdam’s five runways was functioning, so we spent a lot of time at Luton. Capital of culture.  It was fairly straightforward getting into the city centre from the airport, but in our first day of the trip nervousness we nearly ended up on a train to Eindhoven.  Luckily we realised our mistake and got to the right platform.  The central Amsterdam station had labelled its southern exit ‘north’ which threw us a bit but eventually we made our way to the hostel (not without the massive stress of me dropping both my interrail and Grand Prix tickets, with a combined cost of half a grand, and only Morgie’s quick footwork stopping them from blowing into a canal).  We also got completely drenched as the storm that had been brewing broke.


Our hostel is in fact, a boat which is very cool.  As a result, our rooms (cabin) are very small, but in an amusing way that gives good anecdotes.  Luckly, as I write this it has calmed down a bit weather-wise, as I can’t imagine many worse places to ride a storm out than on a boat.


The plans for the evening were scuppered a bit by rain, but we have been out and eaten a whole lot of pizza and are now back at the hostel bar, speaking to other travellers.  First impressions of Amsterdam, having walked through a fair few streets searching for food, is that it is quite distinctive, but that there is a real blatant sordid side which I personally find pretty uncomfortable.  Each to their own.

Over and out
Coles