Travel tidbits

A collection of pinch-me moments, things that have made me smile, wonder, feel thankful...etc.

• When I got to the reception desk at my hostel in Copenhagen and was greeted with "Kia Ora".
• The moment when I was sitting on the bank of the Rhine, with 4 new hostel friends from across the globe, sippping Riesling and staring at the magnificent, lit-up Kolner Dom Cathedral, thinking "this is what travel is all about".
• When I got to my empty hostel room when I first arrived in London, started unpacking a few things and a little voice said "Hello there" from under the sheets of the bed opposite. She'd just arrived after a long-haul flight, much like myself and was already wondering if she'd made a mistake moving over here. Thus followed a long conversations about our worries and doubts and the beginning of a great friendship between Nicole and I. 
• Eating at a Jamie Oliver restaurant.
• The kindness of strangers when I struggled with my heavy bags when I first arrived in London. 
• When Colleen, Nicole and I went for High Tea in London and Colleen (the obnoxious American lol) complained about the service and got us the whole thing for free!
• Chatting with the Canadian guide of the bike tour I went on in Amsterdam and discovering he'd lived in Havelock North for 5 years. What are the chances!
• When Nicole and I couldn't stop staring at the most beautiful boy we'd ever seen on the tube, and cracked up for ages afterwards.
• Discovering a fondness for Haggis in Edinburgh.
• Seeing something IRL that I'd just finished reading about, in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam.
• Walking the streets of London with two friends from Palmerston North.
• The fact that I've done all my travels completely on my own. Turns out I have a better sense of direction than I thought I did!
• I now have friends in Chicago, Rio de Janiero, Perth, Hobart, Texas, LA, Sao Paulo and many in England.

Outside Christ Church College at Oxford University. I looooooove Oxford.

There are so many more tidbits, but I'll save some for later :)

xx

Auschwitz

In the week leading up to my visit to Poland and Auschwitz, people I told at work would all have the same reaction - "Oh, why on earth would you want to go there? I wouldn't be able to handle the place. It'd be too much for me." But for me, Auschwitz as always been a must-visit destination. The camp played such a pivotal role in the course of 20th century history and changed millions of lives. Places of such significance, I feel, are important to see.

The first thing I was surprised about was that touring the camp was entirely free. While I don't think they should make a profit from such a site, I thought they might have charged a fee that would go towards supporting the surviving victims and their families, or something like that. And I'm pretty sure anyone making a trip to Auschwitz would be more than happy to pay that. But nope, it was free.

To enter the camp, you must pass under the infamous gate with the slogan 'Arbeit macht frei' which translates to 'Work will set you free'. What a lie. After that you've got brick building after brick building arranged in rows around a central pathway. Watchtowers are at either end and double barriers of electrified barbed wire surround the perimeter. There's a gallows to one side of the main path, where public executions were held as a 'lesson' to other inmates. It's incredibly bleak to look at. I was surprised by the size of the place though. For a place where over 1 million jews were murdered, it's not all that big. I later learnt that when a trainload of inmates arrived, over half were sent straight to the gas chambers (they were told they'd be getting a nice warm shower), so I guess that kind of explains it.

Many of the blocks (the buildings each have a block number) have been converted into mini museums with different exhibitions in them. One block was all about the Polish Jews, another was the hospital block which detailed the awful experiments the Nazis performed, another contained photos of the inmates (not all of them, as taking photos of each inmate was only done at the beginning, before it became too much of a chore when the amount of inmates increased). I found it quite hard walking into this block, into the hallway lined with thousands of photos of sad, desolate faces staring out at you. But I also found it really interesting to read the little blurbs under the photos, about what each person's job was before they came to the camp.

The block that had the biggest effect on me, however, was the exhibition entitled "Physical evidence of the Holocaust." When I walked up the stairs and turned right down the hallway I actually gasped at what I saw. Human hair. On a scale I wasn't prepared for. The hallway was probably 100m long, and the entire left hand side was full of human hair (behind glass, obviously). And it wasn't just on the floor. It was a HUGE, high pile, extending the entire length of the corridor. This was when I teared up, just thinking about all the people that this signified. I read a sign that said all the hair was discovered in sacks when the camp was liberated. It had been cut off the heads of all those who had been gassed, and kept by the Nazis who would then use it to fill pillowcases and sell it on for weaving and suchlike. The opposite side of the hallway was just as hard to take, being filled with all the shoes left behind from victims. This exhibition also contained all the suitcases, gold teeth that weren't melted down, jewelry and all the possessions that once belonged to the inmates. It's hard to take.

Aside from that exhibition, the eeriest part of the tour was walking in to the gas chamber that's at one end of the camp. You see the big ovens that the poisonous substances were loaded in to, and the heads that the gas came out of. A sign at the door asks for respectful silence as you walk through. That makes it even eerier. Another part that was really creepy to walk through was the prison in the basement of one of the blocks. The cells were miserably tiny, wet and dark and when I was walking through there was no-one else around and not a sound to be heard. Safe to say I didn't stay down there for long.

I had to go to the bathroom while I was at the camp. There was a public toilet block at the end, near the gas chamber, so I used that. Even that was creepy though, and made me wonder what the building was used for before it was toilets. I hope it was erected afterwards for visitors. So I have been to the toilet at Auschwitz. A weird thing to be able to say.

Auschwitz is the German name for the camp, the Polish name for it being Oswiecim, which is also the name of the town the camp it in. I found it really strange that Auschwitz is right in the middle of the town. I kind of expected it to be on it's own, away from everything. But no, it's right in the middle of shops, houses, schools etc. I was quite shocked to see a school right next door, and to see housing buildings over the barbed-wire fences. I can't imagine how anyone could want to live near such a site. But I guess maybe it's a way to ensure it's never left and forgotten about.

Auschwitz is probably the most interesting place I've ever visited. Definitely worth a visit, and though it's tough, it's so utterly worthwhile. I think the message to be taken away is not one of blame to the Nazis, but of recognition and understanding.

(I didn't get a lot of photos at the camp because you're not allowed to take pictures in most of the exhibitions. Some tourists took them anyway as there's no one around to police it, but I felt it respectful to obey their wishes).

Also, I read this the other day which I found really interesting. An Auschwitz survivor forgives and hugs her captor. There is good in the world. Have a read:
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/76143495/auschwitz-survivor-tells-why-she-forgave-and-hugged-her-captor

xx

Poland

So my first trip of the year ended up being a 3-day soujourn to Poland last week. I admit I don't know a lot about the country or culture, but the opportunity to visit Auschwitz was what attracted me. Aside from the cheap flights of course! Auschwitz is a place I've always wanted to visit, and I believe it is an important place to visit because of it's historical significance. Also, we have a Polish sous-chef at work called Gosia who I really like and who had told me Krakow was a beautiful city, so a Polish adventure it ended up being.

When my flight arrived in Krakow at 4pm, it was getting dark. And when I got out of the train which had taken me from the airport to the centre of town, it was pitch black. Unfortunate, as I didn't get to see any sights that first night. I walked from the station to my hotel, which was only a block away (yes, I planned that), checked in and dropped my stuff off. It was a nice little hotel, simple but spacious, clean and comfortable. I then decided to go on a walk to find food. On this walk I discovered a 4-storey shopping mall called the "Galleria" so went for a bit of a wander inside. It was fairly standard, with all the chain stores they have here in England, as well as some other shops that were new to me. They had a huge Sephora which I wandered around longingly, and some really cute jewellery stores. It was funny because they also had some shops with names like "Pretty Girl" and those sort of terrible but lovable English-as-a-second-language type names. Anyway I found a mini-mart and got some food for dinner. The Polish currency is the Zloty, and a salad is typically around 8zl, piece of fruit would be 3zl, large chocolate bar 11zl, loaf of bread 6-8zl. Got my food, went back to the hotel, turned on the TV but everything was in Polish (funny that) so turned it back off, got out my book and ate while reading. Had a lovely hot shower, then went to sleep early (had been up at 5.30am that morning so safe to say I was pretty tired!

This was the selection of Vodka at the tiny mini-mart. It's true, Poles love their vodka!

Polish Zloty

The next day I got up at 7am and went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast (included in the price - win!). The buffet was ACE. Cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurt, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, toast, rolls, sausages, lots of salads, cheese, cold meats, tea, coffee, juice....it was freakin' great! I decided on scrambled eggs on toast with some ham cause I figured that would be the most filling. Once I'd finished I also grabbed an apple and nutella sachet (had to) as snacks for the day ahead.

Best breakfast buffet ever! This is maybe half of it.

After that I checked out of my room but left my big bag in the luggage room, and took my smaller bag with me for the day. I went to the train station to see when the next train to Oswiecim was, which turned out to be in about 1.5 hours. Which was sweet as because it meant I had time to go and wander around Krakow. Whenever I get to a new city, I love to just go wandering around. I love looking at the buildings, the people, the menus on restaurant windows, the parks etc. And boy oh boy is Krakow beautiful. It's got so much character to it, with lots of old, colourful, statuesque buildings. I walked through to the main market square which had big St Mary's church in one corner, restaurants along the other sides and the Cloth Hall on the opposite side. There's a big memorial in the middle too. It's super pretty. Super instagrammable. Haha. So I just wandered around here for a while, taking in the sights and sounds and getting pestered by pigeons. Then I slowly made my way back to the train station to catch my train.

All these photos are in the market square

Oswiecim is 50km west of Krakow and was my destination because it's where Auschwitz is located. I'm gonna do a full post on Auschwitz next because I think it deserves one in itself. Anyway, the train was quite old and rickety and slow, so the journey took about 2 hours. The countryside that I saw on this trip was pretty dire, if I'm honest. Krakow centre aside, I don't think Poland is a very pretty country. The landscape was very grey, there was hardly any greenery anywhere, there were heaps of creepy woods with those super skinny tall trees and there weren't any hills or mountains or anything nice. Complete opposite to NZ. When I got there, I walked the 2km to the camp and began the tour. I was there for about 2.5 hours, which I will detail in the next post. After that I got the train back to Krakow, picked up my bag and hopped on another train up to Warsaw. This train was really nice with HEAPS of legroom and it wasn't overly crowded which was nice! The train took 2 hours to get to Warsaw, and because it was pitch black I didn't get to see anything out the windows. But I had my book so it was ok :) Ended up getting to Warsaw central station around 10pm then I got a cab to the apartments I was staying in. When I opened the door to my little apartment I was stoked - it was very modern and fancy, with cool light shades and a nespresso machine! Plus a super comfy queen bed. Happy Dale. Wished I was staying there longer!

Awesome bed

Nespresso! Yussss.

Nice little bathroom

The next morning when I looked out my window there was quite a bit of snow on the ground! According to my phone it was 1 degree, and it certainly felt like it. I tried out the nespresso machine (delicious!) then checked out of my lovely room (sad). My phone said it was 25 minutes to the train station so I decided to walk it so I could see a bit of Warsaw. In stark contrast to Krakow, Warsaw is very urban, with sky-scrapers and lots of metal and glass. There are electronic bill-boards, lots of advertising and the business of a captial city. It was interesting enough, but I definitely prefer Krakow. From what I saw of it anyway. Got the train to the airport, did a bit of duty-free browsing and then made the journey back to London.

While I liked Krakow and had a very moving and worthwhile experience in Oswiecim, I don't think Poland is a country I'd go back to. I'm glad I went, for sure, but there wasn't enough oomph (for lack of a better word/phrase) to make me want to go back. Though they do know how to put on a great breakfast ;)

Until next time.
xx

New Years Eve + Day

Happy 2016!!

I cannot believe its a new year already, and that I've been halfway across the world for over half a year now. And that means I've used up 1/4 of my visa already! Gawsh. Anyway, I was lucky to get NYE and New Years Day off work which meant I could make the most of my first New Year's celebrations over here. Nicole and I booked tickets a while ago to this awesome sounding ball in Battersea Park (right next to the Thames) so I got the train in to London on NYE and ventured out to Wimbledon to meet up with Nicole to spend the day getting ready, catching up and then eventually heading out to this ball.

Getting ready in Nicole's room was fun - it's nice to get all made up sometimes!

Getting ready was heaps of fun and we got an Uber (my first uber experience) to Battersea at 7.30pm. When we got inside we were amazed by the decorations. The Ball had a 'New York New York' theme and was decorated accordingly, with yellow cabs, brick paving and graffiti (sounds kinda trashy, but it definitely wasn't). There was an acrobat performing when we got there, which was cool and then at 6pm the doors to the main room opened and the dining room (157 tables!!) was revealed. It was all done very well with table centerpieces and all that jazz and the room itself was stunning, with fairylights running the length of the ceiling and a huge stage at the front decorated with a NYC skyline backdrop. Nicole and I were seated at a table with two Russian girls, an English couple, an American couple and an Australian couple (ew, couples) who were all friendy enough (though the American and Australian guys were kinda annoying). 

This was one of the bars inside the venue (there were about 4 dotted around the place)

Pretty fairylights all over the ceiling :)

This pic gives you an idea of the dining room. There were 2000 people so it was pretty packed!

Before our meals were served there was entertainment on stage which was really good. It was just dancing and singing but it was all very well choreographed. The best part was when the song 'New York New York' played and women in showgirl outfits with big headpieces came out and did the exact dancing you imagine goes along with that song. Dinner was then served and it was exceptional! Our entree was a salmon and vege dish with beautiful presentation. Our main meal was a hunk of beef with a potato cake thing, baby carrots and very flavourful gravy and for dessert we got cheesecake with poached pear. After that we had a massive cheese platter delivered to the table. Oh and each table had a selection of wine, beer and waters. And a bread basket!

Entree

Main

Dessert

Once the formal part of the evening was over the band came on stage and started playing songs that we could dance to. Nicole and I went and danced for ages and stayed up front for the countdown. They had a big screen with a live-stream of the epic London fireworks which started at 12, so that was cool to see. It was such a cool event because everyone was in such high spirits and everyone was dancing. Such a cool buzz! Nicole and I stayed till 2am and then got a taxi home, so it wasn't a super late night for us. Once our heads hit the pillow we were out.

The next day we went to the Nutcracker on Ice at the Royal Albert Hall. This was simply spectacular. The actors/athletes were phenomenal, I was marvelling at their athleticism the whole time (and wondering if any of them were Olympic athletes cause their jumps, lifts and turns were amazing). It was a silent show, but easy enough to follow. It was more of a showcase of the skating than a performance of the Nutcracker, but it was very well done. I had this cute old Russian (I think?) lady sitting next to me who was chatting to me during the intermission telling me how she was having a nice day out with her daughter. What an old darl. After that Nicole and I got lunch in Kensington and then parted ways at the underground station as we went in different directions to get home. It was a busy 24 hours in London, full to the brim with spectacle. Every time I go in to London I love it even more - I can't wait to move in! So it was a great start to 2016 for me, I hope the rest of the year follows suit.

The Royal Albert Hall,

The ceiling in the Royal Albert Hall - what a venue! It's a circular shaped concert hall and it's sooooo pretty inside with all the arches and elegant decor.

The rink - we had a great view from our seats.

Tired girls watching the show.

xx

Christmas

Well this post is long overdue! Apologies for that. The build-up to Christmas at the Grouse & Ale was absolutely manic. We had Christmas parties, which require much more set up and later finishes, on the daily. It's been very tiring, but I've still managed to have a great time and make more special memories over here.

At the start of January my friend Aaron came to London for a night to visit me. He came from Ireland, where he'd been visiting his girlfriend who was doing a university exchange in Limerick. Not long before he came to Europe he'd returned from a 7 month deployment in Iraq with the NZ Army, so it was really nice to see him and hear about what Iraq life had been like (incredibly hot and boring, by the sounds of things!). I met him at Gatwick Airport and we got the train from there to Victoria station, then walked to Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and on to Leicester Square where we stopped for a spot of lunch. We went to Jamie's Diner, the american style diner owned by Jamie Oliver. I had the pulled pork with cornbread and coleslaw and Aaron had a basket of roast chicken with chips and coleslaw. Very tasty!!

My lunch at Jamie's Diner, Leicester Square.

While we were there our other friend Ricky, who lives in Bracknell (Ricky is also ex-army so knows Aaron as well) met up with us. It was cool to see how stoked they were to see each other. Once we left the diner we went to the Ripley's Believe it or not museum just across the road. This place was awesome - heaps of weird and wacky displays and you're allowed to touch everything too. There's also a mirror maze, spinning vortex thing to walk through and a lazer maze at the end which was a lot of fun. 

This model of Tower Bridge is made out of TOOTH PICKS! Amazing huh?!

Taking selfies in the mirror maze

Buddies

After that, we all went back to the hostel we were staying at, had showers and then ventured out to Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland Carnival. I'd been to this the week prior during the day with Ricky, and we'd both said we'd have to come again at night. And I'm so glad we did because it's 1000000x better at night when all the lights are on, everyone is in high spirits, the smell of fresh waffles, bratwurst, and crepes is all around, there's live music playing and all the rides are in full swing (quite literally for some haha). Winter Wonderland has been one of the best things I've seen/done in London so far. It was so much fun. The boys loved it too, and were having a great time playing all the fairground games. An Australian girl I met in Edinburgh, Amelia, was also in London that night so came to join us too. It was nice having a little crew of friends to experience it with. 

The carousel bar - yep that's a bar in a rotating merry-go-round.

Pretty lights, great markets, good times!

The best part of Winter Wonderland, in my opinion, was the Bavarian Village. It's a section that's been done up like a wooden German village. It looked so awesome! Beers are served in steins and at night, as we discovered, a huge hall is erected to replicate the tents at Oktoberfest. There was a stage with live music at the front, then just long lines of tables that everyone was sitting at, and all the drink and food stalls around the rim (but still inside the tent). The four of us went in here and had a few drinks and were just blown away by how busy it was and how awesome the atmosphere was. It was a Wednesday night yet it was packed to capacity. So many people were in Christmas jumpers (which is a BIG thing over here) and it was just such a cool buzz. 

This quick (terrible quality, sorry) video gives you an idea of what it was like inside the Bavarian village hall. 

Aaron gave me this teddy he won in a fairgound game, and this is it on the train back to High Wycombe with me. It was such a pain to carry on the train that I took it into a charity shop in Wycombe so I didn't have to cart it on the bus back to Lane End. I haven't told Aaron yet, hopefully he doesn't mind! I'm sure a little kid would love it more than me anyway, so hopefully it made a nice xmas present for a little one :)

The next day we checked out, went to the train station, had breakfast and then Aaron had to leave to head back to Gatwick for his flight back to Ireland. It was a quick visit but it was so much fun! Cannot wait for more visits from friends and family next year!

I was dreading Christmas day a bit this year because I had to work and I knew it was going to be insanely busy and hard and tiring and all that. But it actually wasn't too bad! We had plenty of staff on and I got to do the bar with Ron which was a nice change. It was stupidly busy but we coped. Apparently we did 150 people. Afterwards, 7 of us stayed on for a Christmas meal. There was Kevin (head chef), Ewan (sous chef who lives-in), Alison (waitress), Carlos Posse (used to work at the G&A and came back to help for the day), Kas (our Lithuanian floor manager), Costin (Romanian dessert chef who lives-in) and myself. Usually the owners Carlos and Joy work on Christmas day and sit down with the staff but this year they were with family because Carlos's brother is very sick with cancer. The meal was delicious! We had carrots, brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, mini bread loaves, stuffed turkey wrapped in bacon, red cabbage, braised beef, pork belly and all the relevant sauces and trimings. It was GREAT. And for dessert we had chocolate mousse in brandy baskets, christmas pudding with brandy sauce, panacotta and cheese. Lovely company as well.

Our dinner spread - not the best lighting but the food was excellent, trust me!

My kiwi friend Biana came in to the pub on Christmas eve and gave me this kiwiana cracker! (Sorry I don't know how to rotate the picture on here). I also got a christmas gift from Costin, Linda and Tamsin and cards from Ian, Sue, Tamsin, Ron, Linda, Jaclyn, Carlos&Joy and Mum &Dad. Mum and Dad also sent me a lovely Christmas present which arrived on Christmas Eve! 

I also had to work boxing day, but only from 11-5pm which wasn't so bad. It was quite busy though! Going to the pub is such a big thing over here, regardless of whether it's Christmas or not. Even on Christmas day we had all the regulars popping in for pints. Not staying as long as usual, but still popping in. Boxing day night Costin and I went round to Linda's home for another Christmas dinner. It was really yummy, we had roast turkey and lamb, parsnips, potatoes, carrots, peas, yorkshires and all the trimmings. Then chocolate cake and cheesecake for dessert! Linda has a beautiful family and their hospitality was so nice. We played UNO and Trivial Pursuit afterwards which was fun.

Even though I've been away from my friends and family this Christmas, and I miss them terribly, it's still been great. I'm so thankful for the friends I've made over here. They're some of the warmest people I've ever met and I feel really blessed to have them in my life. CHEESY I know, but very true.

xx

Just English things

When I moved to England there were a few things I found strange, as is the case whenever you get to a new country! Each country has it's own way of doing things, and it turns out that while England and New Zealand are super similar in a lot of ways, there were a few things that stood out to me when I first arrived on this side of the globe.

1) Traffic lights - In NZ the lights change from green to orange to red, orange meaning it's time to slow down cause they're gonna be red soon! Over here it's the other way round. Lights go orange after red, just before they go green again, to signal to drivers that they can get ready to go again.

2) Street signs - This one confused the heck out of me! When I arrived at Kings Cross Station after 30 hours of travel and knew I had to find Kings Cross Road a few blocks over, I immediately looked for street signs on poles. But lo and behold they were nowhere to be seen! I was slightly freaking out at this point because I had no internet on my phone to use google maps, and I couldn't see a street sign anywhere. I ended up asking a woman at a market stall nearby, who pointed me in the right direction. Then as I was walking towards the hostel I spotted one! The street signs are stuck on the side of the buildings! No white poles with blue street signs on them like in NZ. Since then, I've discovered that this is customary across Europe.

3) E-cigarettes - I don't think I saw a single e-cigarette in NZ. In England they're everywhere, especially in London. I saw hundreds as soon as I got out of the train station. Some people call them 'vapes' because they're 'vaporizers' and people use them for vaping.

4) Greetings - One of the most common greetings here in England is 'Are you alright?' or 'You alright?' which I found odd at first. In NZ you'd only ask a person if they were alright if they looked upset or if they'd injured themselves or something! So the first few times I was greeted in this way over here I was like 'yeah...I'm fine...why?' and was wondering if I had an upset look on my face or something! Fully used to it now though and when I eventually return to NZ I'll probably find myself using it, and getting a strange look in reply! Haha.

There are lots of other things, but these are all I could think of at the moment. I need to write them down when I think of them. So this will probably be a post I'll add to in future. And here are some more pictures of my time being a tourist in London...

Weird floaty Yoda wanting our money in Trafalgar Square. 

Me outside Buckingham Palace.

Squirrels are everywhere! I got excited when I saw my first squirrel.

The changing of the guards outside St James' Palace.

That's all for now. Be back soon! xx

Amsterdam

Last week I had two and a half days off work, so I did a quick trip to Amsterdam. Flights were only 50 pound return and the flight from Luton airport was only 50 minutes! This is what I love about Europe. Whenever I travel to another country, the first thing I do after touching down is locate the place I'm staying at. Even if I get there well before check-in time, I like to know where I'm going to come back to, and where I can orientate myself from. Plus the front-counter staff are always super helpful with giving directions and will often keep your bags safe for you so you don't have to lug them around with you for the rest of the day. When I arrived at Amsterdam Schipol airport (where by the way, the male customs officers, policemen and currency counter workers are SERIOUSLY good looking), I took a train (it was double-decker which was interesting!) to Amsterdam central station and then took a tram from there to the stop nearest my hostel. When I got to the tram stop I was kind of confused as to how you paid for the trip, so I just jumped on the next tram, took a seat and figured someone came to collect money or something. But then I saw that everyone who boarded the tram after me put a card to a card-reader just inside the tram doors, before sitting down and then again before exiting. I was a bit worried then, because I didn't have a card and hadn't made any payment when I boarded. Oops! Plus the intercom kept saying "don't forget to check-out before exiting the tram". The last thing I wanted was to get fined as soon as I arrived in the country! But there wasn't anything I could do because you couldn't buy these card thingys on board. Sooooo I jumped off at the station I needed to and got the journey for free. I felt really bad for it, buuuuut it wasn't intentional.

I stayed at a place called StayOk Vondelpark, which was super easy to find. It was only about a 10 minute walk from the tram stop and I'd figured out the route before leaving England so it was no problem. The roads of Amsterdam are interesting though! There are tram tracks everywhere, cycle lanes that aren't marked as cycle lanes (I almost got hit by a cyclist a dozen times) and just general mayhem everywhere, so you really have to have your wits about you and be concentrating at all times. I got to my hostel unscathed though, and was in time to check-in to my room. It was such a nice hostel too! Super clean and modern, and my room has an ensuite bathroom, instead of a shared one down the hall which is always a bonus. There wasn't anyone else in my room when I got there, which was kinda nice actually.

Once I got sorted I decided to head out to check out some museums, which were literally just down the road. It was rainy and cold - perfect museum weather. I first went to the Rijk Museum, which is basically a 3-floor art gallery. It's the one that the I AMSTERDAM letters are outside, and the building itself is a sight to behold.

 The back entrance to the Rijk Museum

And the famous letters at the front entrance - I'm under the M!

I spent about 2 hours at this museum, it was absolutely fantastic. The main attractions were the large amounts of original Rembrandt's and a few Van Gogh's. I've decided I love Rembrandt's works but am not a massive fan of Van Gogh. I love how Rembrandt's works depict historical figures and events, and the amount of detail in them.

 Inside the Rijk Museum

Van Gogh's self portrait

Rembrandt's Night Watch - this painting is 3.6 x 4.4m and has ridiculous amounts of detail.

I loved this Rembrandt - Man in Oriental Dress - I just think he has so much personality, I love the way light is portrayed and I love his jewels.

Description of the above painting.

One thing I was delighted to come across in the Rijk Museum was the Doll's House of Petronella Oortman. I have recently finished reading The Miniaturist which is all about Petronella Oortman and her husband Johannes Brandt, who was a wealthy Dutch merchant, and the amazing dolls house he gave her as a wedding present. I had no idea they were historical figures and that the dolls house was real!! So to come across her actual dolls house in the museum was a real treat. It's HUGE and incredibly detailed and exactly as described in the book. I'm guessing the author spent many a day at the museum, staring at this dolls house.  Apparently having realistic dolls houses was a popular thing in 17th century Holland. 

The intricate interior. The house was made to replicate the Oortman's actual home.

Description of the dolls house.

This photo gives you an idea of the size of the thing.

Another gem in the Rijk musuem was the research library. Libraries are one of my favourite things in the world, and this one was just so impressive. It's the largest public art history library in The Netherlands, with works collected since 1885.

Isn't it amazing?!

I had to get a selfie inside. lol.

I left the museum at closing time and it was dark outside, so I decided to walk around and find a supermarket to get something for dinner. I found one, which was called 'Albert Hijn' which is a chain of supermarkets, apparently! I had no idea what 'supermarket' was in dutch so was just wondering around until I found it! I grabbed some food and took it back to the hostel. There was still noboby in my room so I ate my meal then spent the rest of the night reading the diary of Anne Frank before going to bed early (it had been an early morning) in preparation for the coming day.

I woke up to a roommate! Yay! Her name was Gabriella and she was from Brazil! She was super nice, and we went down to breakfast together after getting ready that morning. The breakfast spread at the hostel was epic! Cold meats and cheese, eggs, fresh bread rolls, breads and lots of spreads (including pots of nutella - yuss), fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereals, tea, coffee and juices! We were stoked, and made sure we had a big brekkie to keep us going. Gabriella hadn't booked anything to do that day so at breakfast was deciding what to do. I'd booked on a cycle tour that day, so unfortunately we didn't see much of each other for the rest of the day. But my tour didn't start till 12 so after breakfast we wandered down to the Albert Cuypmarkt - a huge street market, for a bit of a browse. It was an exceptional market, and it's there every day of the week. It had everything from clothes and shoes to furniture, homewares, gadgets, flowers, cheese, dutch baked goods, fried chicken, chocolates...you name it! 

So many lovely flowers

These flowers were glittery! Weird!

The Dutch do love their cheese.

Mmmmmmmm chocolate...

Dutch baked goods. The smell was divine!

After the market we parted ways (she went on a canal tour) and I went to meet up with my bike tour group. I did a city tour with the company Mike's Bike's (recommended by my sister who did one in Germany). We got some pretty sweet bikes to cruise around on and there were about 13 of us. Our tour guide was a super cool Canadian dude with a great sense of humour and extensive knowledge of dutch history. Cycling around Amsterdam is so much fun - it's really flat so it's not hard and with the cycle lanes, it's easy to get around. Plus cycling along the canals is so scenic. It's a great way to cover all the main sights as well. We went throught the lovely Vondelpark, to Museumplein (where all the main museums are - I went there on day one), through the stylish Jordaan area, past the Anne Frank House (the line was insane - I planned on going after the cycle tour but I would have had to wait at least 2 hours to get in. In the rain and cold wind. So I'll have to do that next time), through the Red Light District (wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - the girls had clothes on at least!), along the canals and ended up with a drink at a bar next to a windmill. It was so good, I would recommend it to anyone.

 Typical Amsterdam - houseboats and canals

The building with the white flag pole coming out of it is the Anne Frank House. The entrance is two houses down to the right, hence why you can't see the massive line to get in.

Windmill!

Charging points for electric cars are all over the city.

Pretty Amsterdam <3

That night my room mate and I went out for dinner and had bitterballen (traditional croquette type things) and dutch pancakes! They were very scrummy. The next morning I got an early bus to the airport and had to return to England. There is still so much I want to see and do in Amsterdam. Of all the cities I've been to, it's the one I want to return to the most. I loved it.

xx