Amsterdam and the end of the tour.

Well I feel like Ive been a bit slack. Ive been in Bristol with a computer in the room Im sleeping in for 4 days and Im only just updating this now.

So I left you at Heidleberg on the last night before we left for Amsterdam. The next day we headed off to Amsterdam but stopped on the way at a small town called Saint Goar; the home of the biggest free hanging cuckoo clock in the world. Before seeing the clock we stopped by one of the oldest makers of traditional germen beer steins. We had a talk from a guy about the history of the stein and then had a look around the shop. The range was incredible with steins for all sorts of years, events, places and even occupations along with a number of other random designs. They even had a couple of contiki steins made for the tours that pass through. A lot of them were fairly expensive, for instance the contiki ones were around 80 euro but I was able to find a smaller and cheaper one that I liked. Im looking forward to trying it out, they're made so that with the lid down the beer can stay cold for hours; not that itd last that long :D. After looking around the town; seeing the 3m high cuckoo clock, the teddy bears made by the first teddy bear manufacturer in the world and the home of the birkenstock shoes we jumped back on the couch and headed for Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is cool and very different from some of the other cities we visited. Around 735 000 people live in Amsterdam, there are also about 700 000 bicycles. In short bikes are everywhere and as nice as I found the dutch to be, they're psycos when they get on a bike.
After getting to the camp site we set up everything as normal and then all ventured into the city for a walkabout meal (meaning find your own) and a bit of a tour afterwards. After dinner I went with Lara, Kat, Sue and Ronan to a pub called the Grasshopper where we hung out until we had to meet up with the rest of the group just outside. We then ventured into the famous Red Light District of Amsterdam where window shopping is all the more different from other places as the 'merchandise' looks back at you. Photography is very much not allowed in the Red Light District and the bounces take a much heavier hand at enforcing the rule than your standard museum employee. After the walk through the red light district we went to a show of the type that is unique to Amsterdam and other than saying that I found it quite amusing at times, Ill leave it at that.

The next day we went to the small town of Edam and had another bike tour. While not as long or entertaining as the tour in Munich with no insane Irishman cracking jokes all the time it was none the less an enjoyable ride around the town. We paused to have a look at one of the famous sights of the Netherlands: a 17th century windmill that was still in use.
On the way back from Edam we stopped at a place that handmade cheese and clogs (in the same building). We were given the quickest rundown of cheese making in history then moved onto watch a crazy dutchman make the beginnings of a clog.
After getting back into Amsterdam we had free time so after some lunch a bunch of us headed to the house of Anne Frank, the setting of her diary and book. Unfortunately while we were lining up for it, the skies opened and it bucketed down and even with the protection of a number of umbrellas I at least got pretty wet. The museum/house was really interesting, it must've been hard living in such a small area. After that we went to a pancake cafe and I tasted some of the traditional Dutch pancakes; poffertjes which were really good in the cold weather.
We all met back up in the evening to have our last dinner together at Wok Cullinare, a asian style restaurant. While the dutch do have some traditional food, Amsterdam is a very multicultural place and they really enjoy all the foods of the world. It was a large and very tasty meal although I couldnt eat as much as Id have liked because of the poffertjes earlier.

The next morning was our last day of the tour and it was with a mixture of happiness and sadness that we packed up our very wet tents and air mattresses for the last time. The trip back to london was nicely broken up by the ferry ride to Dover and there was the handing out of photos, email addresses, tips for the crew and more than the usual singings of our day song: Before I Fall to Pieces by Razorlight.

That night, after dropping of our stuff at hotels and hostels we all went to the pub at the Royal National Hotel for some final farewell drinks. It was a good night and a good end to the tour.

And that was it, the end of a brilliant tour. Ive put some of the photos from the tour up one my facebook here, so check them out. I highly recommend a Contiki tour to anyone who goes traveling anywhere really. They offer tours all over the world. Thanks to everyone on the tour and most notably Kiralee, our Tour Manager, Imogen, our Super Cook and Rich, our Driver for the awesome job they did, although they probably wont read this :).


Im now in Bristol, staying with a couple of old friends from when I went to school over here: Xenie and Hannah. Ive spent most of the time lounging around and recovering from the tour but Ive seen a few of the sights of Bristol but Ill blog about that later. Im having a good time with them, its great to see them again after 12 years or so.

Until next time, have fun!

"One more drink and then Ill go."