Amsterdam

Took leave on this day to make use of my Eurail Pass. Made a WONDERFUL day trip to Amsterdam.

The plan was to take a 10-hr long overnight train ride to Amsterdam, spend the day there and head to Düsseldorf in the evening for the weekend. Made a reservation for a bed on Tuesday cos the cheaper seats were all sold out! It was my first time really travelling alone. Felt kinda scared but.. it was exciting!

I left work at 915pm on Thursday. Had some lame faxing to do and the fax machine was so slow and lousy, I had to scan all the documents and send via email instead. Haven jotted down places I wanna go to in Amsterdam, haven packed, haven eaten, I was quite afraid I'll be late for the train! (As u all know, I always late one :P )

The train departs at 12:22am and I left my place at 11:50am. Rush rush rush but the rush was in vain cos the train was late by 20 mins! Whilst waiting, I thought that this is quite bad as I might miss the free walking tour that starts at 11am! Then my plans will be all messed up! Ah!

My journey starts here!

Boarded the train, found my bed, which looked very precarious as it was the 3rd level and very high! I think it's at least 2 m high! Reserving a bed turned out to be a great choice for my 10-hr long journey to Amsterdam. Slept from 1am to 8:30am! :D

My height's about the 2nd Bunk!

To my surprise, we reached Amsterdam Centraal Station on time, at 10:30am. Deposited my bag and headed to the free tour meeting location. It was cloudy, windy, and cold. Amsterdam Centraal Station looks very impressive I think! Like Harry Potter liddat. Hehe.

Amsterdam Centraal

Walked to Dam Square to meet the rest of the group, got my number and waited for the tour to start. Was feeling kinda outta place as I was alone. Thought it's gonna be a very passive tour where I simply walk around with the whole group, kinda like a loner... :(
Until Kenny came up and talked to me :D Kenny is a Hong Kong-er who grew up in Australia. Architect and great company! :D Also gotta know Marcelo, a Brazilian guy who worked at Deloitte as an auditor. Coolios too but he disappeared halfway through the tour. haa..

Dam Square - Royal Palace

National Monument

As the tour started, we had to take a group photo. The tour guide, an hyper, animated Aussie suggested that we do something crazy, like throw her in the air. At this point, he was pointing at me. -_-lll and yea, 3 big guys started to hold me up while the others posed for the pic. 1, 2, 3, throw! I very dots. hahahaa.. It was a nice start to my trip I guess. HAHA

Didn't understand much of what the guide was talking about cos of his accent. Saw various places like De Waag, Niewe Markt, Oude Kerk, Red light district, etc but most I didn't take pics of cos I was talking to Kenny and Marcello along the way. Despite that, I think the buildings in Amsterdam are pretty cos of their bricks facade. But of cos, they look dangerous too cos they're all leaning slightly forward!! Weird architecture. haha

Odd-looking Dutch buildings and crazy tour guide

Highest bridge in Amsterdam, 3.5m above sea lvl!

Bigijnhof - one of Amsterdam's oldest inner courts

Narrowest building (omg! how to live!)

Pee deflectors (LOL!)

The tour ended 1 hour later than what I'd expected, after which Kenny, 2 australian sisters and I went to a cafe the tour guide recommended to eat meat croquettes. It was a deep fried snack filled with meat paste. Crispy outside and nua nua inside. Quite nice :)

Wanted to visit Anne Frank House and Van Gogh Museum initially but as time was short, I decided to just visit Anne Frank House nearby the Cafe. It was very interesting as it's like experience a storybook scene. But of cos, this story is a true one. It was a really good hide-out. Sad that they were betrayed.

Visited the House alone but met Kenny at 515pm to walk around together. Walked along the Singel Canal where the floating flower markets (Bloemenmarkt) were. Not a big fan of flowers and there weren't crazily many flowers. They were closing shop too. haha..

Bloemenmarkt

Ordered Dutch frites from a store recommended by the tour guide. Fries are sold everywhere in Amsterdam and they are no ordinary fries! They are super chunky (bigger than Mos Burger's!), fried on the spot and eaten with a big scoop of Mayonnaise. The store I ordered from boasts a variety of 22 different sauces! Had Samurai sauce. A spicy mayo sauce. It was.. YUMMY! but sinful :( heh

1.5 hours left in Amsterdam, we went to Rembrandt Square, where Europe's largest LCD screen is at. It was nothing special though, didn't even bother taking photo :P Then went to Dam Square once again; I wanted to have a last impression of the place :)

Rembrandt Square - Guess who?

Dam Square - Royal Palace

Spent the last hour walking through Amsterdam's famous Red Light District. Basically scantily clad women sitting behind full-lengthed transparent windows. Lots of sex shops and cinemas with posters everywhere with no censorship. Interesting place. For guys I mean. haha.

v(^_^)v

After retrieving my bag, Kenny accompanied me all the way to my platform, where we exchanged contacts, took a photo together and parted ways. It was such a lovely time in Amsterdam! At least I was not alone throughout, unexpectedly :)

Departing to Dusseldorf, I had to transit 3 times. Another adventure began. The train at Amsterdam was late by 15 mins, causing me to miss the next train. On my 2nd train, I met a friendly but seemingly high (on weed maybe) South American guy. Then the train attendant came over and told me that the last train to Germany has left. At Venlo Station, 10-15 pple heading for Germany gathered while the train personnel made arrangements for Taxi. Unfortunately, the taxi ride was to ANOTHER train station, where we could transit to Germany.

Travelled with 4 other pple: a russian MBA student studying in Roterdam, a South American elderly who is a sociologist and lectured and several universities, a high-class chef from somewhere in Africa and a german student. Interesting thing was, all of us heading to Germany, were from different continents and together, they struck a very insightful conversation about intercultural relationships and experiences. I had such an enjoyable time listening to especially the 3 of them!

Finally, I reached Dusseldorf at 12:30am instead of 11:30pm. Took a taxi since the last tram was gone. On board, I had an interesting convo with the turkish taxi driver again! He talked about his family history of over 200 years in Istanbul, that Istanbul is the most beautiful city in the world (albeit from a biased perspective) and that the pple in Dusseldorf are very arrogant. FYI, Dusseldorf is filled with industries and firms, thus the people, mostly business people, are fairly wealthy.

The convo ended with him asking me what I was studying. I replied "Business" in German terms. Good thing he asked me that last. Otherwise he might think I'm an arrogant person too! haha.

My first travel alone was very very satisfying. Met so many interesting people along the way and I've learnt alot. Looking forward to other travels! :)