Exploring Amsterdam - Day 2

Today we were once again a bit slow in the morning.  Steven, Nikki and I took a Uber to the Microbes Museum after breakfast - which ended up around 11.30am!  The Microbes Museum or Micropia was fascinating. We spent a couple of hours looking down microscopes and playing with interactive technology.  My favourite part was watching how Probiotic soaps worked, as opposed to antibacterial soaps.  I also loved the bedbug - taken with my cellphone down a microscope...

As soon as we finished in Micropia, we used antibacterial wipes to wash our hands cellphones, bag handles!  It had got us paranoid of bacteria!!

Afterwards we walked to the Coffee Salon to meet up with Michel and Anne.  It was a bit of a walk, and although I asked directions twice, I was always in the right direction which is pretty good for me. This is the Amstel River which we crossed. I have photos of the same river from a couple of years ago.

After a great Flat White at the coffee salon - probably the best flat white I've had for a while, we walked back into town, passing this beautiful remake of Rembrandt's 'Night Watch'.  It was really well done, and lots of people were getting photos..

Then it was through the flower markets, stunning place, all along the canals.  Shame I can't bring Tulip bulbs back to NZ - there were so many of them!

Then it was to the Canal House museum where we learned about the history of Amsterdam and how it was built, and in particular the foundations and why some of the buildings are leaning.

This is one of the canal houses that are on a lean.  Michel assures me that although it was on more of a lean than most, it's held for several hundred years so it's fine!

 Another walk - still stopping to take images because Amsterdam is really beautiful.

 Then to the Belgian pub where all we had a much needed beer after all our walking...

 I had the Raspberry Beer.  It was divine - intense flavours.  Probably the best beer I've ever had.

Anne then insisted Nikki and I tried the Cherry beer.  It wasn't as nice as the Raspberry, but it got better the longer it was open!

After that one, I also tried the Peach - which was also fabulous.  And before anyone say I would have been drunk - these beers were only 2.5%, so I was fine. On the other hand, I can feel my veins still full of sugar!

On way home we called into the supermarket again and Anne got the ingredients to make a dutch dish - sausages and mash!

Tomorrow I'm off toBarcelona!

Exploring Amsterdam

Flying into the Netherlands was lovely.  Everything looked so precise. Even flying over the city there were apartjments all laid out beautifully with green space in between...

Anne took Nikki, Steven and I on a walking tour around the main part of Amsterdam.  Walking along the canals, nipping into cheese shops to try cheese, trying the local herring, and finally having a beer at the end in Vondelpark.

Narrow Streets...

 Canals. Everywhere people were enjoying the summery day and eating and drinking around at cafe's next to the canals.

 We made lots of friends everywhere...

I was fascinated in the reflections of the canal - this is the Red Light District....

 In a shop window!  Should I try it?  Will it help the pain in my foot?  I wonder!

 And if  icecream isn't your thing - there's cookies too!

 Or some energy drinks....

 We did some cheese tasting - above garlic and Cumin, below green pesto and lavender.  I loved the lavender.  Thee were also vanilla and rum, which was just plain.... weird!

 Out in the street we tried the Herring and pickles.  Nikki and I loved it - so much so we got some for pre dinner with cheese and wine as well.

 Stopped for a break and someone offered to take a photo of us all!

 And this cheese was DIVINE.  Shame we can't take it home to NZ!

 Although rather expensive...  I'm sure it's worth it though!

 And a shop full of ducks.  Just what you need.  I didn't see the 'no photos' sign on the wall, but it did get pointed out to me AFTER I had taken the photo!  Not sure why the ducks though - one of those dutch mysteries!

 And Cheers!  Wit Beer in the Teahouse in Vondelpark at the end of the day.

I'm still jetlagged and fell asleep at the dinner table so put myself to bed early - Still woke at midnight though, and again at 5am.  So popped up early to do this.  Today we're heading to the Microbes Museum and Utrecht.

By the way - all these photos are taken on my phone as the little computer I have with me won't read my RAW files from the Canon 7D2.  Even though it's Lightroom 5.7.  If anyone has any clue - please drop me a line!

Berlin - Day 1 - November 2014

Time I got the blog going again.  Finally updating my travel photos again from November 2014. Slack I know but I've been busy. I never did keep a diary of my travels on this trip, so my memories are just going to be from the photos.

After Amersfoort in the Netherlands and saying bye to Jay and Gordon, I flew out the next morning to Berlin. I got a front seat in the plane (first class on a budget airline), and after landing, walked to the train station to catch the train. After much hemming and hawing I finally managed to get the ticket machine to work and get a ticket, but had no idea if I had the right one.  Fortunately a nice young man helped me, and then helped me find my station as we had to change once or twice, and had great difficulty trying to find the right platforms. Really laughable at the end. The young man was from Slick Steve and the Gangsters - which I found his poster plastered right outside my backpackers!

I booked into Wombats, Berlin, in a six bed dorm, but the only bed available was a top bunk, which wasn't really suitable for me with my balance. No one was prepared to change, so I had to upgrade to a private room, which ended up being really nice.  Dumped my luggage and then headed across the road to eat at a thai place for lunch as I was starving.

Once sated, I headed out to explore, caught the train down to Alexanderplatz, then down another two stations to look around.  The architecture was amazing...

Remnants of the Berlin Wall were around, many decorated with art...

I enjoyed looking at the German Treats, but I didn't try as I was full of Thai food!

I'm always a sucker for merry go rounds - especially with the lights on.  I wished I had had my tripod!

This was the weekend of the 30th anniversary of the wall coming down, so there was a lot of history on show...

More wall art...

Okay this is a red elephant, but I have no idea what it meant.  But took a photo anyway!

Found a garden of gold statues...

Then made my way to the Memorial of Murdered Jews of Europe..

This memorial is for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. It consists of a 19,000 m² (4.7-acre) site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae", arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The stelae are 2.38 m (7 ft 10 in) long, 0.95 m (3 ft 1 in) wide and vary in height from 0.2 to 4.8 m (7.9 in to 15 ft 9.0 in). They are organized in rows, 54 of them going north–south, and 87 heading east–west at right angles but set slightly askew. An attached underground "Place of Information" holds the names of all known Jewish Holocaust victims, obtained from the Israeli Museum Yad Vashem.

Building began on April 1, 2003, and was finished on December 15, 2004. It was inaugurated on May 10, 2005, sixty years after the end of  WWII, and opened to the public two days later. It is located one block south of the Brandenburg Gate, in the Friedrichstadt neighborhood. The cost of construction was approximately €25 million

It was starting to get pretty dark so as I was still jetlagged decided to head back to the Hostel.  Caught the train back to Alexanderplatz, and then walked back through the shopping areas.  Wanted to buy a few things, but couldn't because lack of space in luggage!

Amersfoort, Netherlands

Despite crashing straight away the night before, I was still wide awake at 5am. I rested a few more hours then got up and showered, then moved my stuff back up into Anne’s apartment.  Anne cooked another fabulous breakfast – tomatoes, herbs and eggs – it was a great start to the day!

Gordon and Anne then went and pick up a new sofa for Anne’s apartment, then we all jumped into the rental car and took it back to Hertz - the rental car that is, not the sofa!  It took some time finding a petrol station due to road works, but we eventually found the way.  We then caught the bus back to Utrecht central station, then a train down to Amersfoort.

Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. The city is growing quickly but has a well-preserved and protected medieval centre. Amersfoort is one of the largest railway junctions in the country, because of its location on two of the Netherlands' main east-west and north-south rail lines. The city celebrated its 750th birthday in 2009.

We wandered around stopping for apple cake and coffee, taking photos, and enjoying the atmosphere.  Beautiful town, and old, gorgeous buidings.

The old cathedral door was amazing...

Lovely outdoor cafes....

I asked the three musketeers to line up against the wall for a shoot.  This is what they did!  I shot them! 

The houses along the canals were interesting - some looked like they had little studios. Many had little boats...

The wildlife was fenced in to stop them attacking the tourists...

 The old castle walls still had medieval doors and shutters...

 Remains of settlements in the Amersfoort area from around 1000 BC have been found, but the name Amersfoort, after a ford in the Amer River, today called the Eem, did not appear until the 11th century. The city grew around what is now known as the central square, the Hof, where the Bishops of Utrecht established a court in order to control the "Gelderse Vallei (nl)" area. It was granted city rights in 1259 by the bishop of Utrecht, Henry I van Vianden. A first defensive wall, made out of brick, was finished around 1300. Soon after, the need for enlargement of the city became apparent and around 1380 the construction of a new wall was begun and completed around 1450. The famous Koppelpoort, a combined land and water gate, is part of this second wall.

we wandered into the main centre as well which was very modern in comparison...

On the way back to the station we went under a bridge that had a very interesting chandelier in the niddle!

The main entrance to the old town.

We stumbled upon a a craft beer brewery and decided we were up for a tasting!

When we came out we saw the weather was changing and the clouds were really interesting...

To me this image sums up the Netherlands.  Old buildings, and bikes, cobblestone roads and pathways, and simply gorgeous landscapes!