Monday 8 May 2006
Highlights: Anne Frank House, Amsterdam Sex Museum
Early in the day I visited the Anne Frank House. It felt unreal to be there after reading her diary in High School. The dark days of the Nazi Regime in Europe.
Nathan's Insights
World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas
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Sunday 7 May 2006
Highlights: Half day bike ride AmsterdamI started the day with a bike tour of the city and surrounding areas. Our guide was Shawn who promised us 3 lies during the trips (and delivered!). The ride went for about half a day and covered 26 kms (from memory). It was a very easy to ride in Amsterdam as there is no hills. Highlights of the bike ride included stopping near the Red Light District, stopping at a windmill with a statue of Rembrandt, we then moved onto a cheese and clog making farm.
I learnt a lot about Amsterdam, including how they stayed out of World War 1 and originally this was a very religious place! Catching up with Belinda and our new friends from Canberra Rob and Jo we had dinner and headed up to the Red Light District. It is very hard to describe. There were numerous tourists walking around looking at the ‘working girls’ behind glass windows.
Never take your camera out in this area, the working girls will beat you up, a tourist got in a lot of trouble in front of me.
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Saturday 6 May 2006
Highlights: English ‘lads’ stripping and singingThis is mostly a travel day. After going on another walk around historic Bruges our BusAbout bus picked us up late at around 2.30 pm and we were officially on the road again for a quick trip to Amsterdam. During the bus rides you get information on the new place we are heading.
I found out XXX is the symbol for Amsterdam representing the third fights they needed to win to survive; flood, plague and fire. XXX is the mark on all exports. Amsterdam legalised porn first and shipped it around the world and that is the reason today we know such videos as XXX.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that most of The Netherlands is reclaimed land (from rivers or sea). This is the main reason for the canals (to stop flooding as under sea level) and the windmills (to pump the water).
Catching up with my new travel buddy Belinda we found out the meeting place for the bike tour we are both doing tomorrow and went out for a nice Italian dinner (we got in around 6.30 pm and it took about an hour to check in).
The night finished with a show in the ‘beer’ hall of the hostel. About 20 drunk English lads singing up a storm and eventually removed all their gear to cheering other backpackers. I’ve never seen so many women rushing around with their cameras clicking 🙂
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Thursday & Friday 4-5 May 2006
Highlights: Meeting fellow backpackers, Bruges Market Square, Chocó-Story Museum, Surviving (just) the Belgium Beer Challenge, the CanalsSetting out early I managed to find the BusAbout pickup in Paris to begin this new phase of the trip. I couldn’t believe how many people were there. There are two buses with one going direct to Amsterdam and the other going to Bruges with about 44 people on my Bruges bus.
On arrival at 1 pm in Bruges I checked into the Snuffel Hostel and I did some washing before going on an informative Bruges walking tour. I shared a dorm with 3 other people, one couple and one girl (Belinda). After the walking tour Belinda and I had a dinner in the Market Square, a luxury to be sure.
Next morning got up and went out to discover the city of Bruges. The city in the 16th century was huge, over 200,000 people mostly due to ships coming up the canals. However the canals eventually proved too hard to sail up (for big ships) and the city basically stopped at that stage. Currently there are 116,000 residents. As a result the city looks very old and historic.
After getting myself lost I visited the Chocó-Story and enjoyed the museum. Belgium is famous for; beer, waffles, chips & chocolate which I happily gave a try!
The city hall here is magnificent. During the night I undertook the 5 beer challenge, all at least 8% strength. I actually had a few more as well and somehow I found my way back to the hostel at around 2.30 am (this city is still awake at that time)!
Onto Amsterdam now, I’ve heard a lot of interesting stories.
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Wednesday 3 May 2006
Highlights: Exploring the LouvreWhat an exhausting visit to the Musee Du Louvre. Despite having a special access pass I still had to wait about 35 minutes to get though security (the world is so serious now). Now this museum is massive, and the crowds can almost overwhelm you but once you ignore the crowd you will experience some of the most amazing art in human history.
A real highlight was the Venus de Milo, which you had to queue up to see. I didn’t realise they had so much Egypt Art, I suppose it goes back to the French Empire days.
The Mona Lisa was quite good as well (except the crowds) and surprisingly small. You’re not supposed to take photos of the paintings but I got a couple. While I was there I got in the background of a news story.
The Museum allows some authorised painters to copy masterpieces and it was interesting to watch them paint. The Roman and Greek Antiquities are worth a visit as well. Be warned you need to be rested before going to this Museum.
Tomorrow I’m off very early to Belgium, hopefully I can find out where to catch the bus from.
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Tuesday 2 May 2006
Highlights: Paris sights including Notre Dame Cathedral and the famous Moulin Rouge, Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation.I had a very big day today deciding to explore Paris today by foot (which was very exhausting).
In order I saw;
- Hotel Des Invalides (the revolution started here),
- Moulin Rouge,
- Conciergerie (14th Century royal palace & later a prison / torture chamber and lockup for 3,000 victims of the guillotine),
- Palais de Justice (Law Courts), and finally
- Notre Dame Cathedral.
It’s amazing just how much Paris has to explore. Notre Dame was built between 1163 and 1345 and I’m still not sure how they built it at all. It’s still a working church and can hold over 6,000 people. As this was the first good (weather) day in Paris the crowds were huge.
It’s interesting to note Notre Dame is considered the centre of Paris and distances are measured from here (in Melbourne and most places it is the GPO). I finished the day with the moving Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation. They had a tribute to all those who suffered under the Nazis in Paris during World War 2. Tomorrow I visit the famous Musee De Louvre, which should make for a very full day.
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Monday 1 May 2006
Highlights: Eurostar Train to ParisGetting up one hour earlier than I needed to (as I hadn’t updated my clock as was still on Paris time) I said my goodbyes to Jon & Jeanne (well Jon anyway, it was early) and made my way to the Eurostar Train.
Have to say it was a great ride taking about 2.5 hours, watching the English & French countryside was very relaxing. I eventually found my hotel which is actually very good. I better enjoy it since it’s my last one for around 2.5 months. After my last visit to Paris I decided to take it easy today and just scope out the area before a big day tomorrow.
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Sunday 30 April 2006
Highlights: The London EyeA very big day spend going around London. Jeanne had booked a trip on the London Eye which gave us a great view of the city. We also saw Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and numerous other famous buildings. London has some much history it’s hard not to run into something important or impressive.
I’m very glad I ended up spending the weekend in London. Tomorrow I’m off back to Paris via the Eurostar Tunnel Train, it should be good. -
Saturday 29 April 2006
Highlights: Hampton Court Palace, Riding on a London double decker bus -
Friday 28 April 2006
Highlights: Catching up with my best friendI left Paris today and arrived at Heathrow Airport about midday after a 215 mile flight. Security was much heavier at this airport than at Paris.
I meet Jon and his girlfriend Jeanne B. They explained we had a change of plans and were staying at Lise-Anne’s unit (Jeanne’s sister) instead of at Jon’s flat and I now had a bed instead of a lounge. We did a little site seeing and had an Italian dinner. I was very glad to see my very good friend Jon again (he left Australia on Boxing Day 4 months earlier).
Nathan's Insights 