My weekend in Amsterdam

Amsterdam centre, the classiest of signs, ferry fun, floating bed

A trip to Amsterdam with my closest friends has been on my to-do list for the past three years, however it wasn't until last weekend that I got to visit the city i'd heard so much about. Back in November myself, along with nine others, booked a dutch dash for one of my friends 21st birthday and on 8th January all gathered at a local pub ready to start a weekend of fun. 

I'd heard a lot of stories about Amsterdam from people I know that had previously done the trip, the main comment being that the ferry is the most fun and ultimately the best part. Well, they're right. Boarding the ferry at 6:45pm (you had to be on for 7pm, we were pushing it!), and after finally finding our cabin through the maze of corridors, we managed to unpack and get the drinks flowing by 7:15. 

The ferry entertainment kicked off as we set sail at 8:30pm and we were all soon singing along and possibly drowning out the singers on stage with our rendition of each of the songs - oops! After a long karaoke session to a variety of 80's and 90's classics and multiple attempts at drinking games that never really went to plan, we hit the casino. I say casino, it's more a single blackjack and roulette table placed towards the corner of the room. Regardless, we managed to cause havoc and ultimately spent the couple of hours we were there just screaming at people as to where they should place their chips; '24, 24! NO, IT'LL DEFINITELY BE 11'. Needless to say, it never actually landed on either. The highlight of the night was possibly a rather drunk man giving us multiple handfuls of chips to 'do what you want with them, just don't cash them in'. I think it goes without saying that we in fact did cash them in. I want to take this opportunity to thank him for the round of tequilas he unknowingly bought us - never again!

With plans to set our alarms for 6am (vile!) we finally decided to head to bed at 2am, not before heading to costa and attempting to haggle the woman for a pasty!

The next day we awoke bright and early ready to catch the coach and head into Amsterdam for the day. After a slight delay we finally got into Amsterdam at around 11am and were ready to explore. First stop, the red light district, of course. If only it was that easy. We somehow managed to head in the complete opposite direction and end up in a Mcdonalds. How very cultured of us. I have to say though, a spicy McChicken sandwich and green mayonnaise is not something I can stomach at 11:30 in a morning and so feel refreshed (ahem) we headed back out on our search for Amsterdam's most famous street once more. This search resulted in us doing one big 360 and ending up exactly where we started from, typical. After ending up in Amsterdam's shopping area, and passing a huge MAC store which I did nothing but think about for the rest of the day, we were left with no other choice but to ask someone for directions. 

After a nice man showed us the way, not before asking money off us for the privilege, we finally dipped and dived our way through more bikes than I care to remember, and ended up in the red light district. 

There's no denying that the place is an eye opener. Where else would you find every other building offering you a real life sex show and the chance to stand in a window yourself. No thank-you, I think i'll give that offer a miss. After a lot of umm-ing and ahh-ing we finally settled down in a little cafe in the middle of the district. 

A couple of ciders and some special cake (it did nothing to affect any of us and i'm left wondering whether in fact it was indeed just standard brownie) we headed back out onto the street with plans to see a show. Well, if you can't in Amsterdam, where can you. However, this idea didn't exactly go to plan. With a charge averaging on €45 each we decided to give it a miss and instead continued on a sight seeing walk around the city. These sights included a rotting bed floating down the canal that some of my friends thought may be used by people who wanted to pay a little extra for some fun. Honestly, I think i'd have paid extra not to touch it, it was disgusting and definitely would have collapsed with even the slightest touch. We, of course, found it hilarious either way. 

Time was getting on and with instructions to be back at the pick-up point by 5pm we decided to have a last few drinks in a pub before heading back. The returning coach was equally as uneventful as the one there and after a quick nap we had pulled back into the ferry port and were ready for another night of fun. After a quick freshen up we headed back down to the entertainment area with a quick stop in duty free to pick up an all important, and very necessary perfume purchase. The second night continued in a similar fashion to the first, with plenty of drinks and a whole lot more singing. 

As the night drew to a close and we ended up being the only ones left in the bar, we decided to request some songs. These included the classics of Will Young and Blue with a bit of Gary Barlow and R Kelly being thrown in - I think it's a good idea we were the only ones left because our music taste is clearly awful. 

The day in Amsterdam had been a full one, tiredness was starting to take over and by 1:30 we were ready for bed. We all woke up the next morning having not had nearly enough sleep and thankful for a day to do nothing but rest and sleep in our own beds - cabin beds are not the most comfy of things.

We all departed ways as we left the ferry with heaps of brilliant memories and plans to do it all over again in a few months.