This trip may prove to have been our last before returning to Canada. It also may prove to have been our least enjoyable. You’ll notice as you read this post that there are no photos. I shall now explain why.
The night before we left we packed most of what we needed and made sure all of our electronic devices were charged. The next day, while on the bus on the way to Birmingham airport, we realized that we had left the camera battery at home.
Not an auspicious start.
We made it to the airport, checked in, and waited. We went into an electronics store to price inexpensive digital cameras. We decided against getting disposables because we’ve been spoiled by the quality of our Canon Rebel. Sure it’s not a super high quality DSLR, but it’s miles better than a lot of cameras. So we decided that the next best thing would be to buy the least expensive point-and-shoot digital camera we could find. We’d use it on the trip, and then have it to use in case carting around our Rebel around was not convenient. We also decided against simply buying a new battery for our Rebel for fear that it wold not have much of a charge and would die halfway through the trip.
Anyway, The cameras at the airport were a little pricey for our tastes, so we waited until we got to Amsterdam. We arrived one short but terribly bumpy flight later, and collapsed at our hotel for the night. The next morning we found an electronics store and purchased a small Fujifilm for €79.99, and a 2GB SD card for €11.99. Not too shabby. We enjoyed the camera, and took pictures of beautiful Amsterdam all day.
That night, we went on a pub crawl. I think you can see where this might be going.
We didn’t actually lose it on the pub crawl. We lost it in the cab on the way home. I had been a little too enthusiastic about the pub crawl and drank too much too quickly, resulting in Kat deciding to take me home a little earlier than anticipated. The way we figure it, the camera (and my wallet, incidentally) fell out of Kat’s purse as we were getting out of the cab, and because she was so preoccupied with keeping me from collapsing or something, she didn’t notice.
Total damage (including the money in my wallet): about €180, and a couple of anxiety-ridden, self-pity-filled days.
Since disposable cameras were nowhere to be found in Amsterdam, we have no pictures from there. Which is a shame because it really is a very nice city. You can’t walk five minutes with out seeing a canal. We did make our way through some of the more interesting areas of Amsterdam, but I will refrain from detailing them on this very public blog. If you want to know about them, drop me an e-mail or a DM on Twitter.
We took a walking tour of the city where we learned many interesting things, including the fact that the highest point in Amsterdam is a staggering one metre above sea level, and that marijuana is actually illegal in The Netherlands, but it is tolerated by the police, who put their resources toward fighting harder drugs like cocaine and heroin.
I think we have officially shunned hostel living. For our past few trips we’ve had truly fantastic hotels. This one was the Amsterdam Fashion Hotel. Normal per-night rate? About €250. We paid £200 for four nights. It had a separate tub and shower, and completely separate room for the toilet. That is how I rate the fanciness of a hotel: the amount of rooms the bathroom is split into. There are pics of the hotel here: http://www.westcordhotels.com/hotels/Fashion-Hotel-Amsterdam
Amsterdam is a really great city which I would love to go back to one day. Next time I won’t forget the camera battery.
We took a Eurolines bus from Amsterdam to our next stop: Brussels, Belgium. We really only had three goals for Brussels: eat waffles, have some chocolate, and drink some beer. Mission accomplished.
Brussels kind of smelled like pee. Maybe it was just the area around our hotel, but there was an omnipresent pee smell.
Our first night there we just wandered around the city and found the Grand Place (pronounced “plasse” because it’s French). This became the hub for our wanderings, because it was really the most picturesque part of the city. Lots of beautiful tall old buildings surrounding a large cobblestone plaza, lined with small shops and restaurants. We managed to find a disposable camera in Brussels, so we at least got some pictures in the end.
We stopped off at a bar and sampled some Belgian beer. I had one that was 7.5% alcohol, but you’d never be able to tell by the way it tasted. This is one thing I like about Europe: beers can have varying alcohol content and still taste like beer. There are some less-than-4% alcohol beers here in England that don’t taste like water like light beers in Canada do. They have actual flavour. Now that I know it’s possible, I finally know that there is no excuse for piss like Coors Light other than to sell beer to people who don’t like beer.
Belgians also like to add flavours to their beers. Apple, cherry, chocolate, strawberry, whatever. I tried a couple of the cherry varieties, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something that tasted like a Bacardi Breezer or other similar drink, but what I got was most definitely a beer, but with a hint of cherry flavouring to it.
After a decent night’s sleep in our modest two-star hotel room, we set off for more exploring. We checked out a cathedral from the same mold as Paris’s Notre Dame, the famous Mannequin Pis statue, which is exactly what it sounds like: a statue that pees. It’s also a small child, which was more than a little unsettling. We then found a waffle stand to complete step two of our Brussels trifecta. We both had a waffle with bananas and Nutella and it was delicious. I am now torn between waffles and crêpes as my favourite things on which to eat bananas and Nutella. Step three, the chocolate, was completed by getting a small morsel shaped like — what else? — the Mannequin Pis from a proper chocolate shop. Mine was actually apple flavoured chocolate, which I don’t think I care to get again. It was just…weird.
After some more beer and a friendly pre-World Cup match between China and France (won 1-0 by China) on the bar’s TV, we decided to call it a night and a trip. The next day we took the Eurostar train through the Channel Tunnel to London, where we changed for Milton Keynes.
The beginning of the trip was kind of a bummer, but we tried to make the most of things and I think we ultimately succeeded. For our next trip we hope to be able to get to Rome for a few days after school ends in July, but if that doesn’t pan out, the next time I step on a plane it will be on July 31st, heading for Nova Scotia.
