Continuing from the last London post, on our last day in London fatty ham and i had a last min shopping spree at.. Primark. a girl can nv get enough of cheap thrills at primark. In our fervour to get our last shopping done we were late to take the chartered cab to london liverpool street. so the drivers had a last min discussion and decided to charge us extra for being 5 min late. wtf. was so pissed with this arrangment and exploded at the driver. how unethical it was to just impose penalty charges besides there was no clause stated beforehand. grrr..
That aside, we took the train from liverpool street to harwich to transfer to our overnight cruise to AMS, which was another highlight of the trip. 1st time on a cruise/ferry for me
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| Our route (in aqua) |
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| On the way to Harwich station |
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| inevitable luggage lugging |
As quoted from website, The
Stena Hollandica is the largest 'RoPax'
ferry in the world, a
63,000 ton floating hotel with over 1,400 beds in 538
cabins
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| stenaline :) |
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| Interor of the ferry |
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| Looking for our room machiam hotel |
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| Our quaint lil room |
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| Exploring the upper deck as it set sail |
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| Docked :) |
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| time to alight the ferry | |
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And arrived at Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands :)
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| cold foggy day |
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| Sheeps in the vast fields |
Alighted at rotterdam station, to take the connecting train to Amsterdam Centraal station.
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| Happily took the wrong train |
And we finally reached AMS after an hour or less. We were slightly ahead of schedule cos we blindly took the high speed thalys train, which had lesser stops and were faster. Had to top up 5 or 10 euros on top of our original train-cruise package. oh wells..
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Our apartment for the 2 nights :)
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| Tourisy Shot |
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| The beautiful architect of Centraal Station |
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| sights ard amsterdam |
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| As good as hitting jackpot |
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| All smiles for chinese food! |
After leaving our luggages in the apartment, went to book our day tours at AMS tourism office. Took a canal tour for half an hour, at ard 20 euros?
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| Inside the cabin |
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| Sights while on the tour |
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| 1 of the many canals in Ams |
After the tour, went to look for bong and her entourage. Her apartment was quite impressive (and more expensive), which was near to centraal station.
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| Went up the rooftop to snap afew pics |
Proceeded with dinner- cheese fondue. which was pretty good!
That pretty much sums up day 2 of amsterdam.
Day 3: amsterdam
Booked a tour for Keukenhof- Windmills-Cheese factory.
Another cold day in Europe.
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| 1st stop keukenoff gardens for beautiful tulips |
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| With the pretty dutch employee |
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| colourful tulips |
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| and more tulips :) |
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| photographer and his muse |
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| Hot dog snack |
Next stop Zaanse Schans Windmills
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| Damn cold! |
3rd stop fishing villages of Volendam and Marken
Took a boat next to neighbouring village
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| Traditional Clog making shop |
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| Clogs making demostration |
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| Traditional dutch headgear |
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| Shag. on the way back to town |
It was also Rembrance Day for the dutch. Witnessed a lil of the procession
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| Rembrance Day- Dam Square |
What began as a day to honor soldiers and civilians who lost their lives
in World War II, this national holiday now serves as a day to remember
the fallen from other wars and peacekeeping efforts, as well.
With
some exceptions, most places of business in Amsterdam are open on May
4. The biggest commemoration is at Amsterdam's National Monument on Dam
Square, where every year at 8 p.m. Queen Beatrix places a wreath and
leads the country in two minutes of silence.
Met up with bong/ham's friend over thai dinner at chinatown.
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| TV watching |
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| A typical sight at the apt- shoes strewn around |
Day 3
The day we had to check out. Took a last few pics at our nice european apartment before the owner came.
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| The girls' bed |
After leaving our luggages in the cellar room, we went for the last touristy activity- Ann Frank House.
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| On our way to explore the last of our neighbourhood |
Next up, Anne Frank's house
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| Anne Frank House |
The Anne Frank House located on the Prinsengracht canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is a museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank, who hid from Nazi
persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at
the rear of the building. As well as the preservation of the hiding
place — known in Dutch as the Achterhuis — and an exhibition on
the life and times of Anne Frank, the museum acts as an exhibition space
to highlight all forms of persecution and discrimination.
Definitely worth the 1 hour queueing. Insightful and makes you feel so fortunate to living in a peaceful era.
After the museum trip, headed for our last chinese food fix at chinatown
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| Over weight superheroes on the prowl |
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| Yummy cantonese style food |
And more last min town exploring before the train ride to Switzerland at 5/6pm
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| Another flat majestic looking architecture |
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| Mobile cycling bar! |
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| Chinese Temple |
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