When I got the email from Jon saying he was going to be in Holland on business and wanted to know if he could come and stay in England for the weekend it seemed like a great idea. But what sounded like a better idea was if we were to meet up in Amsterdam instead. For £20 I got a flight with Ryan air from London Stansted to Eindhoven Holland return trip. Waking up at 4am again I made my way to the airport and by 9am I was in Holland. The plane landed slightly early and as there is not much to do in the airport I decided not to wait for the direct bus which was not leaving for another 1.5 hours and made my way to get the bus into the city centre and try and catch a train up to Amsterdam.
As I was waiting inline to get a bus ticket from the machine it appeared that the Australian guy in front of me had jammed the machine and it was now out of order. The lady in front of me tried to help and after no success I had a go wielding the same results. So by now the bus was leaving and we out of luck. The lady decided to get a taxi to the station and just left. I asked the Australian if he wanted to split a cab and when he said yes I decided to flag down the cab with the other lady so we could split it three ways. Once inside the cab we found out the lady worked for Lords Cricket Ground and was one of the people to guard the ashes. She was in Holland to pick up a bird that was killed by a cricket ball in the 1930's from Rotterdam. Wow what a job. Best part was that as she was on business she paid the 35euro fare to the train station.
The train only took about an hour and a half and I arrived in Amsterdam central station about 11:30. With an hour and half left to kill before I met Jon I wondered out on the station in search for food. But Jon was sitting outside the station in the sun reading a book and I and happened to walk out of the door he was at. What are the chances? It seemed the whole weekend was just working out perfectly. We made our way to the hostel but were told to come back after 2 to check in. Dropping off our bags though we ventured back into the city and went straight the pub for a few Heinekens’. After a few drinks we checked in, got changed, and went off in search of a few more drinks. Finding a few great pubs near the red light district (yes we did some window shopping and no we didn't buy anything) we spent the rest of the night sitting by a fire in leather chairs drinking and talking until nearly 3am.
Saturday we actually managed to do some touristy things although both Jon and myself have both been to Amsterdam previously and done most of the museums and tourist sites before. One that neither of us had done was the Rijn museum (Rembrandt van Rijn) where we saw one of his most famous paintings called "the night watch" amongst many others.
Following this we walked around the well known "I AMSTERDAM" sign and snapped off a few pics before making our way to the old Heineken brewery and paying our 11euros entry fee. This seemed a bit high at first but when we learned that they give you 3 glasses of beer and a free bottle opener it seemed well worth it. The tour was great and very interactive. Only a about half the tour was about the history and how they made the beer where the other half was watching old beer commercials, playing the Heineken drums, and a theme park style ride were you are a beer bottle going though its journey from start to end.
As we were leaving we saw this strange bike/car/bar where there was one driver in the middle and the rest of the people on the outside had to pedal to get it moving. It was a bar and yes the drver in the middle was drinking. Have a look at the picture below and tell me you wouldn't want to try it!!! We walked around a bit more for the day before heading out into the streets again at night to take some night shots of the city before once again making our way back around 3am.
Jon had an early flight the following morning so when he left I went back to sleep until 11 at the hostel. I spent a few hours walking around the city before deciding to head back to Eindhoven early so I could see more of the city there instead of just the airport.
Eindhoven was pretty much a ghost town as it was a Sunday and all the stores where closed. So I checked out a few churches, parks, and the outside of the Phillips Football stadium. Something I was unaware of is that the company "Philips" (one of the biggest electronics companies in the world) was founded and has it headquarters in Eindhoven. Everywhere around the city is their adds and the football is obviously sponsored by them.
Well by 5:30 I made my back to the airport (this time on the bus for 3 euros) and caught my plane back to England where yet again I had the wonderful 3 hour drive back to Bristol. It was a great weekend and it was great to catch up with Jon again in Europe. I do recommend a trip to Amsterdam for all of you though. It is a very unique city and I guarantee you come back with your fair share of stories. We have, but let’s just say some of them are not appropriate to share on this site. Hahahaha.
