Amsterdam

Now I haven't fully committed to writing this post so I'm not entirely sure how it's going to go... whenever I go away I always go bearing my notebook and usually put a little time aside each day to write. Apparently Amsterdam doesn't lend itself particularly well to such behaviour, and instead this time was spent napping. As a result, I have only a list of events to go by and as two weeks have now passed (although I can hardly believe it; madness!) my memory is one hundred percent hazy. Let's see what I can do!

So I've been wanting to visit Amsterdam for some time. Every time I see photos I'm always intrigued, and actually I even remember way back when to a friend visiting in primary school and bringing clogs home and how desperately I wanted my own pair (perhaps something I should have kept to myself?)... Anyway, the overall view is that I'm very glad I've been, but I won't be rushing back. 'Been there, done that, bought 'traditional' souvenirs from the Christmas Shop'!?

We flew from Southend Airport and it was blissful! Such a simple process, so quiet, so calm, so unlike an airport. We were so relaxed we sat down to have breakfast... only to be called for an early boarding!? Totally unheard of, surely? The flight was the shortest flight I have ever experienced. Literally, no sooner had the seatbelt signs switched off and the tea trolley had made its way to the front two rows of passengers, it was back on again and we were making our descent. Absolutely blew my mind.

From the easiest airport experience to the quickest flight, we then arrived at Central Station, Amsterdam. Purchased a 3-day travel card (with attached map; London needs those!!) and made our way to the trams to reach our hotel. We somehow managed to figure the map out pretty easily to decipher where we were getting off. Our only concern was how we'd then find the exact location... until we a-spied our hotel from the tram!? We were there a good two hours before check-in but we hoped that they'd at least let us drop our bags. But they did more than that! Our room was ready! Too much good fortune?

Once we'd freshened up and settled in, it was time to find breakfast (which having been rushed on to the plane we had not yet had)! We were a short walk from a street lined with takeaway places which we'd identified as having potential for hangover curing but we figured there must be somewhere a little more civilised in the meantime. Having wandered around in the most ENORMOUS circle, we found ourselves in Burger King, back on afore mentioned street. Well, at least we knew what we were getting?

After what should really be called brunch by this point, we set off for another wander, this time with a better sense of direction (and a map). The hotel conceirge had circled various points of interest for us and with only three days, we decided we needed to cover as much ground as possible!

First impressions, good!

One place we'd been told to see was the flower market and with Amsterdam's tulip reputation, we felt it was probably something we should see. Turned out that just like everything else, it was right at the end of the road, a five minute walk from our hotel! It wasn't at all what I was expecting as obviously I associate 'flower market' with the likes of Columbia Road. Much more like a glorified garden centre, it was nevertheless pretty impressive with bulbs in clogs as far as the eye could see! Around we wandered until something that struck us with a sense of both amazement and disgust caught our attention. Something I have only ever encountered in tales of other people's travels, there it was. A Christmas shop. In May. Well of course we had to go in...

Out we skipped, me still singing carols (it's amazing what a bit of Christmas can do for your mood, no matter what the time of year) and on we ventured to our next destination.

Turns out canals make navigation incredibly difficult. As someone who prides themselves on a good (nay, excellent!) sense of direction, I could not get my bearings! Anyway, before we knew it we'd stumbled into a rather sleepy Redlight District where we tried to ascertain where life would be when the sun went down and counted Bulldog Cafés.

As we came back on ourselves to the Flower Market, we decided it was time to hop on a tram and go further afield. So we headed for the museum area (or 'Museumplein'). One thing we wanted to tick off was a photo with the 'I amsterdam' sign but we had the feeling it was a little way out of the city and would require a minor mission to find it. So when we stumbled upon it we were pleasantly surprised (although not so by the expected hoards of people photobombing)! Suddenly a sign advertising a sculpture trail caught my eye and in a bid to move away from the crowds, we followed it!...

Claiming that the walk was 10 minutes, at 20 we began to worry we'd missed it. However our feet led us on, so we followed. If nothing else, it was really interesting to see a very different side to Amsterdam. Away from the terraced towers lining the canals, the suburbs were rather Americanised with unusual but relatively uniform architecture; big cars, big doors, big houses! I will say too that Amsterdam (in the centre as well) is incredibly green!

I liked the windows...

We wandered around at least half of the sculptures (there were 70 in total) before heading again towards a tram to take us back to civilisation.

I rather began to enjoy the habit of napping each evening. Still trying to find some way of incorporating it into my working life... a nap and a hot hot shower after a day of endless walking put us in good stead for the evening's entertainment and another tick on the list, the Ice Bar.

I think we all worried the Ice Bar had the potential to be a let down, but we were definitely pleasantly surprised! The warmer bar beforehand was very cosy indeed and offered tasty free cocktails (well, included in our ticket). I think they probably kept it so warm that the ice would then not be such a shock to the system! As we sat there we were surrounded by people who obviously knew exactly what to expect, dressed in hats, big coats and gloves; the anticipation was real. A bell rang, a short film was shown to get us into the spirit of it all and then it was our turn. Adorned in enormous coats, we made our way into a tiny icy room where we drank from glasses made of ice, got accosted by a lairy Northern 'lass', witnessed men stripping (not included in the ticket) and where the hen took a shot from a ram's horn. Normal.

Having succumbed to a nap before our Ice Bar experience, when we got out we needed something to eat! Having had a few beverages by this point it was totally acceptable to grace the street of junk food with our presence. We found pizza. Tasty pizza, too. And for only £5 (for a whole one)!

Pizza consumed, we headed back to the hotel to change into something a little less comfortable before losing ourselves in what was possibly a gay bar where we were searched for 'lady weapons' by a man who then led us to lots of free drinks and a pretty great selection of music!

Day 2 brought with it beautiful sunshine! Before it disappeared again we decided to book tickets for a canal tour and a visit to the House of Bols in the afternoon and then Redlight tickets for the evening. Our canal tour wasn't until after lunch and we'd actually managed to get up and out pretty early considering the night before, so after a hearty breakfast of Wagamamas, we did some more wandering to pass the time.

The canal tour was the most relaxing event of our few days. I would quite happily return to Amsterdam if I could spend the entire time on the canals. On a small boat we were taking through tiny connecting tunnels past enormous homes with enormous windows, canal 'crossroads' and a multi-storey bikepark containing I think the 'captain' said ten thousand bikes!?

After our tour of the canals, we headed again to the Museum area. This time we actually ventured into a museum; the House of Bols. Possibly the most entertaining museum I've ever visited (I'm not usually a fan of museums unless they have specific exhibitions on), we got to sniff, taste and drink various ingredients then the cocktails themselves (which were yum by the way! I had a Golden Aztek which was chocolately and mm and then had a shot of Amore Parfait (or something along those lines) which tasted like a mix between roses and violet). Also had a go at bartending... I won't give up the day job.

Wanting to make the most of the sunshine, we walked back to our hotel from the station, armed with fries smothered in 'sautèsaus' from Mannequin Pis; SO yum!

This is where I stopped writing things down so excuse me if two weeks later my memory fails me...

Fuelled by what claimed to be the best fries in Amsterdam (to be fair they were pretty darn good and just what we needed at the time!) and refreshed by another nap, we were ready to venture into the Redlight District. I don't really think it's possible to describe the surreality that ensued. All I can say is that it just did not feel real. Like Barbies in lit-up boxes. Or wandering through a film set or a human zoo. It was odd. And our visit to the Museum of Prostitution did not make us feel better about it all. Anyway, I'm glad to have been. It was certainly an experience!

Our final day was fortunately a full day but we were still sad to be heading home (especially me, as at this point my shower at home was still out of action after more than 6 weeks and the hotel shower was hot)!

After some souvenir shopping, armed with the map we set off to find what appeared to be the only windmill in Amsterdam; when in Holland... it was on the very edge of said map and we had horrible premonitions that it would be tiny and a disappointment, but when we arrived we were completely overwhelmed despite the fact that it was residential and we couldn't go inside. When one is used to itsy bitsy windmills in Norfolk, this one was pretty impressive!

Via the longest stretch of market I have ever seen, we headed for a tram to take us back to civilisation. Once at the Central Station we decided that sitting in the sunshine in the museum area would be a nice way to spend the remainder of our day. Got a bit confused by trams this time (blame the two-day hangover) and ended up in the wrong direction but it was pretty interesting to see yet another part of the city that we wouldn't have otherwise seen!

The rest of our time was wiled away in glorious sunshine with ice cream, crisps and wedding talk.

Sad to leave but by this time also looking forward to bed, the 'weekend' (that was actually Mon-Weds but felt like a weekend) came to an end. So glad to have finally been to Amsterdam after wanting to visit for so long! We had so much fun and it is such a beautiful place!

Hens in a clog. As you do!

Now, onto the wedding. So. Much. Excitement!

Barcelona

Over half term, a spontaneous trip was made to Barcelona. It's a city I've been wanting to visit for a while, and it was a lot of fun, but it wasn't quite what I expected!

When ma and pa had paid a visit and returned with relatively mediocre reviews, my response was that it must be a city more suited to 'young people', and I'd say that's probably quite accurate; the issue is that as 'young people' go I'm not all that young, at least not in the mind so in terms of my likes. Barcelona was fun, really fun, but it's not exactly the most attractive place in general.

If Gaudi does it for you then you might disagree, but my argument would be that beyond his quirky creations, there isn't a lot else that stands out to the eye. I admit I was a pretty huge cynic when it came to Le Sagrada - not only did it not blow me away, but I then found myself to be concerned about the cost of it all, and less than impressed to think that by the time one side is 'complete', the scaffolding will probably still remain in order to repair the crumbling mess that the other side will become. Admitedly, we didn't go inside (so there's reason number 1 to go back), so maybe I missed a trick.

Now I've seen a lot of it (mainly from the comfort of an open-top bus), it's good to know where I would return to if I were to go back. This time I feel that there was a lot of weeding through the rubbish in order to find some nice bits.

Barcelona was beautiful for the fact that it is a city with a proper beach (although for some reason (please don't judge me) I did not know this), which is something I don't think I've really experienced before. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side and most of the time the rain came down, but we did manage one morning and one evening on the beach and both were lovely (and the morning even resulted in tanlines - YES skin)!

Another place I could happily spend a sunny day was Park Güell, one of Gaudi's designs. The view was pretty spectacular, and it was nice to see greenery and colour (perhaps it was just because of the rain, but Barcelona seemed to be lacking in grass, in exchange for an abundance of grey)!

I'm not entirely sure how or where to begin, as before we had even taken off, there was drama aplenty caused by a case of 'mistaken suitcase identity', which meant enlisting most of the staff at the Duty Free and the security at Gatwick to track down an elderly lady (actually it turned out she wasn't even that elderly, so we're not entirely sure what her excuse was) who was clearly very confused (to put it nicely). I must say, they were pretty on point and managed to track how down in next to no time. Once she had sloped back, head hung in shame, to return the suitcase, we headed for the champagne and caviar bar to calm the nerves and delighted in seafood platters. It's times like these that I totally condone being at the airport in plenty of time!

We were staying in a hostel in Barcelona, in a girls dorm because we thought it would be quite fun... upon our arrival at about 11pm, the room was in darkness and EVERYONE WAS IN BED!? So we snuck around, making our beds, trying to figure out under-bed lockers, and getting ready to venture out to meet a friend who happened to be in Barcelona at the same time as us (that was pretty exciting) to drink gin a-plenty.

Our first morning was spent on the beach, soaking up rays and trying not to get swept over by the current in the freezing cold sea! Once our tummies started to rumble and the sun went behind the clouds, we headed inland to a tapas bar that had been recommended to us by a friend of my friend. We were advised to get there as close to opening as possible, as it was very popular. It was also a little tricky to find, but thankfully we made it in what felt like perfect time, as although it was indeed already buzzing with people, there was a small space at the counter for us to prop ourselves up. We both marvelled at the selection of tapas, the atmosphere and the price of cava, and tried to imagine the existence of such a place in Hoxton. We couldn't. When the bill came, we were even more enthralled, as a bottle and two extra glasses of cava and several plates of AMAZING tapas had come to a mere €20! Obviously we made the unanimous decision that we would return!

From the tapas bar, we moved on to do a little sight-seeing. We had been invited to a DJ set in a location nearby that evening, so we decided first to scout out where we might have to head back to. We didn't find the exact location, but we found the general area, and figured it wouldn't be too hard to find later... oh how I laugh now.

We wandered the streets relatively aimlessly. By this point it was trying to rain, and we had to head back out quite early so didn't have long before we'd need to return to the hostel to make attempts at sprucing up so we wouldn't stick out like sore thumbs at a Marc Jacobs party. Of course, real rain always has marvellous timing, and on our way back the heavens really opened! The Brit in me was armed with a waterproof sports jacket (yep, I own one of those), but the lashings of horizontal rain were still enough to soak through my bottom half. With such a tiny luggage allowance, 'evening outfits' had been left behind (although I had managed to squeeze in one pair of heels, which I would later regret), and at this point I feared that my ploy of turning day into night was not going to be appropriate if I was still soggy. [Un]fortunately, during the day we had had decided to go shopping anyway, as we weren't entirely sure that 'day to night' outfits were going to be quite enough for us to blend in... I hope my sarcasm is quite clear enough!

Shopping in Barcelona, home of Zara and Bershka was not at all bad. H&M, as always, provided plenty to choose from, but it was new shoes from Stradavarius (had to make a purchase, it's a shop named after a violin!?) that turned a day-time outfit into something a little more classy (that was until we were drenched having wandered around in the rain for an hour... more on that later). Thankfully, when in Europe, rain and warmth happen at the same time, so by the time I awoke from the nap that I just seemed to fall into as soon as I was on a bed, I was relatively dry!

It was recommended to me that while in Barcelona, squid ink paella had to be consumed. So we chose this evening to give it a go before funds ran too low! We found ourselves in a restaurant by the marina and close to the venue, where in addition to our squid ink paella (which, by the way, actually stains your mouth!), we also drank sangria and received complimentary champagne in flutes with insanely long stems; stems so long, in fact, that they had to be placed in a jar to stand up, and were not at all easy to drink from, as you (I) kept knocking the table and each time were (was) struck with fear that they would smash at any moment. The waiter really didn't seem to want us to leave, but we'd been advised to make a pretty early appearance at this party to benefit from the open bar, and were already an hour later than suggested.

Eventually we escaped his not so evil clutches, and went in pursuit of the party. I'm not entirely sure how to explain the debacle that prevailed. All I know is that Barcelona squares are confusing, and even the locals had no idea where we needed to be. So, we wandered the streets for AN HOUR, getting more and more bedraggled in the rain (which refused to stop, but instead turned into a pretty ferocious storm) and me feeling less and less like I wanted to make an appearance, in a desperate attempt to locate where we were meant to be. Extreme frustration thankfully subsided to masses of relief when at last we landed ourselves at the door (by which point most people were leaving, not arriving), and when faced with a mirror it transpired that I didn't even look anywhere near as bad as I felt, so that was quite a comfort. The venue in question was some sort of office space with pop-up bars and a roof terrace with beautiful views across the marina (well, we'd already got soaked through, why not continue the trend in the open air?). The footage of the advertising campaign on a big screen lit up the entire dance-floor, which was less satisfying, but it was a great set as always, and we made the most of it having finally arrived!

Before home we found ourselves in a bar for another 'foreign exchange', shall we say? This one was more short-lived; a taxi was hailed and bed happened.

The next morning saw our last full day in the city, and we decided we'd go in for the hop-on-hop-off open-top bus tour. I think we may have been slightly more fatigued than we realised, as although we were expecting to be leaping on and off, never mind hopping, we actually end up sat on the bus for about 5 hours, alighting once. Impressive - we certainly got value for money!

Our stop was at Park Güell, which I'm glad we did! Honestly, beyond La Sagrada, I'm not entirely sure where else we should have stopped... the view of everywhere from the bus was perfectly adequate, at least when the roof wasn't up to shelter us from the rain - red tarpaulin isn't so interesting, it has to be said.

By the time we got off for our final stop, our legs weren't entirely convinced they could remember how to work, but we did manage to wander back to the hostel, this time to find the lights on and loud American teens in the room... suddenly the dark and sleeping people didn't seem so bad.

Once the initial shock had subsided and we began to grow accustomed to the accents (I'm not saying we enjoyed them, I think it was just a case of them becoming easier to drown out somehow), we actually decided that we would accompany them and some more amenable Canadians on a night out organised by the hostel. Once suited and booted, down to the bar we went for our free shots to kick-start ourselves into going-out-mode (as I like to call it). The club in question was on the beach, and had such a good atmosphere. We had arrived at a time I would consider super early, so were a little concerned that it would be pretty dead, but in fact it turned out to be quite the opposite. We made a beeline for the bar upon our arrival (not to return as drinks were so expensive), and as soon as our drinks were finished, the dancefloor was packed and we were sorted for the rest of the night! Though they may have been expensive, drinks were also pretty (very) good value for money, as my Tequila Tonic was a lot Tequila, and very very little tonic, so the night is a bit of a blur, but I can definitely say that it was a lot of fun. Made me realise I literally couldn't (and still can't) remember the last time I had been out just for a club night as opposed to for an event. I think I'd reached the point of thinking I'd 'out-grown' club nights, but since my return have wanted another one to occur very soon!

Check-out of the hostel was at 10am, which having been the last stragglers the night before, was a pretty massive struggle. Nevertheless, we heaved ourselves up and out for one final day of exploration before bidding farewell to Barcelona. I had a huge intrigue for the 'Barcelona Gherkin', as I decided to call it, so we began our exploration at the base of the city to discover what the building really was. From there, we had a closer look at La Sagrada, and along the way passed some other interesting buildings and sights.

Unfortunately, with the weather at its worst, it seemed that by lunchtime, everyone had decided to shelter in the market off La Rambla, so we were unable to stop there for tapas. Perhaps it was the hangovers, or tiredness, or by this point hunger, or the persistent rain, but we then struggled to find somewhere else to eat and sort of aimlessly wandered, unsuccessfully, for what felt like forever. We did manage tapas, but not the tapas we'd wanted, so I guess that's something to go back for?

I think the overall verdict is probably that Barcelona would be a very different place in the sunshine. It was, as I began with, a very fun place to spend a few days, and I'm sure I'll return in the future. Let's see!