Amsterdam

Since we're book people, it's inevitable that we would be looking for narrative closure at the end of our journey. For the last three days in Amsterdam, we've been hyper-aware of threads that bring together the themes and patterns of the year.

Melbourne, our first stop, was our most southerly. This final stop in Amsterdam is the furthest north we’ve been. Sydney was the most easterly city, Bristol will be the furthest west we go. The first friend we made on the road this year, in Coober Pedy, was Dutch (shout-out Kim 💞), and we reunited with more Dutch friends, Gillian & Martijn whom we met hiking in Kyrgyzstan, for our last dinner in Amsterdam. We spent the end of January in Indonesia sipping Bintangs, and the end of December doing the same on the other side of the world. Turns out Indonesian food is excellent in Amsterdam, because *colonialism*.

Neither of us has visited the Netherlands before. It turns out Amsterdam is a great place to wrap up (in every sense: it is very cold right now). Since Dutch is very close to Afrikaans, Chelsea has been taunted by all the conversations that she can't *quite* understand. When she tries with Afrikaans, the locals understand her but only like you might half-understand a character from a Shakespearean play. The placement and purpose of ‘het’ in Dutch appears to have changed wildly in the last 400 years. Still, she managed to order us breakfast (thankfully a present tense meal) and the waitstaff did not revert to English, though everyone in Amsterdam speaks it perfectly.

We stayed at the Train Lodge, a retired sleeper train converted into a hostel. This has served to increase our longing for normal sized beds. Since Dan lost his pyjamas in Leipzig, he has been sleeping shirtless in green long-johns instead. This is fine, until he has to sneak out of the cabin to go to the bathroom at night, looking like some kind of perverted satyr.

Speaking of perverted satyrs, we enjoyed a visit to the Rijksmuseum to see all the debauchery painted by Rembrandt and the Dutch masters. We also strolled through the red light district at 11am, which has an oddly jolly Christmas feel. Festively sordid.

We tried stroopwaffel, oliebollen, and appelflappen at the Albert Cuyp market, mostly for the names. Since we're so close to home and don't have to worry about packing space any longer, Dan indulged in a new coat at the vintage shop. He then spotted a beautiful bird at the roadside, and took loads of photos, only to later discover that it was just a starling—they are common across all of Europe, South Africa and Australia. We have literally never lived anywhere where these birds aren't abundant. Perhaps Dan was just a bit carried away with the excitement of buying a new coat 🤦‍♂️

The other less jolly activity we squeezed in was a visit to the Anne Frank House. It's been a strange couple of weeks, spending Chanukah travelling through eastern and central Europe, where you can't get away from the spectre of the Holocaust. It has been a poignant time, and we're ready to get back to our families and friends again.

Expect one last post in a few days with our final thoughts on the whole year. We're currently zooming back on the Eurostar, hoping to make it to Bristol in the late afternoon, British Rail depending. Happy holidays everyone, and for those in the UK, we can't wait to see you very soon!Læs mere