IAMSTERDAM

We headed down for some free breakfast, before hoping on the bus at 8.15am to head to a little town called Edam.
We went on a guided bike ride around a small part of the village on granny bikes. Our tour guide Claudia told us a bit about some of the canels, and explained why we were hearing constant church bells - half an hour before church is set to begin, the bells ring for 15 minutes - I guess to make sure everyone is awake and on time!
We left Claudia and headed to a cheese and clogs farm, where we learnt all about how cheese and clogs are made. Whilst making one of the clogs, our guide was hollowing out the middle, and made a wooden tulip, which he then gave to me! I'm not sure I'll be able to bring it home, I think Aus has restrictions on bringing in wooden products.
We got to meet Charlotte the pig, she oinked at me, I hope that's a good thing..!
We got to taste about 15 different cheeses, including smoked ham, garlic and herb, truffle, piri piri, pepper and my favourite, pesto! Anyone that knows me, knows my fussiness, and I actually quite enjoyed (most) of the cheeses!
We jumped back onto the bus, where we were taken back into the city, and dropped at the IAMSTERDAM sign for a photo op, and had a free day to explore the city.
We took our token touristy photos, and then wandered off to a Dutch pancake house called Carousel (which looked just like a carousel) on Tamara's recommendations. There were SO MANY CHOICES! I ended up with the sugar, butter and whipped cream poffertjes - the mini pancakes you can often get at fetes and festivals. Oh my goodness, so delicious!
From there, Ebony, T, Charlie and I headed to the Heineken Experience. It was a lot of fun, very interactive, and even had a simulation of becoming bottled beer - a hilarious, "4D" experience).
You get two beers with your ticket at the end of the tour, so we had to rush a couple of drinks in order to make it back to our hostel in time to get ready for this evenings activities! We showered and headed down to the hostel foyer to jump on the contiki bus and head down for an optional canal cruise.
The views of the city were fantastic, it really emphasized Amsterdam's beauty. We also got to have a couple of drinks on board, so it set the tone for the night. After the cruise there was an optional dinner, but a few of us decided against it, and opted for cheap pizza instead, appropriately for me it was a shop called New York Pizza, not quite as good as the original, but not bad - you can't go wrong with a cheese slice!
From there we decided to head back to the hostel, as we had a few hours to kill before meeting the rest of the group out. We ended up buying drinks next door and had a few drinks in someone's room with some music, was good to get to know a few more people.
We decided to catch the tram back into the city as there was about 8 of us, and I somehow volunteered myself to be the one directing us. A quick google and we were on the way. It was quite possibly the funniest tram ride I've ever been on, plenty of laughs over terrible accents... Jokes with the tram conductor... You probably had to be there... We met a local, who was on his way home, but we convinced him to come to the bar with us - good thing too as he both directed us from the tram to the bar (I was in the clear) and ended up buying us a round of shots! The bar was called Chupitos, and has around 100 specialty shots, the bar always seems to have fire and excitement. I started with a Harry Potter shot (I don't know what was in it, but there was fire, sparks, and a slice of orange - see facebook and instagram for the video), and had a bit of a dance before trying a sour shot (it had sour lollies in it). We stayed at the bar for about an hour of so before heading to another bar called Club Hartje. We were the only people there, but was tiny so it was a good way to bond with everyone - much dancing, drinking, a few shenanigans. I think we have a really good group, we had a lot of fun.
Sharnne, Ebony, Jorge and I grabbed a cab and headed back to the hostel at around 1.30am, and headed to bed, ready for our big driving day to Berlin the following day!Read more