The Dutch Countryside

Cindy grew up in North Holland in the town of Hoorn. We were lucky enough to be able to have her as our tourguide in the beautiful Dutch Countryside. We popped in to see her dad, George who was a weath of knowledge on everything Dutch!


Dutch cakes

In Hoorn, the canals run right up to the backs of hte houses.


Cindy and I (Nat)


Pascal, Candice and I at George's


Tea at George's

Cindy took us to see some traditional Dutch windmills at Schermerhorn.


These windmills, first used in the 1600s harnessed wind power to reclaim land for living and agricultural purposes


Posing outside the windmills.


These days, the windmills are more of a tourist attraction than anything else - modern machines do all the work


Wearing clogs and carrying milk


Inside the windmill: the mechanics of it all


Most of North Holland is about 2 metres below sea-level. Without windmills, we would be underwater.


A beautiful little village we had lunch in (I forgot its name!)


Canals in the village

Cindy took us to a clog and cheese factory near Edam.


A clog-making demonstration


Today, clogs are made by machine but in the old days, they were all made by hand.

The Netherlands is famous for its cheese. A cheese and clog factory together? The woodchips from the clogs are used to smoke the cheese! Recycling!


Dutch cheese - Edam, Gouda and Smoked Gouda!

Our short time in the Netherlands was well worth it. We bid Cindy, Niels and her cats goodbye as we headed back to Sweden where Pascal stayed for a few days. Unfortunately the great weather stayed behind.


Macho, one of Cindy's cats

For more pictures of the Dutch countryside, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54447&l=74138&id=681501850

Amsterdam

We were excited at the prospect of venturing into the Netherlands but at the same time wished we could have spent a few more days in Berlin - or even Germany for that matter. It took a couple of train changes to find the Berlin bus station and here we said goodbye to Pascal, who was going to fly to Amsterdam and meet us the next day.


Our Eurolines bus in Berlin

The bus was scheduled to leave Berlin at 7.30pm and arrive in Amsterdam at 6am. It was a night ride, so we were able to sleep most of the way, stopping only to get off briefly in Magdeburg and Hannover. For some reason, the bus arrived in Amsterdam 1 and a half hours early (4.30am) - before the bus station had even opened! A whole crowd of us waited patiently till 5am when the station opened, got inside and tried to get some sleep until public transport finally started about 6am.


Amsterdam at 4.30am

We were lucky enough to be able to stay with our dutch friend Cindy. Cindy had a perfect little flat in the middle of Amsterdam, just near the Albert Cuypmarket.



Candice and Cindy


Albert Cuypmarket, a Dutch experience!


Pickled herring - traditional Dutch food


Dutch fast food - the kroket!

As in London and Berlin, we did the free walking tour offered in Amsterdam by New Europe Tours. We highly recommend it!



Outside the Palace in Dam Square


I don't think we can talk about Amsterdam without mentioning the Red Light District. Amsterdam has a reputation for being a very liberal city - mainly because of its decriminilised soft drug stance and the fact that street prostitution is legal. The Amsterdam policy is that if prostution is regulated, it will be safer for everyone, especially the girls. Whether or not this is true in reality remains to be seen as that doesn't necessarily prevent the illegal trafficking of sex-slaves. It's true that prostitution is legal in many other places around the world (including Australia for that matter) but the famous Red Light District in Amsterdam (it's actually officially called this) has been this way for centuries, remember it used to be the busiest port in Europe! Due to complaints from other EU member countries, the Dutch government has tried to reduce the number of "ladies of the night" in Amsterdam by buying out many of the "windows" but this hasn't reduced the number of curious tourists that come to gawk at the spectacle everyday.

And no, we didn't take any pictures. Just in case you were wondering.


This anonymous sculpture suddenly appeared one day on the ground. The council decided to keep it.


Like Venice, Amsterdam has an intricate system of canals running through the city


World's first corporation: Former offices of the Dutch East India Trading Company


The Marihuana & Hemp Museum


This was one of the funniest (and possibly dumbest) things we've ever seen. A mobile bar powered by drunk Australians who are actually cycling at the same time as they drink!!


Like all good cities, Amsterdam has a tram network


Char Sau Fan (pork rice) at a Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam


Candice wolfing it down


Dutch McDonalds! Not too shabby.


You will never see this sign anywhere else in the world


Pascal and I (Nat) out at night


Amsterdam Ninjas

Although Amsterdam seems synonymous with marijuana usage these days, the fact is very few Dutch people actually smoke it - it's mainly the tourists who come to use. New Zealand actually has the highest amount of weed smokers per capita! The Dutch government is also cracking down on the number of "Coffee Shops" (yes, that's what they're called) in the city, again at the request of other EU member countries.

For the discerning traveller, Amsterdam also has many famous attactions not associated with vice. Take the Van Gogh Museum for instance.

We also made sure we visited the Anne Frank House, now a museum dedicated to Anne Frank and her family who hid here during the Second World War as the Nazis cracked down on Jews. If you haven't heard about Anne Frank, I suggest you do a google search right away - we're not going to say anymore except you can see the random video comment we left after we saw the house here: http://annefrank_engels.bitmove.tv:80/bitmove/annefrank_engels/index.jsp?uid=3151FDDB6C1976BCDF122892A23A78E8&format=wmv .

By day, Amsterdam is beautiful. Like Uppsala, there are bicycles everywhere. In fact, Amsterdam probably has the highest rate of bicycles usage per capita of any capital in the world. This makes walking dangerous.


Museum plains


In Vondelpark


A cool drum act in Vondelpark


The random drunk Italian guy in the background was singing out of tune


Church of St Nicholas (Sint Nicolaaskerk)

Overall, Amsterdam (with a population of less than a million) was a very enjoyable city. More people speak English here than any other European non English-speaking country - we even met an English girl who'd lived in Holland for two years and hadn't bothered learning any Dutch! They certainly give the Scandinavians a run for their money!

For more pictures of Amsterdam, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54444&l=a7bf5&id=681501850

Berlin

Although Sweden isn't the most central place in Europe to be based, it's still in Europe - and that means (in Australian terms) everything else in Europe is close!

While the weather was still good, we decided it was time to pop into Germany. The original plan was to fly to Berlin, hang out, then take a bus to Hamburg on the way to Amsterdam. Unfortunately due to time constraints, we had to ditch Hamburg - after all Candice still had class in Sweden to get back to!

Because we had booked an "enviromentally unethical" cheap flight with Ryanair, we had to travel all the way back to Skavsta airport - the bus and train ride there cost more than our flight!!

As luck would have it, one of my (Nat's) best friends from back when I lived in Sabah, Pascal just happened to be in Berlin. A fellow Eurasian, Pascal is half-German and his mum actually comes from Berlin - so this meant that we pretty much had a local tour guide with us!

Pascal and I (Nat) pose with a train inspector on the S-bahn train from the airport

I think this is the U-bahn

After checking into the amazing Generator hostel in East Berlin, Pascal gave us a quick night tour of Berlin. Used to navigating ourselves around a new city, this time we left it all up to Pascal - which means we don't even remember the names of some of these places! Pascal's passable basic German meant we didn't even have to stumble around in English.

Out in Berlin at night

The beer in Berlin is cheap and can be bought anywhere - suprisingly people even drink on the train!

Chowing down on kebabs - Berlin-style

Berlin street food: Currywurst (curried sausage) and chips with mayo!!

This beach-themed bar actually had sand on the floor

Berlin is an amazing city of around 3.5 million. It doesn't strictly have a city centre and the sights spread far and wide. The city's tumultous past 80 years or so have made it a living museum of several wars that have shaped our world. We couldn't wait to start exploring!

View of East Berlin from our hostel

View of a grassy-roofed sports centre from our hostel

Nothing beats a free city walking tour, and just like London and Edinburgh, Berlin has one too. New Europe Tours (http://www.neweuropetours.eu/) is the company that conducts the tours, at the end of the day you choose whether to tip your guide - that's it!

Amazingly, it was still technically summer down here in Germany! I actually wore shorts. What a contrast to Sweden!

The Brandenburg Gate

The prestigious Hotel Adlon, where in 2002 Michael Jackson dangled his baby from a window

The Berlin Wall (which came down in 1989) is still marked by this double cobblestone line that runs right through the city (even on roads)

Officially called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Halocaust Memorial cost 27 million Euros to build

Candice at the memorial

The Germans have done nothing to cover up their past - they believe every generation should be reminded of the atrocities that were committed so that it should never happen again. Determined to make sure that Hitler be afforded no respect, they refuse to build any memorial or glorify anything from the days of Nazi rule.

The site of Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide with his mistress Eva Braun in 1945. Now nothing more than a car-park

After World War II, Germany was carved up between the USSR, USA, Britain and France. Berlin was split in half between the allies and the Soviets. There was no place on earth like Berlin during the cold war - it was literally where Soviet East and Democratic West converged into one place, staring each other in the face. Berlin was important, for if it fell the whole block could fall. That's exactly what happened.

Part of a wall mural, showing the ideal utopian communist state (at the former East German government complex in East Berlin). The reality was quite different.

Remnants of the Berlin Wall. Ironically, the wall is now protected by a fence.

The sign at Checkpoint Charlie, one of the allied checkpoints between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. This one happened to be American. There were also British and French checkpoints.

Berliner Dom, the largest church in the city

Pigs in Berlin

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park

These mobile hotdog-selling dudes are everywhere! Only 1 Euro.

A building that looks like a German helmet

The Berlin skyline

On our final night in Berlin, Pascal took us to have dinner with two of his aunts. Ironically, they are from his Malaysian side and not his German side - two Kadazan ladies who married Germans and moved to Berlin years and years ago. In typical Kadazan style, they cooked up a storm - and it was great for me to practice my Kadazan again. They are fluent in English, German, Kadazan and Malay!

Dinner

The Berlin Zoo is the most visited zoo in Europe and one of the most popular wordwide. With almost 1,400 different species and around 14,000 animals, apparently it has the most comprehensive collection in the world. During WWII, the zoo somehow bore the brunt of many bomb attacks and only 91 of the then 12,000 animals survived. We thought we'd check it out - we've only posted a handfull of the numerous photos we took there.

A sleeping rhino

Pigs

Pandas

The kangaroos reminded us of home!

Die orang utans, die!! Okay, "die" means "the" in German.

As is my custom, I had to check out German McDonalds. Arguably the best specialty burger out of any McDonalds that I have visited so far, the McRib (pork rib burger) certainly did not fail to impress. Good luck trying to find that in Malaysia!

The best PIG burger ever!

Markets in Berlin

Bombed in WWII, this church was never restored

Lining up for some more German street cuisine!

Sure to satisfy

After only a few days in Berlin, we sadly bid it goodbye and caught a Eurolines bus across the country into the Netherlands (stopping briefly in Hannover). Rest assured, we will be back.

Wir lieben Deutschland!!

For more photos of our time in Berlin, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54433&l=debb2&id=681501850 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54441&l=00072&id=681501850