Boltin' About

"Tales from yet another traveller"

Weekend in Amsterdam

Okay, it wasn't exactly a weekend, but it seemed like it. Amsterdam is a great city to visit. A weekend in Amsterdam is the minimum amount of time that you need to breathe in the atmosphere which is really unique to this city. During daytime there is the beautiful side of the city with the canals Ann Franks' House and the area of Antique shops. During night time the city is transformed into perhaps the most famous red light district in the whole of Europe.

Arrival in Amsterdam.

On arrival at Schipol airport at around 9.00pm , a 20 minute wait for the bagage was not too long, but perhaps longer than it should have been. There was a queue of around 5 people waiting to get train tickets at the exit before the customs. Checking with the customs guy and he recommended just going through and buying the tickets on the other side since there were better opportunities - Good Advice.
On arrival in the area outside, it is two minutes before you are in the area where you buy all the train tickets. The ticket to Amsterdam central was around 10 Euro and it took about 20 minutes to get there. Then a tram ride for 5 minutes takes you to the Italian run Amsterdam hotel, pre-booked on the Internet. The Hotel Jolly Carlton was comfortable It was clean and comfortable. For Italians, it was like a home from home. It had had a range of TV channels including the three italian RAI channels. The breakfast bar even came with its lazy italian barman who would rather chat with the customers than do any real work.