Day 62...Its all about the beer - 27th August

We decided yesterday that we wanted to stay an extra night as we had kinda missed out on stuff. Our hotel was booked, so we got up early this morning (got our inclusive breakky this time), packed our shit and went to the TIC. We found a cheaper and much nicer place near Leidisplein. It was run by a lady who was around 60 and a bottle blonde with too much spraytan and eyeliner. She tottered around in skimpy outfits and heels and was a very nice and friendly lady. We dumped our bags after carrying them around all morning, and met Kristin in Leidisplein. She had already requested a delay as she was running late (from what we cant figure out. something about playing songs with the theme of sun in them I think haha) and we waited while she sorted herself out as by lunchtime she hadnt even eaten breakfast yet. Once she was done, god bless her, we went and hired a canal pedal boat which took the 4 of us. It was slow and hard work and didn't steer too well but it was so much fun! Kristin looked like a princess with big sunnies and red lipsick feeding the ducks from the boat. Chris looked like something from a Tim Burton drawing with his black and white striped shirt, and corderouy pants. they are a fantastic lot those two. Nate was steering expertly and paddling like crazy.

We stared into houseboats and nearly collided with big boats. It was a medium sunny day and Amsterdam was just as cute as a bug. We dropped Nathan 3/4 of the way through who went to a sports bar to watch the F1. He sat with an Afrikaaner who works in Bahrain and whose wife didn't want to watch the F1 either. So he had a couple of pints with him.

Kristin Chris and I paddled a bit longer and dropped the boat off near the Ann Frank House. We wandered around northern Amsterdam for a while which was just so pretty. It is the first city we've seen that doesn't have buildings all the same as everywhere else in the world, and or could be mistaken for being in any other city. We stopped by a cat boathouse as we thought it was run by a crazy old lady with dozens of cats, but it was just a cat shelter and crap (although we saw one guy get attacked by a cat which was pretty funny). We also stopped by a funky south American store with tacky religous memorabilia and Chris bought an 80's south American porn comic which didn't really have porn in it. Bizarre.

It was just starting to rain and we got quite wet going back to pick up Nate. I was coming down with the worst headache and wanted a nap, so we parted ways with them before heading to the Heinekin brewery on the way home. It was a pretty cool museum, like Guinness in Dublin where it is a self guided tour through a musuem, not the brewery itself. But there was so much Heinekin fun! Throughout the tour there were 3 different stops where you had a free Heinekin. We watched this weird Asian guy go through with us and every room he was showing his chips and demanding where the Heinekin was. He couldn't contain himself. What a tripper.
There was a bit where we could dance in front of a bluescreen and send the videoclip back home so that was a laugh. Nate put back all my Heinekin as well as my head hurt, so coupled with his pints was feeling pretty merry. We then trotted back to our nice new place which had a lift instead of a cliff and I had a nap for an hour. After that, Kristin came and picked us up and we had drinks at a nice place in the park with her, Chris, Katie and John. We also ate some traditional Dutch finger dishes which were mooshy. The night was clear, and the trees had chandelier type lights dangling from them, it was so cute.

We went to a coffeeshop after that which was licensed as well, and had drinks and smokes and watched an indie band pay. It was a bit crowded so we left it after a bit for another place which turned out to be a Jamaican shitbox. My head was hurting and we were all tired so clocked off around midnight. It was so hard though - I wanted to stay out longer to see Kristin. Saying goodbye this time was harder than London as we knew we would meet up here in Amsterdam. But what now? what next? When do I see her again?
Nate was disappointed to clock off early as he had had about 17 pots of beer and was up for another big night. But the other 3 of us had run out of puff - we're getting old! If my stupid head wasn't killing me, I prolly could have. Oh well!