Netherlands trip part 3
Feb. 6th, 2008 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saffiterWell, today actually turned out to be a good day ^___^. My classes behaved, and my CPE group (the really advanced ones) designed a t-shirt (in English) that's based on a running joke in the classroom. Much laughter in that class!
Oh, and you know I've got Transformers on the brain when a bright yellow VW Beatle goes past the window and I got highly distracted as my brain started going "BUMBLEBEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
Oh, and you know I've got Transformers on the brain when a bright yellow VW Beatle goes past the window and I got highly distracted as my brain started going "BUMBLEBEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
I got up at about 8:30, chucked on a bra, and went for breakfast. I felt absolutely scungy for sleeping in my clothes! I checked out of the Flying Pig Uptown (which was the place's name). I dumped my bag in the luggage room and went to Madam Tussad's. They had a Pirates fo the Caribbean exhibition going on so I got my photo taken with CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow (So COOOOOOL!!!! 'course, he's really tan and I've lost all of mine.. my white coat is darker than I am right now). The rest of Madam Tussads was kinda normal. I have a goal now, visit every Madam Tussads in the world!
After the waxworks I went to the Amsterdam Dungeoun. Creepy, yet fun is the only way I can describe it. I screamed my head off! It was a lot of fun though. It takes you back to Amsterdam of the 14th century. There are actors that drag you around, wax figures, and they love to scare the absolute SHIT out of you! I screamed so much in there that my throat hurt for three days afterwards *grins*. I went through with two dutch girls, a spanish girl and her english boyfriend. None of us knew eachother, but that didn't stop us from clinging to each other in fear.
Let's see, first we were sent down a lift (where the actor proceeded to scare the CRAP out of us). She was wearing a black long dress/robe thing, it was dark. We were in a torture chamber where the lone guy was put into this torture chair, and then the actor proceeded to explain (and demonstrate on him) the different methods of torture.
We were taken into an old tavern and I had a musket pistol waved about in my face. We were pressed into service of the Dutch East India Trading company. We survived a sea battle with real cannons going off and had the crap scared out of us by the resident doctor. We were shoved into the medical bay of an old sailing ship where we had to watch this guy perform an amputation (complete with squirting, at US, blood/water). We used the guy as a shield a lot *evil grin*
We were left in a haunted house... then it was the witch trials. I was condemned as a witch and sentenced to stretching on the rack and then to be burnt at the stake... FINALLY there was a roller coaster (not the most spectacular, but still fun dodging in and out of poles). That was FUN!!!!
After the dungeon I headed back to get my bags and made my way to Amsterdam Centraal. I bought my ticket for Rotterdam and bolted for the train(I had six minutes to find the platform and get on the bloody thing. I made it, just). I bought my lunch on the train 'cause I'd forgotten to get it when I was in town.
The train didn't actually take that long to get from Amsterdam to Rotterdam. Only about 50 minutes.
It took me AGES to find the hostel. I must've taken the same tram 3 times before I finally figured out where I had to get off. THEN I walked around in the drizzle for 15 minutes trying to find the hostel. I only managed to find it after I looked up at just the right minute and saw the street sign that I was looking for.
It was a nice place. It was in an old shipping office right on the harbour. I was in a 10 personb dorm that was themed 'The board room'. Lots of muted browns and reds. I liked it. I had a top bunk by the window so I could look out over the harbour. I did discover one small problem, though. No ladders on the bunks. There weren't any people in the dorm when I got there so I wasn't quite sure what I'd be sleeping with (and that just sounds so wrong).
I dumped my bags, made my bed, and went for an explore (back onto the trams. I'd bought a 3 day explorer ticket. Meant that I didn't have to keep paying for my ticket every time). I had McDonalds for dinner. I couldn't find anything else in the area I was in so I gave up and had McDonalds.
After that I headed back to the hostel and spent some time in the bar. I got roped into a traditional Dutch game with some of the other people (two Dutch people, an Aussie, a Kiwi, an Irish guy, and me). It was a long board with a bar over the top down the other end. There were four holes that you had to try and get a little wooden puck into. It was HARD!!!!
I won, though ^___^. Aparently I'm a natural (must be the Dutch side of me ^___^)
I had a shower (blessed shower!!!! WHEEEEE!!!) and then went to crawl into bed. Ended up chatting to the guy in the bunk next to me for ages. He was an Aussie and looking into becoming an English teacher.
After the waxworks I went to the Amsterdam Dungeoun. Creepy, yet fun is the only way I can describe it. I screamed my head off! It was a lot of fun though. It takes you back to Amsterdam of the 14th century. There are actors that drag you around, wax figures, and they love to scare the absolute SHIT out of you! I screamed so much in there that my throat hurt for three days afterwards *grins*. I went through with two dutch girls, a spanish girl and her english boyfriend. None of us knew eachother, but that didn't stop us from clinging to each other in fear.
Let's see, first we were sent down a lift (where the actor proceeded to scare the CRAP out of us). She was wearing a black long dress/robe thing, it was dark. We were in a torture chamber where the lone guy was put into this torture chair, and then the actor proceeded to explain (and demonstrate on him) the different methods of torture.
We were taken into an old tavern and I had a musket pistol waved about in my face. We were pressed into service of the Dutch East India Trading company. We survived a sea battle with real cannons going off and had the crap scared out of us by the resident doctor. We were shoved into the medical bay of an old sailing ship where we had to watch this guy perform an amputation (complete with squirting, at US, blood/water). We used the guy as a shield a lot *evil grin*
We were left in a haunted house... then it was the witch trials. I was condemned as a witch and sentenced to stretching on the rack and then to be burnt at the stake... FINALLY there was a roller coaster (not the most spectacular, but still fun dodging in and out of poles). That was FUN!!!!
After the dungeon I headed back to get my bags and made my way to Amsterdam Centraal. I bought my ticket for Rotterdam and bolted for the train(I had six minutes to find the platform and get on the bloody thing. I made it, just). I bought my lunch on the train 'cause I'd forgotten to get it when I was in town.
The train didn't actually take that long to get from Amsterdam to Rotterdam. Only about 50 minutes.
It took me AGES to find the hostel. I must've taken the same tram 3 times before I finally figured out where I had to get off. THEN I walked around in the drizzle for 15 minutes trying to find the hostel. I only managed to find it after I looked up at just the right minute and saw the street sign that I was looking for.
It was a nice place. It was in an old shipping office right on the harbour. I was in a 10 personb dorm that was themed 'The board room'. Lots of muted browns and reds. I liked it. I had a top bunk by the window so I could look out over the harbour. I did discover one small problem, though. No ladders on the bunks. There weren't any people in the dorm when I got there so I wasn't quite sure what I'd be sleeping with (and that just sounds so wrong).
I dumped my bags, made my bed, and went for an explore (back onto the trams. I'd bought a 3 day explorer ticket. Meant that I didn't have to keep paying for my ticket every time). I had McDonalds for dinner. I couldn't find anything else in the area I was in so I gave up and had McDonalds.
After that I headed back to the hostel and spent some time in the bar. I got roped into a traditional Dutch game with some of the other people (two Dutch people, an Aussie, a Kiwi, an Irish guy, and me). It was a long board with a bar over the top down the other end. There were four holes that you had to try and get a little wooden puck into. It was HARD!!!!
I won, though ^___^. Aparently I'm a natural (must be the Dutch side of me ^___^)
I had a shower (blessed shower!!!! WHEEEEE!!!) and then went to crawl into bed. Ended up chatting to the guy in the bunk next to me for ages. He was an Aussie and looking into becoming an English teacher.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 01:01 am (UTC)Interestingly, if they had something similar to the Dungeon in the United States, the witch trials part would feature hangings (and one person getting crushed to death) instead of burnings.
Ooooo.... The dorm in Rotterdam sounds nice. Who cares if there's no ladder, just jump on up!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 10:45 am (UTC)I still reckon Hong Kong's the coolest city to be at though ^____^
Oh, the Dungeon was so COOL!!! I want to go back to Amsterdam just to go through the Dungeon again *grin*. Scared the crap out of me, but do they know how to make scary funny or what?!
I'm not sure if I'd rather be hung or burnt at the stake ('course, this being Amsterdam, they also had a lot of canals around to dump bodies in/drown people in... which they used as well). Neither sounds very pleasant.
The dorm in Rotterdam WAS nice. I ended up doing some interesting acrobatics to get up and down. I used the metal cage that held my bag as a step and then jumped/flung myself up into the bunk.... which was funny to watch when I'd had a couple of drinks in the bar LOL! It was funny to watch everyone else try and get up and down, too. The guy next to me had this odd flip that he'd do to get down.