Well it has now been just over 2 weeks since I left Berlin to have Christmas with my grandparents in the UK. Alot went on in that time.

First was the bus trip to Amsterdam, which I will never do again. I was led to believe that it would be strait though with 2 stops to pick up passengers. However we stopped every 2 hours and the driver turned all the lights on and made such a fuss so that any were sleeping, weren't. It all started with being in line to check in with the bus driver. I was standing behind 2 American girls... (yeah it gets better) who didn't speak a word of German. The bus driver was from Poland or something but spoke good German and asked them (in German) if the ticket was for the two of them, and how many bags they had each. After repeating the question I translated it for her so that we were not going to be there all night. She of course answered him in English and I did my job and repeated it in German for the driver. Then he asked her to take the baggage tags and write the names and destination city on them and attach them to their bags. I promptly translated this for her and then she turned around and said to me "Would you be quiet I am trying to listen to what he is saying" then turned back to the driver and said "Can you say that again but in English this time...?" Now the word American idiot doesn't even come close to what happened there. I was shocked but undaunted I politely explained to her that the driver doesn't speak any English and that perhaps I can help. But to no avail, she promptly told me where to go by saying "We have been all around Europe and everyone we have met speaks English so we don't need your help." When she turned around and saw what everyone else was writing on the tags she left to do the same. I had a quick conversation with the driver about her and well you get the idea. Then as the bus left Berlin she came down to where I was sitting and stood over me and asked "Do you know what time the bus arrives in Amsterdam?" Now that she had been less then hospitable towards me I promptly answered with "Yes." Then she just stood there. "And what time is that?!" she screamed at me. so I told her and she left, thankfully never speaking to me again for the duration that we were on the same continent. I know that I should always have been hospitable and not been a smart ass when she asked about the arrival time but I thought she needed some of her own medicine.

I arrived in Amsterdam at 5 in the morning after about 30 mins sleep throughout the night and ohh Buddha was it cold and windy. About -2 deg or something. I had to wait 1 hour until the trains started so that I could get to Centraal Station (main station as you might have guessed.) From there (about 0620h) I took a walk around, not having been to Amsterdam for 2 1/2 years I had no idea where I was heading. I walked around for a while until I got my bearings and started to remember where I was. I then found a nice little pancake place (Holland and waffles / pancakes = awesome) and had a bacon and cheese pancake with maple syrup for breakfast. I swear that and the coffee was so welcome that morning. I then proceeded to find a map so that I would see some stuff that I wanted to see in the short time I had left. The tourist office was closed so the best I could do was a Tram map of Amsterdam. I went round and pulled out the map to get my bearings, when a rather tall woman asked if she could be of assistance. We had a chat and she was most pleasant (should be the poster woman for friendly Amsterdam I think) and the kicker - she works at the Heineken brewery. I think I could have married her, if she wasn't 2 foot taller than me. I had fun looking around.. I did notice an abundance of Japanese tourists. There were millions of them, just like the Gold Coast.

Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare (congrats to Amsterdam for making the Airport part of the rail network so that it only costs a single ticket to get to... not like London where it costs 20 pounds) There I was waiting in line for the gate to open for the flight where I got chatting with what I thought to be an old hippie and his wife. It turns out that he was 32 (looked 55) and was part of an AC/DC tribute band. Pretty cool guy actually, it turns out that he was going to be playing a gig in my grandparents village about 1 min walk from their house (the Memo for those who know where it is) I didn't go out that night because of what happened that night before but i'll explain that to you in a minute.

Met the grandparents at Cardiff airport (CWS is the code as I found out not CDF - not that it matters to anyone) and there was not security in sight so I just strolled out... great spending all this money on security but if no-one is there to use it what's the point? Quick trip back and I was feeling quite happy to be out of Berlin. Not much happened until Friday night. I had noticed that a disco was to be held at one of the local pubs and knowing that this town is pretty choice poor when it comes to party venues I thought that I would give it a go. It also happened to be what's called Black Friday (because its the last Friday before Christmas and cops make heaps of arrests.) Went down to a local to start with and all I wanted was a Guinness (cant get good Guinness in Berlin) but the pub had only 2 beers left, Carling and Fosters. Being the good Aussie I couldn't bring myself to drink that crap Fosters. Anyway they had a James Bond film on the TV so I sat and watched that while drinking.. sad I know but I love Bond. Then decided to head to the Disco. Well imagine a place the size of my bedroom and then crowd 100 people into it.. yeah packed. Met a girl named Amy (or Amie never now these days) and we hit it off. But as my luck would have it her brother was there as well and decided he wanted to fight me. Now he was 4 foot nothing so I doubt I would have had much trouble but I was worried about how many other brothers she had in this place as well. She convinced him to leave then at 1am we all got thrown out when the place closed. Yeah 1 am ... that is when a party gets started in Berlin... Anyway apart from the nearly 3 fights and 1 stabbing that I found myself in I considered it a good night.

Nothing really happened for the most of the time that I was there from that point on. I did watch an enormous amount of TV - Thank you satellite dish. I also had a bit of trouble sleeping and would often stay awake until 5am. But that being said I did get to watch the Australia vs India cricket.. most happy. We went out to lunch a few times and I did really enjoy a good pub meal. Steak and Guinness pie with a pint of Guinness, That is heaven. I did for the first few days have a bit of trouble adjusting to the food again and spent a bit of time on the klo but apart from that the food was great.

The grandparents drove me to Bristol Airport for my flight back to Berlin. I was a bit sad to leave but I was looking forward to New years with friends. I said my goodbyes and headed into the airport. Another thing I noticed was much more security than at Cardiff, however not 1 time going through there did I get my passport checked. I still cant figure that one out. When I got to Berlin they checked it.. but not on the English side. Ohh and some information for all you would be European travellers, with the 100ml limit on liquids in the EU watch out, they consider Vegemite a liquid. I would love to see someone try and drink it.

Anyway I have included some photos of Amsterdam for your enjoyment. I will write about New years when I recover from RSI from typing this..

Cheers for now

Matt
AMS 1AMS 2