Amsterdam and Activities

The past few days have been interesting. On Friday, Laura, Emma and I decided to venture out to Lydls on our bike to do so cheap shopping. It's about a 15 minute cycle away, but when we got there the savings more than made up for the distance. Unfortunately though the good times didn't last long. I got on my bike to cycle back and was slightly intrigued when my peddles just span around freely without moving the wheels. I then did the typical, yet pointless, "Let's try that again" approach several times before conceding that I wasn't going anywhere fast. The problem you see is that my bicycle chain is encased in a box which is great for not getting your trousers caught in the cogs, but bad when it comes to things like this. Alas, minus a screwdriver to get it off there was nothing I could do, so I had to walk back home, conscious all the time that my prawns were quietly defrosting in my bag. I managed to unscrew the box when I got back home, and after half-an-hour of pulling and prying I managed to get it off my bike enough to see that my chain had inexplicably fallen off inside. My hands and clothes were caked in oil by the time I'd finished, but at least I've got my €55+€60 bike working again - and that's what counts!

Yesterday was slightly less hands on, and we went to Amsterdam as a belated celebration of Antye's and Emma's birthdays. The weather more or less held, although, when it didn't hold, it didn't hold:


We went as a group of 8, but split into a 5, 2 and 1 when we got there after lunch. So that left Amadeo, Javi, Emma, Laura and I to wander around Amsterdam. Firstly we went to the Anna Frank House. It's an amazing place, it's so small and understated, yet incredibly powerful and humbling at the same time. It's in such a nondescript area that it's hard to believe how it could have happened. Well worth a visit. Absent a map we then wandered aimlessly a bit and took a canal boat cruise around the city's canals and port area:


I know I've blogged about Amsterdam before, but it's quite a nice place. Having said that, it's very hard to get a feel for as it's split up by the canals. The canals are bigger and more utilised than they are in Utrecht, and they're much more numerous. It's pretty picturesque as well:


After dinner in an unashamedly tourist restaurant we took the train back home. On arriving back in Utrecht we noticed something slightly odd. Holland may have a reputation of being a liberal country, but this took us by surprise:


A red bunny on traffic lights? Answers on a postcard please.

This morning I was supposed to get up at 7am to watch the Japanese Grand Prix with Javi and Emma, unfortunately, the first thing I was aware of this morning was it being 9am and me having a missed call from Javi. It's all this excitement I tell you!