4 posts tagged “holiday”

The Magere Brug

I got back from holidays in Amsterdam on Monday night. Attempting to blog from there using my phone really wasn't enticing enough compared to the sights, sounds and tastes of that lovely city, so I didn't bother.

Myself and Gaia had a really nice time, very relaxing and full of excellent food. We meandered around the city, where practically everything is in walking distance, and we soaked up the sights and tried to avoid being run down by bicycles (you have to keep your eyes open).

Pretty much every day we managed to go to a few different things, including the science museum, Artis (large open zoo with a planetarium), Anne Frank's house, the Torture museum, a relaxing canal boat tour, and many many delicious restaurants. We also watched the Coen brothers' new film "No Country for Old Men", in the glorious surrounds of the Pathé Tuschinski cinema. We splashed out and got VIP tickets for the balcony, which included a glass of champagne (I donated mine to Gaia and her friend Richie).

We stayed in the Seven Bridges hotel, which is in a lovely quiet area of Amsterdam. The hotel was lovely, extremely accommodating staff, and a comfortable clean room. I've put a few photos up on my web albums account, which you can see at the end of this post. However I can't go on without mentioning the delightful restaurants we visited.

Wonderful Amsterdam Eateries

The Garlic Queen
Garlic Soup was amazing - a revelation of taste! Garlic Ice Cream was a novelty that actually tasted remarkably good, although it was the only garlic based offering on the dessert end of things.

http://www.garlicqueen.nl

Puri Mas
Fantastic place to go eat the excellent Indonesian Rijstaffel. I'd never heard of it before going to Amsterdam, and it basically entails a load of small dishes of sumptuous taste. Excellent and highly recommended.

http://www.purimas.nl/

Eat Mode
Very nice "Asian fusion" restaurant in Amsterdam's small china-town district. Lots of choice, extremely cheap sushi - possibly a little bright and crowded, but delicious all the same.

http://www.eatmode.nl

Some Photos

Well I've returned from a brilliant 2 weeks away from it all. Glastonbury was amazing, photos to come later, and heading down to Brighton afterwards was definitely an excellent idea.

Though tired, I think I feel way more relaxed than I would have coming straight home.

Not that the trip home wasn't troubled with a hiccup or two. We managed to sleep in and by the time we woke up we were too late to drive to Pembroke and make our ferry. A few web browses later we sussed out that there was a later ferry from Holyhead to Dublin that we could catch. €60 later (cost of changing ferry) we were on the road to Holyhead.

It's a 6 hour drive thereabouts from Brighton and I think it took a good bit longer thanks to the M25 being really crap. However we blazed through Wales and made it with about 20 minutes to spare. In the end the ferry was about an hour delayed, but finally got home around 9pm.

I'm heading back up to my own house in Leitrim tomorrow and I'll probably get my head together by Tuesday and normal service will resume (whatever that means).

Looking forward to showing off some amusing photos.

I'm sitting in Brighton drinking tea and looking out at the fluffy white clouds and blue sky. I am feeling that coming down here after Glastonbury was definitely the best idea and am definitely much more relaxed and recovered than I would have been going straight home.

Glastonbury was brilliant. Bjork was amazing, Iggy Pop was a pure showman. The Rhythmites were great.

Best single gig though was a 5 piece folk/trad type band in a small tent in the healing fields that we stumbled across at 2am on the Sunday night. They're called the Mountain Firework Company and they absolutely rocked the joint - I probably danced harder and shouted more than I had at any other gig ;)

I'll get photos up when I get back to Leitrim, but for now it's back to enjoying the dry weather in Brighton.. a relief from the mud and rain I tell you.

I've finally (a month and a half after getting home) uploaded photos from my trip to Venice with Gaia. Had a brilliant time there, I really recommend visiting this brilliant city if you get half the chance. It's quite unlike anywhere else I've ever seen. Beautiful.

Web Album can be viewed here!