oh i wanted to see windmills sooo bad. and no one seemed to want to tell me HOW.
one of the guys working at my deranged hostel told me i could take a ferry from behind the central train station (oh reaaaallly) and then take a couple local buses but hes not really sure. then the guy at the visitor info centre said it wasnt possible buuuuut i could take a tour for 35euro that would take me there. i said i didnt wanna take a tour and hes like maybe you could take a train to some town but it would be terribly uncomfortable and from there on, he doesnt know.
sooooo after much pain and suffering, I SAW WINDMILLS AND I WILL OPENLY AND GLADLY SHARE WITH YOU HOW.
just go to central station and lo and behold, you can just get a return ticket for 5euro to zaanse schans which is 20 min away by train and then when ur there there's free maps and a free ferry across the canal to like a freaking windmill village! so there you have it.
and it was so good, i was so excited! im fully aware of how lame i sound but i was super super happy to see real working dutch windmills! there were a bunch of them all lined up along a canal, in the countryside with COWS and sheep everywhere! and a cheese factory with free cheese samples! and a wooden clog shop! oh it was so cheesey (in both senses of the word) and sooo good. and it was actually sunnyish (because the weather here is absolute shit) so it was a great afternoon.
other than that, ive finally succeeded on going on one of the free walking tours that everyone keeps ragging on me for for not going on in the other cities. the museums here are really good even though there are generally massive queues for everything. and for some reason, everytime im queuing, its pissing rain. yay! but anyway ive liked all the museums i been to, anne frank's actual house (very depressing, surprise surprise), the van gogh and today the rijksmuseum which has a lot of rembrandt.
aaaaand what was EXTRA good about amsterdam is that i got to see michel, whom i knew from darwin and marc from back in the day in melbourne. actual yay! so good to see more friends whom i havent seen in over a year! and imagine that, hanging out with actual dutch people in the netherlands. crazy. michel introduced me to FEBO, deep fried EVERYTHING that you buy out of dispensers in the wall. apparently the dutch version of mcdonalds. while i dont like the log shaped deep fried meat things, i do like the deep fried cheese souffles. and it was very nice of marc and his girl to spend more time on the trains from eindhoven coming to see me than actually with me. just sad we didnt have more time, but i feel so special.
and im off to see a movie ALONE tonight! my cold has resurfaced and i generally feel rather shite so its a very good option for me. this is my new thing, i watched transformers the other night ALONE as well. it took a lot of courage but i did it. im a real independent woman now. like destinys child.
