Day 20

The day started with Christina the tour guide telling us that there was another option that we could choose to take in Amsterdam – a sex show. Where according to her brief and awkward explanation of it – you pay money to watch people have sex. About half the group paid the twenty six euro to go and see it. Coming into Amsterdam we saw many windmills and the road was lined in places with solar panels - this seemed like a pretty cool country. Their laws with regards to Pot which had now been decriminalised interested a lot more people it appeared though. That night we had time to get dinner in Amsterdam and then have a quick tour of the red light district before the people that had paid went to the sex show. I got a nice kebab and some chips with mayonnaise with the crew that I had been hanging out with a fair bit along the tour Karl, François, Stags, Taz, Caitlin, and Jaya and a lot of the rest of the group went straight to the coffee shops, which are completely different to the café’s. When we joined Christina for the tour of the red light district a large portion of the boys that had paid for the show were not their – apparently they had smoked so much weed that they could not move their legs. The tour of the district was interesting – we found out about how Prostitution is legal and that they rent a little room with a big window and charge people about 20 to 50 euros for a blowjob or the whole thing and can fit about 10 (although she said that some had done up to thirty) ‘sessions’ into a shift. I wondered when they started working as all the windows were closed, until I saw one open and a man walk out – ewwww. We then walked through what would have to be the scariest alley way that I have ever walked down. It was about a metre wide and thirty long and on each side were doors with girls leaning out patting you – I copped a bit of attention by one because she was interested in the sword that I wore on my belt, although thankfully I didn’t get the treatment that Staggs got – the one-two whip manoeuvre. He got whipped in the balls hard enough for him to bend forward in pain and shock and then he got whipped on the bum – very funny stuff, possibly not for him though.
The following day we went and saw cheese and clogs being made at Edam which was just outside of Amsterdam and then had a bike tour through the village – very different to the one in Munich, the lady was middle aged and very cheery – but in a very different field to Stevo. There was an accident though, Tyler a South African girl came up the blind side of Brad and he nudged her into a blackberry bush. She was alright though. We then went back into Amsterdam where we had the remaining day until 7:40 to ourselves. I spent it with Rhian and Jo from Britain, and we checked out Anne Francs house, which was very interesting and then walked around the narrow streets peering into shops. It was in one of these streets that I was offered ecstasy for the first time. On the bus to our last dinner together as a group Meg a very friendly girl from Perth (I have never realised that they have a much stronger accent than people on the eastern side of Australia) announced the awards that we had voted on the day before – Most valuable person, Biggest player, Two can Sam (quickest drunk), Most improved and Biggest piker. I won biggest piker – wooohooo!!! After a nice Thai dinner we headed back to the campsite where we all hung about either smoking weed or playing cards and then went to bed. The following morning we left about a quarter of the group behind and headed back to England.

The Contiki trip was great at giving me the opportunity to see an awful lot of Europe in a very small space of time and for a pretty cheap cost. I don’t know if I ever would have gone to Venice and seen the glass master or lace makers, or gone to a German beer hall or biking tour or many other things by myself. I also think that as I was travelling by myself I could have gotten a bit lonely if I had not been with a group such as this. Although I didn’t go out with them all that often I don’t think it really seemed to matter in the end. The tents and the food that we had were both really awesome and I’ve got no complaints about either of them. It was an ace time and I’ll remember it for a while to come. The main reason that I came to Europe was to see different people and get to know them, followed by seeing a lot of the sights. Contiki let me see a lot of the sights, but as we moved around so much, we didn’t get to get to know to many locals. But that is okay as I’m going to get that opportunity when I see my mates in France and Germany.