German Unity Day.

Yesterdays blog finished with us looking forward to looking around Hamelin today. After a relaxing morning we walked into the town at about 11.00 a.m. It was like a ghost town and we couldn’t understand why all the shops were closed. We’d only walked round for ten minutes or so before I realised that years ago when I’d worked in Frankfurt and Munich we used to occasionally have days off in the middle of the week. The Germans have bank holidays on a Wednesday which I always found strange. Having realised that this was a possibility I googled it and found that Wednesday October 3 is German Unity Day which is a national holiday. So, all the shops were closed and apart from a scattering of tourists the place was deserted! I took a few photos before we decided not to stay any longer. If nothing else it’s very photogenic with lots of beautiful old buildings. Plan B was to go straight to Amsterdam

The journey to Amsterdam went without incident after a windy start we made good progress and the wind seemed to die down after a short while. We drove all the way without a stop and made it to the Amsterdam City Camp in just under four hours. Unlike the last time we were here, we had to check in at a self-serve machine. Fifteen minutes later we were settled in. As soon as we’d had a drink we set off to go into the city. We got the free ferry again but this time it took us to the Central Station which meant we were in the city without the long walk we had last time. The last time we just jumped on the ferry without any idea where it was going to drop us off. This time our luck was in and we didn’t have to walk that extra mile to get into the centre. When we left the ferry and walked through the station it was obviously the end of the working day for most of Amsterdam and there were bicycles everywhere. This was the one thing we hated last time and if anything it seemed worse than ever. As we walked away from the ferry there were bikes and pedestrians everywhere and it was no surprise to see a guy on a bike slam into a young girl who happened to be looking in the wrong direction. She went flying but got up all smiles and brushed herself down like nothing had happened! I’d be amazed if, quite often there weren’t some serious injuries caused by cyclists and pedestrians coming together. In Copenhagen there are bikes everywhere just the same but it’s more organised and the two rarely come together. In Amsterdam its absolute chaos!

We wandered around familiar streets with the all too familiar aroma of marijuana everywhere. My impression of the city was just the same as the previous visit which meant I still wasn’t liking it very much. We popped into a supermarket and bought some cheese and milk and then decided to head back to camp. Back at the van we watched some tv which is the first time in eight or nine weeks that we’ve had satellite coverage. Having tv again after so long should have been enjoyable but instead it turned out to be bloody irritating! I’m sure we’ll slip back into watching tv the same as ever but it has to be said that all we’ve watched in two months has been Sneaky Pete online and apart from that we’ve not missed it one bit.