Day 7: London - Amsterdam

We got up bright and early on Wednesday to catch our flight to Amsterdam. While at the airport though, we were soon to learn that our flight was to be delayed till gosh knew when. So off we went to get some eats and to find miscellaneous means to while away the time. My parents will be proud to hear that I did the Sudoku on the Metro that day.

We then cracked out the Monopoly which successfully occupied us till the flight. A great investment.

So there I am waiting to board our flight. We were joyed to see and feel the sunlight streaming down on us after experiencing cold, foggy days in London.

We later learnt that many flights were using this window of sunlight to escape from the terrible London weather, which explained the over 2 hours of delay at the airport we endured. When we landed, we found out that we were lucky to get out of London at all. Apparently, due to the fog, many other flights had been cancelled

By the time we got to Amsterdam, it was already past 1600. Imagine my shock that the sun was still up. It set at around 1700 in Amsterdam! Yes, an extra hour of daylight to look forward to!

In Amsterdam, we stayed with Laura's Aunt and Uncle - Gijs and Dea - and they were wonderful! They came to pick us at at the Central station in Amsterdam which was gorgeous... There I am in front of it. Can you imagine Somerset or Orchard MRT looking like that?

Gijs and Dea's apartment was in a great location in Central Amsterdam, walking distance from the station in fact. And right beside a canal, so you could see one through the kitchen window. There's the street they lived on (it's not open to cars, but everyone in Amsterdam rides on bicycles!).

Here's the front of their house.

And the bed which I crashed on.

After a day of travelling, we decided to just spend the night resting and getting our energy back. Besides, Luke and Laura were pretty ill with bad throats and I could feel mine starting to act up as well (shouldn't have polished off Luke's fried rice at the Thai Restaurant in London... But it was just too delicious...).

So we laid around till 1930 whereupon Laura's Aunt and Uncle then brought us out to this Belgian place for a very great dinner (and totally unaffordable to poor students such as ourselves). Wine... We had tons of wine. Such a luxury for the budget traveller.

Basically, the concept of the restaurant was many small appetiser-sized dishes so you could have tons of different choices. Looking back at what I had that night makes my mouth water all over again..

For starters I had
(1) Portobello Mushrooms with Cream Cheese and Truffles and
(2) Veal with Creme Brulee

And for mains I had
(1) Steak with Red Wine and Butter Sauce and
(2) Deer in Balsamic Vinegar

I also tried some of Laura's Hare.

The dessert menu looked so tempting, but we also had some belgian frites and salad so I was too full to indulge myself.

The restaurant was within walking distance from Gijs and Dea's apartment so we basically had a nice stroll there and back. At night, the canals are all lit up and it looks magical; as you can see from the picture below =)

Stayed up late that night after Laura and Luke crashed in order to plan my route for the next day. Only had one day in Amsterdam afterall, I had to make the most of it and see as many attractions as possible!!

Also msged my Mum telling her of my sore throat. I received one order - gargle salt - and promptly obeyed. Guess what, it works!!! So anytime you've got a sore throat, always remember to gargle salt. Heck, it worked better than conventional medicine and lozenges for me. I wonder what the science is behind it...

silkstalkings waves