Tuesday 29th April 2008
Work finished around 8pm and after lots of discussion on what to do for the evening we settled on a club which I had been to before called Bitterzoet. Before we finished work there was lots of running round in the day buying champagne and riding taxis to get it to Tim and Charlottes house as this was very near the boat and we could carry it the next day.
Queens night here is huge, it's like New Years Eve and Christmas Eve mixed together. It's also the biggest holiday in the Dutch social calender so they make sure the night is spent suitably. We were told about the queues and how everywhere would be rammed so headed to bitterzoet around 9.00pm to scope it out. We were told 10pm would be a good time to head back and get in so went to the closest bar to the club. This happened to be "London Bridge" which was a dirty pseudo English pub run by a mouthy Manc with all the atmosphere of a dead trouts funeral.
We watched the Man U/Barca game and waited for everyone to arrive at the bar so we could head out together. I was not feeling 100% due to the rambunctious weekend prior but was determined to have a salubrious night. Everyone arrived and the girls tottered off to the club whilst "the men" finished their pints. They came back 5 minutes later saying it was still empty so we decided to have one more drink. The highlight of the evening came about whilst i was in the toilet. I heard a raised voice from downstairs in the bar and on heading down saw the short mouthy Manc girl shouting at a tall skinny black girl. She was saying "get out of my bar" and each time raising her voice. I think she said she was dealing drugs in there, but we heard later that she was an old employee. Regardless, the shouting eventually lead to a punch being thrown and then there was an almighty wrestling match. All that was missing was jam, oil and mud. In all the commotion I remember Mike grabbing the Manc lady by the arms whilst her legs were kicking up in the air. I was trying so hard not to laugh but couldn't hold it in. Needless to say we finished up our drinks and got the fuck out of that dump. Everything that sucks about tourist pubs made for the English were embodied in that crap factory.
Post scumbags brawling, the night was great. Dutch hip hop was in full effect, as was an assortment of ridiculously hot girls. Like any typical night it passed by very quickly in a blur of booze, sweat and ridiculously conversations about nothing. Even though my vision was gone, I found my way home and greeted the toilet, as is customary, with the contents of my digestive system.
Wednesday 30th April 2008
Queens Day
Woke at 10.30am with a ridiculous hangover. Got washed and dressed and went into Glassworks to pick up the bankcard and the telephone number of our boat driver. Where our houses out the back are situated means we are in a courtyard that escapes almost all of the outside noise. On opening the door to the outside world I was greeted with a sea of orange and about 1000 people all walking down Leisegracht to Vondel Park. The noise was already huge and next doors at Bank's bar they were setting up outside bars and decks. Me and Mike made our way to Tim and Charlotte's house through the crowds which at 11.30am were already swelling. We got ourselves together, met up with everyone and then headed off to get on the boat for 1.00pm. The rest of the day was a huge blur of orange, flares, boats knocking into eachother, blaring music, champagne, street parties, boat parties, houseboat parties, etc etc. I think the photos will give a better sense than any words.
Once we had finished on the boat, we moored up and then from about 5pm till 6am we went all over the city being beyond ridiculous. Definitely the hardest partying done since summer last year. I am 100% certain if Gary Morgan had come over someone would have probably died.
Definitely my favorite day so far in Amsterdam.
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