The Ultimate Jet Setter

We woke up at about 8am so that we could leave at 9am to see the house of Anne Frank. We got dressed and went downstairs for our free breakfast which consisted of juice, toast or cereal. We used our map and walked to the Anne Frank House which was on Prinsengract which was about a 20-25 minute walk from our hostel, I would recommend walking as much as you can in Amsterdam as most things are nearby plus you get to see more when you walk. The Anne Frank House costs €9 or €4.50 if you are between 10-17 years, those under 10 only have to pay €0.50. You can buy tickets online and print them or buy them on the day. I would recommend purchasing your tickets in advance if you are visiting Amsterdam in the tourist season and if you are going in the afternoon or if there is a group of you. We went early in the day so there wasn't much of a queue so we didn't buy our tickets online. The House's opening times vary depending on the time of year.  Signpost The House was very in...

I was only in Amsterdam for two days, which was not enough. I loved this city very much and was not what was expected at all. There is so much more to this city than most people think. So I went with my two Californian friends, Brandon* and Steven*. We were flying from Marseille and there are not any cheap flights directly to Amsterdam so we flew to Eindhoven another place in Holland. From Eindhoven we had to get a shuttle then a two hour train to Amsterdam. We finally got to Amsterdam at around 3pm, it was quite cold during this time as you can imagine, bout 10-12 degrees. We were staying at the Flying Pig Hostel, Uptown . The rates were good and we had a recommendation from some of our friends which is why we stayed there. The workers are friendly, breakfast is included, rooms were clean and warm, there is no ensuite but that wasn't really an issue for us. The hostel is very central and next to Vondelpark. We got a tram from the Amsterdam Centraal to Ri...

Charles Bridge We woke up at 9am, got dressed and went to the Old Market Square to get some breakfast then walked to Prague Castle. It was about a 15 minute walk from the Market Square, we walked over the Charles Bridge to get to it. Ticket prices are dependent on what tour you want to go on, there is a short tour which is CZK 250=€10 or the long tour which is CZK 350=€14. There isn't much of a difference in price and if you are really interested in acrhiteure etc then I would recommend the long tour but if you are simply going because you want to cross of the sites to see in Prague then the short tour will suffice. There are also reduced prices for students, senior citizens and those aged 6-16.  There simply isn't just one building to be seen at Prague Castle, in addition there are other historical buildings such as St George's Basilica, Royal Palace and St George's Convent. After spending a couple of hours at the Castle we walked back ov...

Trdelnik We woke up at 8:45 to the sound of drilling as there were some roadworks going on outside our windows :(  Everyone got showered and dressed and we left at 10am to go to the Old Market Square, we saw the Astronomical Clock, walked around the market and had these sugary sweets called trdelnik. There were several stalls selling them. They are the most devine dessert I've ever had and the thing I miss the most about Prague. It is made out of dough and like a pretzel but with a more crispy consistency. It is made by wrapping the dough around a roll pin type device which is then rolled above hot coals to cook the dough. After it's golden brown it is then rolled in a sugar and cinnamon mix. Then you get to wat it! This has to be tried and searched for when you go to Prague as it's delicious! Trdelnik Outside the town hall there are several tour guides waiting to with umbrellas which is a sign that they are tour guides. Some are free and o...

We woke up at 7am, got dressed and packed the rest of my belongings. We checked out then walked to the Hackescher Market metro and got a train to Berlin Hauptbahnhoft. We had some time before our train to Prague so got some snacks and magazines for the journey. The train arrived at around 9am, we found our seats and sat down. This train was not as nice as the one from Dusseldorf but never mind. The journey was 4 hours long and I did some crosswords and Christine read a magazine. Next I read some of my book and fell asleep for an hour, when I woke up we were still in Germany but in Dresden at that time. It was 11am so 2 1/2 hours left on the train. I stayed awake for the rest of the journey and did my crosswords from my book and Christine was reading The Help which she said was very good. Czech Koruna Prague was a bit of a culture shock, more so than any other European country either of us had been to. It was a bit colder in Prague at 10 degrees, the language was comp...

We woke up at 9.30am and got ready. We decided to go shopping that day so we walked to Friedrichstrabe which is the main shopping street in Berlin. We went to H&M and the local department store, we were just windowing shopping as we didn't see anything worth buying. We had lunch and had a failed attempt at trying to find a beer garden that we were recommended to go to by a girl at the hostel. Unfortunately we could not find the beer garden and came across a park instead. We decided to go back to the hostel at around 3.30pm. Next we went to a home store called Butlers in Hackesher Market and got some German storyboards as a different sort of souvenir. We had no idea what they said which made it even more funny. There are some non chain and chain stores in the Hackesher Market area, we went to this independent accessories store where I got a purse. They also sold mobile phone covers, jewellery, scarves etc. We went to H&M again as well as some other shoes and clothes ...

Christine and I woke up at 9.45 and started to get ready. We walked to the Tiergarten where there was a gold statue where several former US presidents and other political figures have spoken in the past. It was very tall and grand, we then went for lunch near Alexander Platz called Schinkel-Klause . The restaurant had an outside area also and it was sunny so we sat outside. The food being taken out to people's tables looks really good so we knew that we had made the right choice in the restaurant. Christine and I both had Schnitzel which was very good, very juicy and tasty. Tiergarten  Next we went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum , its about €8 to get in if you have a student card but make sure there is an expiration date on your card. It's a bit more if you do not have a student card. The museum was very interesting and informative, I learnt a lot. There are several artifacts from the war dating back centuries. After that we walked back to our hostel and...