From 'Dam to Deutschland (and glorious St Goar)

Rhine Valley, Germany

Amsterdam is a bizarre place. The smell of weed permeates throughout the streets, there are bicycles absolutely everywhere (including in a multi-storey parking area next to Centraal Station which is JUST FOR BICYCLES), and the main train station is much grander and more ornate than the palace where the Queen resides.

It poured with rain for our first morning in Amsterdam, and I spent at least half an hour standing in it while queued up outside the Anne Frank house. As the name suggests, this was the exact house and the very same rooms where Anne Frank and several other Jews hid during World War 2. Now it is a museum, open to the public, who can walk through and see where all these people hid. The rooms were small, the staircases extremely steep and narrow, and the entire experience as a whole was very sobering.

Kat, our Contiki tour guide, had informed us on the coach of the existence of stroopwaffles, and highly recommended that we obtain some. I ventured into a supermarket for this express purpose, since caramel sandwiched between two thin, waferlike waffles sounded like an excellent idea. I successfully found and paid for a packet of stroopwaffles and felt very proud of myself for doing so.

The rest of the morning was spent wandering around Amsterdam on my own. I walked until my legs were sore and my back ached, through flea markets and shops selling very dodgy souvenirs (again, it’s Amsterdam. Of course there are drinking straws and pens shaped like penises.)(I didn’t buy any of these.)

Boarding the coach again after so much walking was a relief. We drove along more anonymous highways towards the small and picturesque town of St Goar, in the Rhine Valley of Germany. It turned out to be a truly gorgeous place, and better yet – the sun was out, and the weather was pleasantly summery. There was a near-palpable buzz of excitement when we all stepped out of the chilly coach into warm temperatures and glorious sunshine.

St Goar is stunning. There are castles dotting the sides of the valley along the Rhine River, which in turn is lined with cute village buildings. The wide open spaces, greenery everywhere you look, and clear skies seemed worlds away from rainy, cramped Amsterdam, and yet we’d been through both in a single day. I’m definitely starting to understand how much of a whirlwind a Contiki tour can be.