Hamburg, Amsterdam and Brussels

The train ride from Copenhagen to Hamburg was great. Nice first class seats and an interesting section where the train drove onto a ferry and crossed to Germany then drove off.

train on a ferry crossing into Germany

To be fair anywhere we went after Copenhagen would have suffered by comparison. Hamburg was just unlucky. We arrived around 3 in the afternoon and walked to our hotel. The hotel was alright and after checking in we set out to explore the town. We had both heard great things about the lakes so headed in that direction. Unfortunately they seemed to be having some kind of algae bloom and it was all pretty green. I’d post some photos but we actually didn’t take any in the two days we were there. For anyone who knows how attached I am to my camera I think this is enough said.

We hopped on the train for Amsterdam pretty early on day 3 and arrived mid afternoon. We figured out the tram system and were soon on our way out to our hotel. It wasn’t located in the centre of town but it made up for its location with its funky rooms. The whole room was controlled by a nifty little “moonpad” and allowed you to change all the lighting colours etc depending on you mood. Lots of fun. After playing with the settings for a while we headed back into town to meet our friend Paul who had flown over from London for the weekend.

Amsterdam was just fantastic. So beautiful and so much fun. I think of everywhere we have been so far its our favourite. We spent the night wandering around the canals and having some beers. Day 2 was spent in much the same way and that night we met Paul’s sister for dinner as well.

bike and canal in Amsterdam


view from canal cruise

Night view of the canal


Day 3 we ventured out of the city for a bit of a crash course on Dutch culture. We saw windmills, cheese making, clog making (she said they were comfy but I have my doubts) and lots of very flat land. Dinner that night was a canal cruise complete with walking tour of the red light district. Was interesting to say the least.

We were originally planning on 4 days in Amsterdam but this quickly turned into 6 and if we didn’t have to get to the UK we would probably never have left.

Day 5 we reluctantly went and booked our tickets to Brussels and then with much pleading and begging from me I managed to get Ben to agree to a peddle boat tour of the canals. Was a lot of fun – suspect we looked a little ridiculous but it was worth it in my opinion (probably not in Ben’s).

Ben and a lot of cheese

Goats and windmills

Canal pose

Peddle boat fun

I amsterdam? Doesn't make sense but its cool.



The train to Brussels left around 12 and we arrived around 3 in the afternoon. I’d done my research and intentionally booked a hotel within a km of the station so we headed off on our 15min walk. 3 hours later we were still walking, without a map, with all our bags and not very happy. I can honestly say I have never been so lost in my life. Just as we were about to lose all hope of ever getting out of the labyrinth of backstreets of Brussels we saw a taxi. 10 euros later we were at our hotel – we had been nowhere near it. Needless to say the taxi driver probably got the biggest tip of his life and if I hadn’t been so exhausted I would have hugged him.

Dinner that night was at a little outdoor restaurant where Ben had the biggest pot of Mussels I’ve ever seen (and yes there were lots of Van Dam jokes). Then a stop at a little deli to buy some beer.

View from our hotel roof of Brussels

Church in Brussels


As we only had 1 full day in Brussels we thought we better make the most of it. We headed out early and walked into the central square. So beautiful. We then jumped on an open top city tour bus. Was all going great until a sudden heavy deluge sent everyone running for the stairs. We were sitting downstairs feeling pretty smug as everyone poured down the stairs. Unfortunately we quickly discoved open top buses are not designed for rain as the whole roof leaked. The bus was all fogged up and full of very wet unhappy tourists.

Then it was time for some Belgian waffles in front of the manneken pis (little peeing boy statue), a quick cultural hit with a tour of the Renee Magritte gallery and some local beer in a pub. Then back to the hotel for the last night of our European leg for now.

Ben in Brussels

Brussels Grand Place and some impressive clouds

Manneken Pis - not as big as you would think

More churches and impressive clouds

Church in Grand Place


We caught the Eurostar around 9 and were in London 2 hours later. So here we are – in London after 6 weeks of trains, ferries and the occasional train on a ferry. We have 3 days to try and get our clothes clean again before the next leg – 5 weeks in a campervan (aka Tarago) first stop Edinburgh Fringe!

Getting off the eurostar in London