New Year's Eve in Amsterdam

The summer of 2005 was the only one in which I set off with friends because of time constraints... so we made up for it at New Year, with a 4-day trip in the Dutch capital! We left from Milan since the flights from Rome were full... which meant a tragic train journey that I hate with a passion (!!) and, as if that weren't enough, a night at the airport, since the plane left at 7 in the morning...

but it was a great night for me personally, 8 solid hours of poker and a spectacular win haha!! We got to the hotel in the southern part of the city and straight onto the tram into the centre — obviously we never paid! The city, which of course I didn't remember at all, having been there years ago, is beautiful, as full of character as they come with its endless canals; it's practically guaranteed that you'll get lost once you start wandering! Needless to say, the local attractions, like the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum, with queues you couldn't even imagine at Italian post offices! The 4 days flew by pretty fast... between a walk around the city and a stop at the local attractions, the coffee shops... well, curiosity was too much not to go in... And typically like a classic Italian abroad, it was 4 days of eating at McDonald's hehe..

honestly those were still the days when I didn't dare eat local food... I probably missed out on something really good! New Year's Eve was fantastic, setting aside the fact that we got to Dam Square at 11.55 pm because the alarm didn't go off, and consequently a furious dash to find a taxi and then running to a square so packed that I could barely even think... people everywhere, even on the street lamps! Typically northwestern house/techno music blasting at full volume, and the city turned into an open-air nightclub, spectacular!! I'll finish with a detail that sadly doesn't work in our favour.. barely 2 hours after the party ended, the square, which looked like a rubbish dump, and the whole city had already been cleaned up.. excellent organisation.. let's take note...