Amsterdam. Netherlands

The Captain and General arrived from Russia with Love. For the sixth time in his life the Captain lay foot in the Adult Disneyland of the continent, yet this was the first time for the General, which only meant that that he was in for some real ‘Amster’damage.

Attempting to briskly exit the Airport, we got held up as our luggage got mixed up somewhere, anxiously waiting at the airport for an hour both the General and Captain had accepted that their luggage was lost, right before it appeared from the carousel.

Finally departing the flight docking station, we headed into the city to finally join forces with Admiral Akbar, and Rebel leader Amit. Central station marked as the rendezvous the squad united, it was like warriors returning to family. Sharing war stories and catching up on a series of life changing events, the A team checked into their brilliant hotel accommodation.

It was not long after that they were off exploring the city, showcasing the teams favorite city to the newly christened General.

Walking around they finally got a chance to do their favorite Amsterdam pass-time activity, Get lost. It took a lot of coordination to organise a meeting point for other padre’s to join us, and join us they did.

Stumbling to our favorite hangout spot in Amsterdam, we took a seat and started noticing the changes that had happened to the place over the past few years, we ordered our old favorite drinks and broadcast our meeting spot. It was not long before the infantry arrived, Jason, Pat, Lara, Adrian as well as the Generals comrade who had moved here earlier Vivan. The crew spent hours catching up, and when it was time to leave the whole crew was slightly roasted to say the least. As a group we all decided to get lost, walking around, exploring the city, jumping from venue to venue. Heading to the Red light district we once again met some reinforcements consisting of Nuraj, Ivan and Richie and the group once again grew.

We hung out for a bit, had a peep, then departed ways. Slowly the crew dissipated, leaving only the General, Admiral and Squadron leader to explore, they also noticed that it was approaching 3 am, the time had come to head home and get some rest. The subsequent day would be a big one.

Awakening after a slumber better than that of sleeping beauty after her ‘nap’, the squad energized to head out, there was much to see in the city!

At first the Admiral and Captain headed out to meet the Captains’ old mate from school – Dan. Dan had moved to the Netherlands 2 years ago and is currently working in Amsterdam. It was fantastic to catch up with him, reminiscing about old school days, they started the day with several beers. During the catch-up comrade Dan was able to provide heaps of tips and tidbits about Amsterdam from a local’s view. Stories included; why the famous chain FEBO is called FEBO, popular insults in Dutch and how the competitor to Heineken started off right next door and had to move. Along with the tidbits, he told us about what life was like in the city of sin.

Fortunately for the General, and unfortunately for the Captain, the rest of the squad agreed and the Captain had to hurry along.

Leaving the Van Gogh, we went to the infamous Vondel park and lay in the sun. We needed to rest and boost our energy levels before heading to the Heineken experience.

The newly renovated experience was not like either the Captain or Admiral had remembered, newly furnished and with new activities and shows the squad was able to get a few more beers in and reinvigorate their senses.

Lightly toasted the team continued to the iconic iAmstardam sign laughing along the way, the General pointing at a person and asking them if they are Amit, to which they responded – “I Wish”. a few selfies later they walked to the Mannikien Pis Fritz shop for some refueling, battling against time to get there before they shut shop. It was here where Commander Ollie appeared hiding in the line to surprise us! We had not seen each other since Moscow and there was a lot to catch up on. As we approached the front of the line our friends Jason and Pat appeared and joined us, we then strolled to a Bar and met Lara and Adrian. The group once again grew. We found ourselves walking around the red-light district, popping by bar to bar. Things start to get blurry here, slowly the group started to peel away, all heading home. We grabbed some Walk to Wok noodles and satisfied our Asian food craving.

The night was spent once again in a majestic slumber. With alarm bells hard to ignore and a broken body, we arose to finish up our packing. The Admiral was clearly broken – struggling a fair bit. We checked out, left our bags and headed straight to the station to buy our tickets to Brussels, which surprisingly went very smooth.

All set we had 3 hours to kill before our train departed – in this time we headed to the famous cookie place ‘Van Stepele Koekmakerij’ to have a cookie. We were not disappointed – the gooey chocolate cookies filled with cream were phenomenal.

The time was in our favor as we headed to meet Lara and Adrian, at the Avacado restaurant in Amsterdam ‘The Avacado Show’. The wait was over 30 minutes but when the food came it was very aesthetic and delicious. This place would do the Melbourne brunch scene proud. Food’gramming we finished our yummy avocado filled meals and headed back, stopping by a barber as the General wanted a grooming session before heading to Belgium.

All of sudden due to our slightly slow movements we realized we running late, we pushed the limits. Grabbing our luggage and rushing towards the station proved to be harder than we thought, often the Generals slippers breaking along the way. We continued to push hard and climatically, we reached our train just as it pulled in.

The Amsterdam adventure was over. There is a lot unsaid in this log, our blurred memories require some deep thinking as well as investigation skills, we plan on debriefing and rehashing our memoirs.

The General had now witnessed the city, the damage unrepairable will remain with him for a lifetime.

Saying goodbye to Amsterdam we got headed towards Brussels.