A quick 6 hour train ride took us from Hamburg to Amsterdam. In hindsight, given the lack of airport security, boarding, etc. it probably wasn't that much longer than flying.
Our hosts were great and we had no problems navigating the Amsterdam public transport system.
I've yet to go actually explore Amsterdam and see the sights etc, but I shall Endevour to do something that resembles tourist activity before I go. That said I do return through Amsterdam on my bus tour.
New Years Eve was, as expected, loud and colourful. Even though I was safely bunkered down at a house party, I didn't lack for a view of an enormous amount of fireworks. TV revealed the city centre as been an entire exploding ball of fireworks that went on for minutes. It was like a collapsing star repeatedly imploding and exploding as it attempts to work out if it's going nova, or dwarf.
A brief forray into the outside world this afternoon has revealed what's left of the night. A few kids wandering around letting off crackers, some house pets tentatively making their way outside, coloured paper scatter all over the street.
The Dutch it seems generally try to tidy up most things as this pile was the "worst" I could find in a most photogenic sense. Do remember we weren't near the city centre, and there was certainly lots of red paper around (the wrap around the fireworks)