Carlton Square Hotel Haarlem

... every time I fell asleep, we'd bounce around or the<br>seatbelt announcement would come on - loudly.<br><br>The hotel let me check in early (very nice), so I was able to come<br>straight here and catch a couple hours of sleep. Then I went exploring.<br>I toured the church - its paved in bodies, sort of creepy if you think<br>of it - they buried them 5 deep under the ...

... adventures were on the agenda. After 18 years I understand when the non-negotiatble moments arise and begin processing this adjustment. A trip to the nearest ATM seems a good way to clear the buffer so I exert my independance that way. I head out solo and and lo and behold "The Phone Store" is right across the alley. I make a note to stop there after breakfast And what a breatkfast it was... After hooking up with Don and Judy about 9:30am we ...

Got into Amsterdam and finally found our hostel. It's ok, nothing special - the 'kitchen' turned out to be one microwave for about 300 guests, but we did get a nice buffet breakfast &amp; free internet (if you didn't mind lining up behind those same 300 guests to wait your turn). We decided against the 'I AMsterdam Card' - the 2 museums we really wanted to see were't even on it! We walked around a fair bit on the first day. We went to ...

... a smile I remember decorating the Christmas tree, exchanging our presents, reading the funny Japanese manga books back to front (they are really funny), being able to communicate without words. Yes it was only one month ;-) But it felt like much longer! Happy he was part of my life, disappointed it "ended" the way it did. Guess my feelings are not always right. For those of you celebrating Easter, enjoy painting the eggs and good luck with the egg hunt! Talk to you all later!

... one out. At one of the bars along the canals we hung out, we were mesmerized by a street musician that literally kept playing the same 3 or 4 notes over and over and over. He play, take a break, and then play again. It was very amusing for other people hanging out as well. Neil and Todd tried to go to one of the shows in the Red Light district but lines and costs were prohibitive. So, we headed back to Haarlem, had an enjoyable dinner to end ...

... is horrid stuff, after 5-6 shots we were very messy and found ourselves in the middle of a concert where a croation band called Thompson( equevilant to ACDC) I was singing and Talking in cro, Had such an awsome time that I cant remember going back to hotel, none of us could! Great stuff those yager shots, Ill never touch it again in my life. It took us 2 days to recover! The next day we went to Ivica s brothers wifes families house which was eve ...

... your beauty and your darkness- you have left me never forgetting!! The above was written on my last day in Amsterdam...however on my last evening in Amsterdam l realised l was very wrong about the Red Light district and l want to rectify my misconceptions to you all. Staying in the Jordann Shelter City hostel- Sarah and l ended up talking to one of the Christian volunteers worked there about his ministry and lie in Amsterdam. Of course our number one question was ...

... through a decision-making process on whether to smoke or not to smoke. Through my first two days in Amsterdam, I hadn't. Alli was almost beside herself that I had been in Amsterdam for 48 hours and had yet to partake in the local customs. In that situation in the absinthe bar, though, I decided to smoke. In fact, throughout our entire five days in Amsterdam I only smoked when I wanted to and not just because I could, and that made the freedom of doing it seem even more real. Maybe ...

... Haarlem! It's a wonderful place. Personally I think it looks like greatly to Brugge (Belgium). I recommend visiting De Adriaan windmill; tickets cost &euro;2 and you've got a personalized guided tour by the owner of the windmill and museum. He's very kind and knows everything about windmills. He shows us how it works and explains the history of windmills in Holland. The windmill has three floors of ...

... church. Sin and repent in minutes! Lunch in the square opposite St Bavos. Good service. The club sandwich tasted like wood but the beer was refreshing. Anne nicked some of the teabags. Well they should know better than to leave a tray full of Liptons on the table. Like the hotel soap...one cannot resist. We walked back down one of the main shopping streets back to the car. There is certainly a huge variety of shops in the Dutch towns. It seems the malls have not ...