Golden Tulip Hotel Alkmaar

Alkmaar is an hour north of our base. It dates back to 1366, when it was little more than a refuge for wayfarers. The main square holds a cheese market every Friday as it has done for the past 500 years. Dutch cheese comes in huge round blocks covered in red, yellow or black wax. The market square was filled with rows of stacked cheeses. At one end there was a cheese weighing station. The white-clad, straw-boater wearing ...

... well most parts are pretty) I would not go back to the city again though because it's too expensive(food and drink wise), and unlike the museums in London which are all free, you have to pay for them all in Amsterdam (Van Gogh cost 15 euro!) Besides, I felt like I saw all of the places and museums that I wanted to see, I would however like to go back and see Holland and the countryside when it is in full bloom with all of the tulips and such...but not on this trip.

... sure. I might try to take the kids to the science museum NEMO that we missed on Tuesday because of the money debacle. At some point I need to pack. Also at some point, I need to get to Russ' aunts house for Sinterklaas dinner. I am not looking forward to the late night after dinner of dragging 3 sleepy kids onto the bus, train and tram home. And then we get up super early on Saturday for home. All of us are pretty much ...

... of us could use one! In Amsterdam, Lisa sent me a slighly alarming text message: she would be delayed by a day. Crazy flight trouble with Delta, who just couldn't get her to JFK for her connection to Mumbai. So, I would be on my own. No problem, I thought, how hard can it be?? Though I admit to some butterflies, from the stories I'd heard and my own imagination.

... so we've heard). Our official sightseeing included a visit to Anne Frank Huis - the annex at the back of a grain warehouse where the little Jewish girl hid from the Nazis with seven other people for three years. Anyone who has ever read her famous diary might think the hideout was a tiny space, but to be honest, if the multi-story ...

... justice. - Feeling all wholesome and clean from the Rijksmuseum, we decided to try the opposite side of the spectrum by visiting the famous Sex museum. If you're into black and white porn with dudes with weirdass facial hair, boy is this the place for you! Otherwise, stick to the internet. There are also giant statues of penises and vaginas, if you don't know what one looks like. The history information part is interesting... where you can learn about the ...

It's Saturday afternoon. I've put it off as long as possible. But we need lettuce, and onions and lemons. It's time to go shopping. Saturday is market day in Alkmaar. The streets are crowded with shoppers. Our normally cozy little town is transformed into a frenzied nightmare of consumerism. It's been this way since the late 1580s. This was the time of the formative Eighty Years War, when the ...

... the music was very fast and extremely loud. It was difficult to see at first because the entire room was filled with a haze of smoke. Through the murky air, we saw two guys sitting at table smoking what looked like cigarettes. When I took a closer look, I realized that they weren't cigarettes but rather huge joints. Now I'm not that familiar with marijuana but even a novice like me could tell that what they were smoking was a lot of pot. As we approached the bar, a lady ...

... time enough to make a quick stop on the way from Centraal Station to check in at the 420 Café and enjoy a genuine Dutch smoke or two before heading back to my pad in the Jordaan. I had been right in the middle of trying to complete a film project in Amsterdam when I'd left for London; now there was only one week remaining before I had to go back to America, and I'd have a lot of catching up to do starting the next afternoon. This film was a project of my producer ...

... for mini-grants." ************************* Adam Nodelman <jonathanswiftboat@yahoo.com> writes: "hey john, my name is adam nodelman, and phil franklin, we performed with you [at the yippie museum café] as 'franklin's mint' we sometimes play with the boston/brattleboro vt. music collective 'sunburned hand of the man' I've worked with borbetomagus, missing foundation, and crash worship. phil's previously worked with carolina rainbow before ...