Het Boothuis Zandvoort

... when a new roomate arrived, she was a Danish girl, and since I wasn't particularly tired and she wanted someone to show her the red light district becaus she was only there for one day, I took her out. I was tossing up whether to see a live sex show because there are about six of them on the one street. She said she'd go with me, so we went to Cassa Rossa which boasts itself as being the first place to show ...

... both during his life and after his tragic suicide. I brought TONS of postcards :) And since it was raining outside I decided my Amsterdam souvenir should be a Van Gogh umbrella. For lunch we ate at Wagamama which is an European chain that is rather delicious :). And afterwards we met up with my Dad's friend Jaap Fabriek so that he could give me my credit card....lets just say he is officially my hero!!!!! That evening we took a canal boat tour of the city which was lovely ...

... the horror movie hostel people, not funny! Anyways, Colin then proceed to tell us that he's been living in Amsterdam for a couple of months working, and though he would like to go back to Donegal, he can't because he is wanted in Ireland for "head-butting a copper." Luckily, our three other mystery roommates were nice (not that Colin wasn't, he very friendly actually) and not wanted in their respective countries. We did a lot of walking around Amsterdam ...

... kinds of upscale shops with apartments on top. Our second choice apartment was in this area and while it was nice, I am still glad we chose the canal apartment. Back at the apartment, I got all 3 down for a nap. I didn't nap this time, but no rooftop garden for me. It started snowing and was still cold as heck and windy. I read inside and watched the snow. At least there are lots of windows in the living room. Russ got ...

Oh my god, I forgot just how delicious Dutch cheese can be. I went to the Saturday market that is one street away from my apartment. So much good food, and its organic. Maybe they eat organic to counter the smoking, everyone here still smokes, I guess they are late to get the news. Cheese and tobacco. I bought some aged gouda, mozzarella, stuffed olives ...

... Canada. Our last full day we traveled to Gorchem, my ancestral home and enjoyed the city, Jenny got to see a windmill. On the tram a woman had a purse stolen right in front of us and myself and a man from Belgium cornered the guy further down the tram and I searched him but he must of handed it off. She caught him going into her bag so she knew it must be him. That was a good reminder to Jen and I to keep a closer look on ...

... what you call it) to a sleeping cabin. In the coach and sleeping cabins, 6 people shared the space and in Ryans case, they got to face each other the whole way. In my case, i was on the second of three levels of stiff beds and cramped quarters with snor'ers (i am sure i was one of them). I really don't know how people slept on the third level and hopefully we wont have to find out! We arrived at the Berlin train station, which is huge, at 4:30 in ...

... 3x Orange, 2x Mango, 1x Passionfruit" Nothing else was needed and it really tasted like it said it would. Another god-send that Albert Heijn had were the "Kiek & Kook" stands where you have four levels to choose from. The first level is the staple of the meal - will it be rice or noodles or pasta etc. The second is the vegetables - do you want an Indian mix, Japanese mix, Chinese etc. Then comes the meat - would you like beef, chicken, pork etc. Finally, choose the ...

We have 2 1/2 hrs at the airport to change planes. We look at Delft china in the airport shops (make that shop as there was only one with decent china) and hope to find an airport version of an Indonesian rice table (who were we kidding....all airports are alike....all have the same food too.....yuck!). We're still hungry from 3 days in Russia!

... into the apartment complex the girls were staying in (brilliant place!) and hit the town with da crew. Decided on a Gaudi tour. Had of course nothing to do with my almost bunny-boiler like obsession with the man and his art... Walk for bleeding ages (in heels- gasp!-). Thank heavens there's escalators to the Parc Guell. Had such a blast in there, everyone was in good form. I think the change of weather from Holland alone was enough to heighten our ...