Hotel de Vassy Egmond aan Zee

... you can walk the entire city in 30min) until dinner time. That night I think we all sleep with one eye open, as well as in my jeans and jacket, with my hood up so my hair wouldn't touch the pillow (the sheets were clean, we saw them change them in front of us, but I wasn't taking any chances. The next day we did some more walking around town before going to the famous "Pancake Bakery" for lunch. In the Netherlands, pancakes are very popular, they are different ...

... unforgettable).  I flew with nine airlines (Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Lan Chile were the best, in that order) and accumulated a large amount of frequent flyer miles; drank some of the best wines (Montes Alpha's Merlot tops the lot); had the most amazing tuna sashimi (on Easter island), scallops (Punta Arenas and Valparaiso), leg of lamb (Puerto Varas), steak (Mendoza), oysters (Fremantle), salmon sorrentinis (Buenos Aires)... and so much more; had this travel ...

... blogs (not sure if this is even possible??!!), I did go to two great museums (Van Gogh and Rembrandt (Reich)) while in Amsterdam. Funny how things turn out....I meant this great guy from Toronto Canada, and we went to both museums together. It's interesting to know that when you've been traveling on your own for a while, there is something to be said about hanging out with someone so close to your home town... things just don't need to be explained ...

... Hotel Paradiso where Kevin and I stayed, just on the edge of the Red Light District is gone. I'm told it was there until about three or four years ago. Damn that place was cool, even if Kevin did have his camera stolen. Some other better, more modern hotel took the space. The Red Light District is much the same, although it seems there are more girls in windows. I don't remember things that clearly back that far and besides, I was just a kid ...

... the smell of weed everywhere. It is quite a mix of people. I finally found an over-priced falafel place and feasted. After wards we went to a pub and I got Heineken; cause it's from Amsterdam! I don't think I'll be updating about my activities today :) Tomorrow is the last day here, and we'll be flying back to London, then the next day flying back to the US! I can't believe this trip is so close to being over. Tonight's the last night in a hostel :(

The started early as we had to be at the Aalsmere flower market by 7am. This is where the flowers and plants that are grown in the Netherlands' 100's of glass houses and brought to be sold and shipped all over the world. Unfortunately as it was New Years Eve the public viewing area was closed. So after a coffee stop it was on to Kinderdijk. An area with a dozen or so windmills standing in one field. This mist had risen so it was not too clear but still an impressive site with all the ...

... ppouring through. Must be raining outside we thought. As we paid for our food, so another leak appeared. Shortly after, this part of the celing caved in. Next, water starting rushing in from under the emergency exit door. Interesting, we thought. So we wondered over to the door of the supermarket to see the most torrential rain pouring down, with the car park under about a foot of water. This really did make things interesting. So, once ...

Good beer, good chocolate, beautiful spring weather, bicycle paths and wind on our back! Folks, we made it from Amsterdam to Brussels and this is even better than what we were hoping for. What kind of wine do you have? One kind And what kind is that? One kind. You want or no? This conversation with a barman in Amsterdam and we knew right away we were no longer in California! Oh yeah, and the snow and ...

... really cool. It was in a weirdish museum building, very modern. It was designed by a Japanese guy for some reason and it houses a Japanese exhibition of sorts downstairs under the Van Gogh part. I think there's some connection with Van Gogh's art and Japan because they are always referring to the little bits and pieces of Japanese influence in his work. That could be it ...

... They were only talking but did not stop until 2am when I yelled at them from out of the bedroom window. We did go out for a drive in our power steeringless Corolla to find the beach at Castricum aan Zee but were thwarted by the thousands of people making their own way to the sands on foot or on bike. We were an oddity because there was very little space to park a car. The foreshore was edged by a line of dunes which we could see from a distance as we ...