Joops Hotel Haarlem

... the many cafes and<br>sat with a drink and watched the world go by. We walked back to the<br>room to relax and ready ourselves for our departure. <br><br>We then walked 10 minutes back to the<br>main square and found a nice cafe for our final dinner in Europe<br>together in 2009. It was a nice meal and afterward we went back to<br>the hotel and got to bed, awaiting the alarm clock at 5:30 am.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Monday June 29<br><br><br><br>We were ...

... it soon became apparent that Zanvort moved around a lot. First it was 5km, then 2.8, then 6km, then 1.1km. It seemed, no matter which way we rode, there was a sign pointing toward Zandvort with a random number on it. Even when we gave up and headed back toward Haarlem, there were signs for Zandvort, again, counting down or up completely at random. Unfortunately, we didn't find the ocean. We did, however, find the hillyest countryside in the entire ...

... on the side of his house. Judy even tears up a little. I order another beer. Dinner time arrives and we go to a spot mentioned in Rick Stevé's book. One of those - if you're looking for something unusual - kinda places. I'm actually quited interested when I hear they serve "Meat Pancakes". After some struggle finding the place. Including a dash in to the train station and an announcement over the PA - "Does anyone know where they serve meat pancakes ...

... venue. I think the excitement of being able to go at the last minute really added to everything as well. The show probably ended around 10:30PM, although our night, of course, did not. We then proceed to walk back to the hostel from the show by way of a pizza place, a coffee shop, and a bar. Once back at the hostel, our evening continued at the hostel bar. All in all, it was a great night.

... for all I know it could have been the first and last album of Hanson. I couldn´t help to notice about 5 people on the tram were smiling, just in their lone contentment - I was too. People laughing in the streets, again everyone outside riding bikes. I couldn´t help but to think, what is it about this place which makes everything so shiny, everything so gorgeous, and everyone still smiling - Oh wait a second - Most of them are high! I reached my hostel no problem, I ...

... the same sense of awe as you approached the glass cases. The paintings are huge-it was the first life-size portrayal of birds in any publication. This doesn't mean much when it's a finch being shown-but the flamingos and bald eagles left me speechless. Then there's the sheer beauty of the Teylers Museum itself. Like the Trinity College Library in Dublin, it's a wonderful space, with the floor to ceiling bookshelves, a creaky wooden floor, and loads of old fashioned display ...

... have a special treat of young kids playing the bongos....Slave labour i tell you!! lol then wandered around a little more untill we found ourselves in the sex museum...treally dont reccommend thios to anyone...all pretty sick! remembered a little too late that helen melon had warned me against this one.....ah well! on the way home we were accousted by 'G' and an argentinian guy wanting us to join them on a pub crawl.......hmmmmm with ...

... goes to Amsterdam to do, we went and got ourselves stoned. Our tour manager pointed us in the right direction to a place that knew how to take care of first timers and inexperienced people. It was called Hunter's cafe. The staff there were really helpful and didn't give anything too strong that we wouldn't have been able to handle. We all must have looked so funny stoned. We could be seen on the streets littering and, littering and, smoking the reefer (tops that one dad ...

... Shortly after, all the children ran over to tables where the jesters had set up some sort of games that the kids had to use their cookies to play. I'm not sure what the games were, but the kids were throwing the cookies at targets...and this explained why none of them ate the cookies when they got them. Perhaps the most disturbing part was that the event seemed to be sponsored by McDonalds. Right in the center of the old town ...

... like the Netherlands have 6.5 abortions per 1,000 women according to a 1999 U.N. report when a more abstinence-pushing country like the U.S. has 22.9 per 1,000 women? Nobody, either pro choice or pro life, is FOR abortions. We all want them to stop. But statistics prove that the more we open up and educate ourselves, the less number of abortions we will have. So the real question should be, then, are we just out there to say that we're against abortions, or are we out there to ...