Zuiderzee Medemblik

... as exciting as it sounds. We did see a Dutch man make a pair of clogs from wooden blocks in about 5 minutes which was OK but that was about it. We went and visited the Anne Frank house which is where a family of Jews hid for more than 2 years from the Nazis. They were betrayed, found and deported to the concentration camps and only the father survived. We then went back into the red ...

... enjoyed the Museum of Beaux Arts, which had a special exhibition of Piranesi prints - cabinets and cabinets full of drawings which are amazingly detailed - he must have been incredibly prolific and seemingly worked day and night every day of his life, such was the volume of his work. The food was a bit of a change from the German & French areas I had been in for the past 2 weeks - for lunch I had carrot mousse & pheasant patè as an ameuse-bouche, 3 oysters (from NZ), fried ...

... guidebook we did manage to find the narrowest house in Amsterdam in Oude Hoogstraat. It is only 2.02m wide and it is impossible to imagine how anyone could actually live inside it. Our walking tour through the Oude Zijde (Old Town) took us to Nieuwmarket which was the site of town executions in medieval times. We also discovered the Oude Kirche which is the oldest church in Amsterdam. It has the proud honour of looking out over the Red Light district, which I had never ...

... constitutes a "school" anyway? The government could go, plop, here's a daycare center, you guys must go. I definitely saw a daycare center at the Red Light District.... Later during the walking tour I learned that the city stopped new coffee shops from coming in. The existing ones can stay; they can only get shut down. Still, it was pretty funny to hear these complaints because we Americans think Amsterdam is like a haven. I ...

... my stonedness. It was another beatiful day so I went to sit on a beanch overlooking the cannal . after about an hour I walked home and went stright to bed . I slept like a baby for 15 hours . And so I experianced to raw amsterdamiaan culture and disided to never eat those muffins agian :) Next week i make my way to sweden to visit my very good friend daniel. Im looking forward to all the weird and wacky things that would confront me as i contunue my backpaking adventure.

... Red Light District.... What a laugh. Here's all these little box type rooms off the main street and little side alleys too, each one with a bed and a scantily clad girl undulating provocatively, wiggling her finger at you trying to lure you in. It must have worked a fair bit too because there were a fair few closed curtains. Some of these girls were well past their 'best before' date too. I personally think you're better off doing ...

... and tea. Dopefiend had been recording footage for the podcast all weekend, and I even got a few words in. Evening came and we parted once again. I returned to the hostel and crashed again. Top day. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZUN7-zW 66h4"></param&g t;<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZUN7-zW66 h4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></obje ct>

... Centraal station, packed, so we had to stand. Got to Amsterdam and tried to find a hostel, found one for 60E and took it. Expensivo!!! not much choice when you search for 2 hours at 6pm with a 20 pound backpack on. near our hostel they were having this big carnival in a square, kinda random! Went out for a pint at the Irish pub a few doors down. All these Welsh dudes came and sat near us. One of ...

... them to explain what we saw. But briefly, we saw the Medemblik harbour, castle (which was really cool!), lots of water, canals, boats, and voetball crazy people. Did I mention we were in Netherlands during the Eurocup 2000? For those of you who don't know, the Eurocup is a big, and I mean BIG soccer tournament held every 4 years. Dutch people are crazy for their orange voetball players. Everywhere we went there was orange, orange orange. Can't wait to upload those photos!

... kind of wood we normally see on the floor in Canada. His house was open concept, and it backed onto a canal. There are TONS of canals in Holland. After we returned to Jaqueline and Benand's house, we all set out for a walk through town. I took several photos, but I'm not able to upload them now. I'll add them later when I can. And that was our Sunday...