Good MORNING!
We have now reached the land of Waffles and Chocolate though we are yet to taste either as we only arrived yesterday. Andy and Steph are in the hostel kitchen singing about bacon... and hopefully cooking it as well.

Our first evening in Amsterdam we spent locating Falafel shops (fueling our previously unknown addiction to the stuff). Having satisfied our tummys with deep-fried chickpeas we decided that a foray into Amsterdam's musical scene was in order. We ended up in another Jazz bar, this time (according to Andy) it was PROPER jazz which meant it was quite difficult to listen to. We had a few drinks but then left in order to find something a little easier on the ears...

We strolled down the city's lovely streets and into what was apparently pub\club land! We were swept into to an over-21's club by the manager of a band having been told to give the band 'much applause' which we did. Later that evening we were joined by one of the pub-crawl groups armed with their wristbands (it just so happened that the Aussies we met on the train and were swopping stories with were part of the crawl!). Fellow Brits joined us at the back of the club, delighted to have people to talk to who understood irony, they plied us with leaflets for another crawl and tried to persuade us to come with them to the next pub but we resisted and now drink in Chris's honour and hope that Chaz and Pete made it home alright.

Next day (our full day in Amsterdam) we had a plan to go to one of the islands, Texel (pronounced Tessel) and hire bikes on Andy and Kieran's advice. After taking a little ferry over and being slightly harrased by scary seagulls we made it to the island.
On dry land we headed straight into a shed full of bicycles, only to find that we needed tickets. Back in the shed, tickets in hand we were presented with three huge bicycles with keys to lock the back wheel and also the leg things to make them stand up. VERY EXCITING! A few moments were spent adjusting the heights of the saddles (I was still unable to touch the floor with the seat at its lowest!), then we were off to explore the islands and its delights such as Den Burg (a little village good for chips and cider) and De Cocksdorp another little town and finally the lighthous at the furthest point of the island. We enjoyed this mode of transport mostly because it is faster than walking and nicer than buses. At the lighthouse we stopped on a sadly non-swimming beach and had a picnic. We realised at this point that we had no idea what time the last ferry was back to the mainland. Slight panic as we took to our bikes once more and cycled as fast as possible (sore legs permitting) back to the port... lets just say that we didn't take the most direct route due to bad signposting and that our ETAs were a little bit optimistic.

We did get back. That evening in Amsterdam we once again filled ourselves with Falafel mostly because it is pretty cheap and tasty. Then we decided that a wander through the infamous red-light district was necessary. It was a little odd, mostly because it seems to consist of human vending machines. I think we will brush over the details. We went back to our hostel after stopping for drinks at a pub and prepared for Brussels!

Next morning we woke up late. My alarm died and there was no natural light in our room. Getting ready as fast as we could we went to the station and put our stuff in the lockers. Andy and Steph went to visit what was apparently a very disturbing sex museum. I went to Haarlem to find the house of Corrie Ten Boom which I succeeded in despite the pouring rain thanks to an amazing machine which prints maps!

We boarded the train for Brussels and arrived last night in time for dinner...
Much love
xxx