I remember the rows and rows and rows of boats lining Amsterdam’s canals. I also recall how funny I thought it was that even though this one was still moored, it has completely failed to do it’s primary purpose — that is, staying afloat.

The lighting made it difficult to capture this shot, so all the ones I took are a bit blurry and this was the best of the lot.

Side of a freight train at Amsterdam’s Centraal Station.

Taken while eating curry and fritjes (me) and mayonnaise and fritjes (Justine). We were waiting for our overnight train from Amsterdam to Munich and grabbed a hurried dinner from a crappy diner.

This is the last photo I took in Holland.

Day Eight
Amsterdam
15 August 2007 23:43

Three countries, one day. This morning we were in Paris; we woke later than intended and made our way to the Goncourt station and then to Nord. While reserving our tickets we were told we had to pay 50€ even though we had a Eurail Pass — how annoying!

Once our booking was complete we had to run to catch our train but just made it. Another tourist was no so lucky. Our tickets were in First Class, so we were given food (the young lady kept making us take more and more!) and the seats were very comfortable. The train was a Thalys train and during our trip to Brussels the majority of our time was spent at 250-300km/h.

On arriving at Brussels we headed the wrong way (as usual) but eventuallz found our way. After a long walk we came across the “Grand Square” which is even nicer than it sounds. Two ancient churches across from one another, and circled by buildings from the 1600s, all covered with gold.

We sat and shared some waffles with strawberries, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and ice cream. I also had a local beer which had a strong apricot flavour.

Eventually, we moved on and as we left the square we found a gold statue that people kept walking up to and touching. It was some kind of ritual; touch the statue (head first, to feet) then other small things around it. Weird.

Further on, the souvenir stores were all selling objects of a kid peeing. We saw why a few steps later — there is a statue of a kid peeing. I guess that’s important for some reason. Across the street a man was selling escargot so I had to buy some and try it for myself. They came with a spicy, salty broth. Escargot are quite chewy. The bit of the snail that touches the ground was quite hardso I didn’t eat that on any, but I did eat all ten.

We walked back to the station, collected our bags and managed to catch a train an hour earlier than intended. On to Amsterdam, then. The train trip this time was three hours and had a lot of stops — no 300km/h for us, and no more free food. What a gyp.

As we left the train station at Amsterdam it started raining hard. We donned our coats for the first time, so the train stopped; of course. This time going in the right direction (and through the Red Light District) we found our hotel, which has been standing since 1659 (at least the building has). Quite pricy but so is all accommodation here.

We strolled the streets a bit more and grabbed a reasonably cheap pizza which wasn’t too bad but could have been better. Retreating to our hotel we climbed the three flights of stairs that are so steep we felt like we needed sherpas and to make base camp for the night.

Now I can hear trams “dinging” every now and then, they are the same new trams that are being rolled out through Melbourne.