Amsterdam, Holland

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Where to begin ...?

Arrived in Amsterdam at around 11pm on a Saturday night (not ideal) - just as they were clearing up the streets after a gay parade - glad I missed that.

Probably the dirtiest welcome to a new city I've ever experienced - the city was a mess! Took us ages to find the right tram to go to Liedseplein (wrong tram station) - they weren't clearly marked / we were tired! We managed to get on the last one just after midnight.

Eay to find the hostel - down an unlit,narrow alley at midnight wouldn't seem to be ideal, but just use your nose ... the unique whiff / more than a whiff of backpackers toking on some cheeky roll-ups told us we were going in the right direction. Turned the corner and lo and behold, a group of 20 young-uns smoking away quite merrily right outside the entrance. The hostel reception had knocked off for the night (or were smoking outside / blending in with the guests). So it was up to the clueless janitor to sort out our rooms - needless to say, we were shown a couple of rooms that were full, so after disturbing about 10 people's sleep, we managed to hit the sack.

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Walked pretty much everywhere(got a few trams when too knackered to walk back) - 45 minutes to the train station, 30 minutes to Dam Square (not much going on), Red Light District (sleaze city) and the touristy Sex museum (more like a scene out of a 'carry on' film). Lots of tulip bulbs on offer to brighten up the scenery and the canals were nice to look at. Found an Irish pub on the canal in Leidseplein to watch the Charity Shield (Chelsea lost on penalties, incidentally)  and then to Vondel Park to chill out with the rollerbladers and get the map out to plan our next move.

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Went to see the windmills in a village called Zans Schaans (or something like that). Just a half-hour train ride from Amsterdam. Turn left out of the station, if you smell chocolate (cocoa factory) nearby, you've gone the right way. Then back to Amsterdam to find something else to do, which for the first time on the trip, we found a bit of a struggle. Going back to the hostel wasn't really an option, so hung around the cafes between Dam Square and the Red Light District most of the time, but it wasn't really a chilled out time. Made us look forward to Belgium.