Holiday or not, I had to go up early to catch a train into Amsterdam. Just a few days before we left, a travel magazine that I write a lot for sent me a panicked mail, asking if I could write a story about good hotels in Amsterdam. They wanted it delivered within a week. This was a fortunate coincidence, considering I was on my way there.

 

So today, I walked up and down along the lush canals of Amsterdam, visiting a number of hotels, houseboats and apartments. By chance, I passed one of my favorite cafés at lunchtime (t’ Smalle) so I sat down by the canal and enjoyed a de Koninck (Dutch half-dark beer) and some spicy meatballs. Dessert consisted of oude kaas (mature hard yellow cheese) with mustard. Yummi!

 

When I came back to Uitgeest, Jelle and Pin (Femke’s parents) were back and Femke cooked some nice food to us. We were all pretty tired, so we soon called it a day.