Wilkommen in Holland!

Yes, I have left it a bit late again but here are some photos of Holland... finally! Despite my broken foot I grudginly left London to face the windy late Spring of Holland, and also to practice my Dutch! Starting off in Groningen I visited my friend Anja but walking around the town proved somewhat difficult and tiring in my Air Boot... here is Groningen Rail Station.

I walked towards the town square and look what I found on the way... as you can imagine, I was extatic!! I have never seen one before :)

I met Marco two days later and we fought the peak hour traffic from Amsterdam to the eastern part of Holland where we visited a tiny little town called Pieterburen. I tried a Grunn's Goudhaantje which is a Kölsch style beer, it was one of the best beers I have ever tasted! Very fresh, not too fruity and not too bitter, I wish I could buy some outside Holland but I don't think I can!

Anyway, in Pieterburn there is quite a large Seal rehabilitation program, they call it a Zeehonden Creche! The seals were SO adorable! They take in orphans and ill seals to get them better and then they release them back into the wild. Some of them were really sick.

Then off we went over the Afsluitdijk, the big windy man-made dike over the open sea to North Holland. We went to Volendam which was a pretty little sea-side town where I drank some Wiecke Witte Dutch blonde beer, not as good as Hoegaarden but good enough!


And we had to see some windmills! One was open so I climbed up and down all the scary narrow steps! Here a picture of me - notice the boot!


On the way to Limberg we stopped in Den Haag to visit the amazing minature city of Madurodam. It is much bigger than I expected!


And then it was off to Limberg to see some friends. And also a visit to a Belgian Beer Wholesale shop... I was in heaven!! So many names I hadn't heard of and I found some Hoegaarden beers that aren't exported. And even Hoegaarden was in the cheap no print bottle here with a different label.

Then it was off to the Stad Amsterdam. We walked to the Central Square to have a look around.

And then it was off to the Leidseplein for a drink. There was a skating rink there but I couldn't skate because of my foot :(

And then it was off to the dirty red light district for a sex show before heading home the next day! It wasn't really what I expected and wasn't as good as the Crazy Horse in Paris! But it was entertaining nonetheless.