Amsterdam, Holland

We arrived in a rainy Amsterdam late in the afternoon on Saturday and went =
to a cheese and clog shop wher they showed us how to make cheese and (drum =
roll) clogs. The clog making process was quite interesting. All the tools =
looked very primitive but each performed its task well. We also got our =
first taste of stroopwafels. It’s almost like a compressed waffel with =
syrup in the middle (yum).

Then it was checkin and dinner. After dinner some of the group went into =
Amsterdam for the night. We opted to spend the evening at hotel as a live =
sex show was not high on the list of things to see.

Sunday we went to see the Anne Frank and van Gogh museums. Both were very =
good. The tram system in Amsterdam is very cool, but confusing. Their map =
could be better. After sightseeing we walked up the main shopping streets. =
I tried out poffertes (tiny pancakes) and frites (their version of deep =
fried chips) both were excellent. It rained in the afternoon. This was =
actually the first time we had rain while sightseeing on the entire trip. =

Later in the evening we went on a canal cruise, which was lots of fun. We =
tought some of the Aussies how to play wargames. I had a chat with the bar =
lady in Afrikaans while she spoke dutch to me. We could understand each =
other reasonably well :)=20

After the cruise it was back to the hotel. We had a few drinks in the bar. =
I introduced Springbokkies to the Aussies (it was actually on the shooter =
list!). Interestingly they have a mango flavored Malibu.

Today we are making our way back to London.