One way to the UK?

From Paris, we headed to Amsterdam! The drive there was not too bad or long on the bus, but being sick with a head cold and a sore back still made it seem like a crappy way and time to travel! We stopped by Brugge on the way and had enough time to walk to the main old square, look around the church etc and buy some traditional belgium food – fries with mayonaise! Didn’t have time to get into a proper Chocolatier but bought some Belgium chocolate from the supermarket, and did have time to visit the Cat and Dog Shop! So many nice products there for the pets!

On arriving in Amsterdam we checked into the almost brand-new StayOkay Zeeburg (HI) Hostel. The place was great, but the location not so great! Out in the East and had to get a tram into town all the time, or a taxi if you were coming home late. The first night, we went into the Red Light District for a look around with some other girls that we met on the bus and at the hostel. Firstly it was a bit light out still, so we had dinner at a nice Indonesian Restaurant near the main square, then headed to the Red Light District to look around for a while, wandering the streets. You would be amazed at some of the girls – they should be getting paid to be on the catwalk and modelling clothes rather than selling their bodies. It is quite sad, but in Amsterdam as it’s all legal they are looked after very well in terms of health care and insurance etc! Lots of dodgy people around the area though so not a good place to stay too long. The other thing Amsterdam (aka The Damage) is known for is the Coffee Shops… which do not sell coffee, but rather legally sell marijuana. Amsterdam operates on the Harm Principle (legislation) that you can do anything to yourself, but do no harm to others. It seems to work strangely enough! Because no one is armed and drugs are legal there isn’t much to fight over. Oh I nearly forgot to mention, when walking through the District we came across a “movie” being filmed… well there was two scantily clad girls chasing each other and running into a barbie pink Hummer. Sad sad acting and the girls looked like Paris Hilton hahaha.

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Okay, so I am a little behind on my updates due to not having much decent internet time or keyboards around the place!

On our second day in Paris, we all wokr up pretty well with me still sick, Lis coming down sick and Mara feeling fine – lucky thing! So Lis stayed at the Hotel (only venturing out for a little while during the day to buy some shoes) and when I got up i ventured into town to the Post Office and then to meet up with Mara around the Opera House. We had lunch at SAS Brioche Doree which is a great cafe that I first encountered in 2005 in Paris and you’ll be pleased to know the fresh OJ and the strawberry tarts etc are still as great as ever!!! After going through the Opera House, we then ventured over to the Arc de Triomphe and passed under the chaotic no-lane round-a-bout to look around the monument. I wanted to climb up but seeing as my back was giving a lot of pain I gave it a miss – same with the Eiffel Tower. I had seen both placed in 2005 when feeling better, so was not overly bothered second time around about only standing at their bases! Mara and I sat in the sun for a while under the Arc de Triomph and watched for car accidents! Apparently there is about one every 5-10 minutes and as soon as a car enters the round-about their insurance is void for that period! We only saw a few near misses unfortunately (!). On leaving, when we went underground again there was a whole French army platoon sitting down, lining the underground exit (underpass) which was a bit strange!… but could explain the green army bus that was circling around the Arc.. it was probably looking for the platoon! Following this, we walked down Champs Elysees (and bought nothing!) and headed back to Montmarte and the Sacre Cour!
Last night in Paris, Mara and I headed to a restaurant called Le Marmite where even though it was pakced with Scottish men in kilts, it was a notably French place and we had Escargot (SNAILS) for a shared entree! Similar to ocean shell-fish, I was pleased when the snails came in shells that were big rather than the common garden snail variety! They tasted like muscles (moulles) in garlic butter so nothing to fret about! For mains we had duck with blueberry sauce, which was nice although the duck could have been cooked a little more so that it wasn’t still quacking!

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