We found a department store with buttons and braid, crossed a very crowded but exquisite bridge and marvelled at how lucky we are to be living in such splendour, what more could we possibly want? It makes one feel very special to walk down a beautiful crowded cobbled street and have a key to unlock and enter a beautiful, grand old door that shuts out the rabble. [View Full Entry]

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We were so proud of ourselves to fit all our stuff into our bags only to be told at the airport that we had too much luggage so we ended up taking one of the bags as hand luggage. Unfortunately we forgot about our pointy things and liquids etc. We lost our good haircutting and fabric scissors, Akira's swiss army knife and Akira's face stuff. They left us with heaps of other stuff including more scissors and a scalpel. Prague is incredibly beautiful and our apartment is even nicer than I expected so we are very happy now. Ned and I [View Full Entry]

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Went to the Rijksmuseum to see some Dutch art. Of course, for us, Vermeer was the highlight, in spite of all the Rembrandts. Ate Indonesian in a very odd restaurant—very yummy food and not too expensive. I hope we can fit all our luggage into our bags tomorrow. [View Full Entry]

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Bought a purse for Akira, a computer bag for us, had an english breakfast and went for a walk down the canal to the post office. It's so gorgeous here but we're dying to get to Prague so we can spread out and hopefully feel more at home. [View Full Entry]

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Found another coffeeshop with wireless internet close by. Went out shopping to get stuff for Akira but as the shops don't open until Midday on Mondays we ended up going to the supermarket to buy more yummy treats and came home for lunch. Souvenirs - I found some stunning boots and a suede coat in a very cheap second hand shop plus a cloche hat and a couple of etchings all in our street. We finally got to the shop to get Akira a few more warm clothes. [View Full Entry]

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Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) arrived today. Lots of people dressed in renaissance costumes with black faces and afros. We tried the best chips in Amsterdam (apparently) but they had too much sauce on them. We went out to eat in the evening but had to rush home because Ned felt crook. Akira went off to Rembrandtplein by himself for a few hours. [View Full Entry]

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Ned and I discovered a shop nearby with excellent bread and cheese so we won't starve. We went for a long walk to Leideplein and found that Bull Dog Coffee Shops have free wireless internet so we'll be able to keep in touch with home a bit more now. We had an email from Lynx to say that they took Pea to the vet because Yumi had stomped on him. Thankfully he's okay now. For dinner we had some very nice pea soup (Akira had magic mushroom soup without the magic) in the red light district. Just the ticket! [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at about 5am and even with having to drag our huge amount of luggage to 3 different platforms at the airport station and a lot of dilly-dallying over tickets etc we still managed to arrive at our accommodation before 7am. There were no signs outside and it was on then opposite side of the road to what it said on the website so we were a bit afraid of ringing the doorbell so early in the morning in case it was the wrong place. After about half an hour outside in the cold I finally got up the courage [View Full Entry]

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Paul arrived at 7am to do the odd jobs around the house that we wanted him to do. He really left it until the last minute but it was a lot better for us to leave knowing that those things have been taken care of. It would have been great to be able paint the door etc but that can wait. The beginning of our adventure. It was a huge relief to finally get on our way after the weeks of hard slog trying to get the house in a fit enough state to leave. Charis took us to the airport [View Full Entry]

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