Bruges to Amsterdam

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Saying goodbye to the beautiful city of Bruges, we set out for Amsterdam. We only had a few hours so rather than driving the whole time, we used the motorways to get to Antwerp for lunch at a large park called Rivierenhof. It has a great little playground and a series of lakes and forest areas to wander around and even a little farm for the kids to meet the animals. Em had a great time on the playground and after lunch, we had a walk around the lakes watching the ducks and geese. We spent a bit longer than planned there so we were a bit rushed getting to Amsterdam but it was reasonably smooth on the motorway with only a couple of roadwork areas to contend with. The volume of trucks on the motorway is unbelievable. We complain about truck traffic in Australia but it is nothing compared to here. We made it to Amsterdam only a few minutes late to meet our host for the week, Eric. It is his apartment we are staying in and it is lovely overlooking a small canal with a tram stop just across the road. I think a drunk must have designed the building though... In through the front door to the foyer then up the elevator which seems pretty normal but... then you go through another foyer area and back outside, around a little balcony / catwalk to the apartment door, then inside again and up a set of the steepest stairs in the world to the actual apartment. If it's all as strange as this building we can't wait for tomorrow to get out and see what's on offer here.

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