Amsterdam

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Our plan to get into Amsterdam early to avoid the queues at Anne Frank's house went half right... we got there before opening at around 0845. The queue was already a couple of hundred people long and light drizzle wasn't helping conditions at all.

None of us boys had much interest in standing in a wet queue for what looked to be at least a few hours so we headed to a cafe and left the girls to it.

By 0930 we got a text from the girls saying that they were still a hundred metres from the door so we walked around the now deserted streets of the tourist area and red light district before grabbing a beer at an Argentine restaurant not far from Central Station.

It was well after 1100 when we received the text saying that the girls were on their way. By the time they found us we decided to get some lunch and settled on an Indian restaurant.

The Torture Museum was next on the list and I was pleased to be able to get a photo taken of an Iron Maiden (small things amuse small minds).

With little time left in Amsterdam and far too much to do, we decided to take one of the canal boat trips. The smaller, more expensive one that we wanted to do was not running so we were stuck on a bigger one with no tour guide - just a pre-recorded audio tour that the disinterested captain played off his laptop at the front. The rain was on and off although not really all that heavy so the roof of the boat spent some of the trip closed. Although the narration was far from inspiring the views from the boat were well worth the EUR15 a head.

With more time I would have been keen to check out some of the canal-side bars and bohemian districts that we passed through but time was not on our side and the small cold that Jo had been fighting off for the last few days was starting to take it's toll on her.

We took the train back to our hotel where we slept until 1930 when we met the Herbys and found a kebab shop nearby to have our dinner. Everyone was tired and I was the only one keen to go back into town and have a good night out. With MotoGP the following morning requiring an early start the decision was made to have an early night and hit the town after our visit to Assen the next evening.

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