Mayonnaise instead of ketchup

As you may be able to tell from the title of this post, we are currently in wonderful Amsterdam where they do indeed prefer mayonnaise to ketchup on their pommes frites (chips).

We are staying in a camping site on the outskirts of town, near the airport called "De Amsterdamse Bos" an enormous park the size of a suburb. When we first arrived on Monday from Berlin it was a huge mission to get to the camp grounds from the train station and took us about 90 minutes one tram and two buses. We were exhausted by the time we got there (and 13 euros poorer).

But we're really glad we chose it - we are staying in wendy hut-style cabins and surrounded by trees, a little canal and millions of rabbits! On Tuesday we hired bicycles and cycled through the park into the centre of town. It a beautiful, seemingly endless park with these green and brown canopies made by enormous overhanging trees and there are streams and rivers and canals everywhere. There are cyclists everywhere and the locals seem to obey no rules except avoiding getting into collisions. People talk on their mobile phones while cycling, ride next to each other having animated conversations and casually weave in an out of cars, motorbikes, trees, people without so much as even looking worried.

This relaxed attitude is not surprising. Larna and I have not encountered such friendly, laidback and helpful people as the Dutch. Just about everyone offers directions or assistance, even before you have asked. Its pretty amazing. We though the Germans were friendly, but they are not even in the same league.

Also on Tuesday, we walked around the main part of Amsterdam along the canals browsing the quirky shops and sitting in little squares to people watch until the sun disappeared behind clouds. Later in the afternoon, we visited a "coffee shop" for a coffee. Seriously, we actually had only coffees. Most people will know that coffee shops in Amsterdam are for buying and smoking a bit of whacky tabacky. Well we spent about an hour and a bit in this little psychedelic coffee shop sipping our cappucinos (I watched the Ivory Coast v Portugal game) while everyone else got high and by the end we were both feeling like we had partaken as well. It seems all you have to do to get a little bit high in Amsterdam is finding a really small coffee shop and spend an hour or two inhaling second degree marijuana smoke...

Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon just exploring the 'bos' on our bikes. We have pretty sore butts as a result, but it felt so free cycling along the winding paths, through the forests. We found a beautiful old windmall down one of the paths and some very quiet spots near streams to stop and unwind with our books.