Amsterdam again...

Our love affair with Amsterdam continues... such a great city to visit! We spent our long weekend in Holland with James and Tracey and although the weather wasn't that flash, we made up for it in other ways.... wondering the streets with canals.....

Our first day we rode over 60km into the country to find wind mills... we got a lot further this time round and managed to find quite a few... very beautiful country side. Although my legs were killing me the next day!

We visited the house of Anne Frank also... was very sad to read and see all about her life... or shall I say, the lives of them all. Quite hard to understand how different things must have been back then.

The ladies of the night were out and about selling what they know best... very interesting to watch, but of course the majority of the clientel is the English stag do's... No where else in the world is prostitution so well organised and laid out... Would like to take photos to show you all the sale windows... but we weren't allowed....

Valencia & Alicante, Spain

Our view from the hotel room

The beach in Alicante








Whizza and Nat after a few sangrias!


Having our last taste of tapas in Valencia....

Well well well... we escaped London for the long weekend and flew into Valencia. After having the worst flight in the world coming into Valencia, we landed and drove our hire car down to Alicante to visit Whizza. Seriously, EasyJet put the wheels of the plane down, we were literally meters from the ground when I thought everything was going smoothly, to find the tip of the plane all of a sudden go straight up and the pilot put his foot down so hard I thought we were taking off like a rocket. I turned to Simon and was like "why are we going back up?" he said, we're not... there is nothing to worry about. Yeah that's why we are heading back up into the sky at a rapid pace and turbulence has just got so bad that the whole plane is screaming!!! Not an experience I want to live again...

Anyway, it was all worth it once we got down to the gorgeous Alicante. Spent the weekend drinking sangria and eating all those good tasting tapas... Simon got to see way too many naked ladies on the beach, and of course, the young spanish boys aren't too shabby either... heheheh!

We had sensational weather the whole time, mostly in it's high twenties, until we landed back in London tonight where it is 16 degrees :(

Our new bikes

My one -:)
Simon's one - racey!

We did a bit of an impulse purchase on Saturday and brought brand new bikes. Mine is an English traditional hand-made bike from Stratford upon Avon... but the best bit is my basket and bell! So cooooooool!!!!!! Went and collected the veges and bread from the market this morning, and came back a good girl.

We rode all the way into Green Park today and realising how easy it is to get around...... so much freedom without the tube.

Brussels & Brugge, Belgium

Nat outside the EurostarOne of the many Chocolatiers...The Chocolate Festival in BruggeThese hats are made of chocolate!Creating Pinokkio out of chocolate!Ummmmmm candy....Rolling up candy in the candy store in BruggeSimon eating muscles in Brussels!Easter Sunday - so much Guylian chocolate!!!!!Our 1930's hotel in Brussels - so gorgeous!!!One of the fine Belgian beers :)


On Good Friday we caught the Eurostar to Brussels... such an easy way to travel and so much better than any airport in London.

After all the bad things we heard about Brussels, or should I say lack of good things we heard, we were surprisingly amazed! A very beautiful city with the best beer and chocolate in the world. You can't go wrong!!! I think I now understand why the English don't love it, it's because there weren't anywhere near as many Starbucks and chain restaurants as other places in Europe... more of the one-off quaint bars and restaurants. The less chain coffee shops for me, the better I say!

On the Saturday we caught a train to Brugge and was lucky enough to be there for the annual Chocolate festival. Four days of the year, Brugge opens up it's chocolate factory for visitors. Lots of sculptures, tasting and general chocolate. Even without a festival going on, every second shop is a gorgeous chocolatier and I even I got sick of eating too much... that is saying something!

Overall, Brussels was a lovely place to visit and relax.... definitely recommend to any of you others in London who are looking for a weekend of drinking and eating :)

Not quite sure why, but the city is famous for seafood, so we decided to get amongst it and try some of their muscles. Seriously, the size of the muscles they served us would have been illegal in NZ. You could hardly even tell they were muscles because they were so tiny! Delicious all the same, but I am looking forward to some green lip muscles from NZ even more now xox