The weather was feral today. Severe weather warnings greeted us, high winds and lots of rain. It was like we were in Melbourne again (especially since the sun came out later). Although the canals, bikes, smell of weed, and all the 17th century buildings reminded us we were still in Amsterdam. Oh and the included "continental breakfast", hardboiled eggs still in their shell with bread and some unnamed cold meat. Needless to say, we went back to the cafe for a complete English breakfast instead.

We planned to use the hop-on hop-off bus but had some time to kill. So why not have a pint of heineken at Amsterdam's oldest pub, built in 1606. Crazy to think.

Anyway the bus took us around to different sites, and eventually we jumped off in the high winds and fought our way against them to find a really nice bakery for lunch. Even though it appears we hadn't done much, we were not moving very fast, although had achieved other quite boring tasks such as buying a train ticket, successfully reading a dutch train timetable and store our suitcases somewhere. Anyway, the bakery was nice. I haven't had a bad meal yet in Europe, so hopefully it stays that way. We eventually battled the weather and made it back to centraal station.

We are currently on a train to Delft, to meet our friend Maurits in his hometown for a home cooked meal, and no doubt some drinks. Tomorrow I head back to London to meet Amy and get prepared for our contiki.

Maurits cooked my first home cooked meal since Xmas day, and it was really nice to have. Especially in good company, as we had also met Maurits' housemate, Hans. The photo is of Marcus and Maurits inside his place right after dinner. Good company is an understatement.

That night we went to the coolest jazz bar I have ever been to. After Hans and Maurits showed us a walking tour of Delft. The jazz bar was small, and was just full of local artists having a jam. Multiple people took on different instruments for different songs, but always the mood was friendly and very chilled.