NETHER-NETHER LAND

I'm really loving being in the Netherlands. I arrived Friday night and was collected at Eindhoven airport by an Australian mate who I haven't seen in way too many years. He lives in this little village called s'Hertegenbosch so we drove straight there past fields and cows and dykes. All very stereotypical - peaceful and quaint and lovely.

The next day was his wedding so I drove to Veght in a car with his mum, the best man (a Brazilian), another Aussie friend and her English partner. The five of us were the only foreigners invited, we were all left in a car alone together, so naturally we got lost on the way to the wedding. At one stage we received a frantic phone call from the bride, who must have been keeping an eye on us from the lead car, saying "What are you doing? You're heading towards Utrecht!". It was really quite amusing, mainly because we had the mother of the groom, the best man and the wedding rings with us so the wedding literally could not start until we got there. Hehe.

When we finally arrived at the wedding ceremony venue (which was a castle!) - impressively only 7 minutes late - we were treated to the largest collective glare I've ever been subjected to in my life. It was very amusing. The wedding ceremony itself was lovely. I was one of only 3 people in the room who didn't have a clue what was being said, but the celebrant seemed very nice and got a few laughs from the crowd so it all seemed to be good.

The next day I hitched a ride to Amsterdam with the other two Australian/English guests. It's really been so cool being driven around the countryside and seeing more than just the coffee houses in Amsterdam. I saw some windmills and a decent amount of grass and cows, and now imagine I have a rough idea of how the country is laid out. Seeing as I get lost driving around a roundabout, the idea that I know where I'm going is completely illusory but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

I'm staying in Amsterdam the next two nights, crashing at the home of the Brazilian best man who I met for the first time yesterday. It's fabulous, he's about one block from the Heineken Brewery which I forsee will be quite handy. Tonight we wandered around the streets, ate dinner at a Peruvian restaurant, drank copious amounts of wine, and generally unwound. I drank half a bottle of Chardonnay by accident. I'm not exactly a chardy kind of girl, but somehow when my Brazilian friend spoke Dutch to order a Chilean sauvignon blanc from the Romanian waitress, a few wires got crossed. Perhaps I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was.

Tomorrow I'm going to head to the Heineken Brewery, maybe the Van Gough museum if I feel the urge to be cultural, and just wander around. Last time I was here I didn't go to any museums or sites, and now I remember why. It's such a beautiful city. I'd much rather walk around beside the canals, sit in the parks and people watch than pay however many Euros to walk inside a building filled with images and relics created and used by loads of dead chaps. Amsterdam is just so beautiful and there's so much going on that doesn't involve queueing up to part with loads of cash. As you can tell, I'm not really a museum type of person.

I'm here until Tuesday morning then heading on to Poland, which will be interesting because I've not been there before. Adventures, adventures.

I love being on holiday!!