There seems to be something funny going on with internet cafes in Romania - there aren't any. Or rather, I should so "many", 'cause I've finally found one (and I can't imagine it being in a place that's more likely to be an opium den, or someplace you'd get a good head-kicking). It's at the end of an unlit tunnel with only the promise of the "Internet Non-stop" sign (way, waay back towards the light) luring you onward. The Tourist Info people told me about it, and there's some 10yo kid here playing games too - so it must be OK. I was thinking they must have changed the name of the internet or something, couldn't find a place for love nor money...

I was also thinking that some traveller, hoping to learn something about the location where I make my blog entries from, would be sorely and continually disappointed. I always write them from one place, _about_ another place. No wonder they give me 1 star out of 5... I've double-faked them this time 'round: I'm not even in Bucharest right now but - since I intended to write this yesterday instead of sheltering from the rain and wondering what all the empty stores called Amanet are about - Bucharest it is. Regarding the accompanying photo....it used to be called "Paris of the East" by their tourist people until they couldn't pull it off anymore ("Paris of the East?! Paris of the Arse, more like"). There were no photos of Romania in their library.

Anyway, that was a roundabout way to get started on this blog. In the last I introduced a cast of Dutch characters, namely Linda (who has since assured me she wasn't trying to kill me with previous activities), Monique (Linda's sister and someone perenially pestered by me staying at her place), Florian (Monique's fella), Tim and Suuz (both of Athletics Wollongong fame). These fine folk and myself visited Efteling. Somehow I'd never heard of this place on any of my previous Dutch forays, but stumbled across it in the lead-up to my trip, and got pretty excited about it. It's the largest Theme Park in the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world. Apparently when they were designing Disneyland Paris they consulted Efteling to see how they'd adapt an American theme park into European culture.

It's somewhat similar to Disneyland in that it doesn't quite have the "thrill" type rides (the most thrilling were the standard pirate ship and a rollercoaster that's pretty much the same as The Corkscrew at the Gold Coast's Seaworld, if that helps - neither of which I went on) instead concentrating on the magic and wonder of fairytales and the like. Most of the tales I knew, but there were a few unfamiliar ones. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efteling for the lowdown. I really enjoyed it and it's worth the trouble if you're in the area.

I didn't notice anything particularly "European" about it - maybe more of a concern that activities weren't so language-based (although there were still several where I was standing dumbly about wondering what all that yammering was about) and a different menu (I don't think you'd find any fricandell at the original Disneyland...)

From the emotional highs of Efteling to the dark troughs of the European Cup. After kicking arse in the early stages, the Holland national team play true to form, and lose when it matters. I watched it in a pub packed with orange and was quite excited about what was going to happen when they undoubtedly won (hey, I'm no local, I could be excused for thinking that way). I got a bit of a taste when they scored a goal but, *sigh*, that was the only thing they had to cheer for. All those welpies did f***-all.... (that's a Dutch cultural reference)

I also caught up with another Dutchie on my travels: Sake, who'll forever be known to me as "Sharkie" (the bus tour group through which we originally met -along with Linda - struggled to pronounce his name properly). Anyway, he's actually Friesian (like the cows) so maybe I'm doing the wrong thing by calling him a Dutchie - oh well, he cheers for the same football team. He, Linda and I hung out for a few days and had a bit of a laugh. Except when we went to Eindhoven, that is...

Eindhoven gets an enormously bad wrap in travel guides, but I'd also looked on their tourism website and thought that it surely couldn't suck _that_ much (the Lonely Planet used to have something like "beyond the smoke and steam of Wollongong there's actually some quite nice beaches" as the near-total of their Illawarra information, so I've learnt not to trust the things wholeheartedly). So I dragged Sake and Linda along to check it out with them, of course, knowing better. "Dead and boring" claimed one guide... Not far off... I didn't think it was entirely terrible just that you need specific interests to particularly enjoy it (namely lightbulbs - this was where Philips started, and vehicles - of the DAF variety). There were some shops and some funny-looking buildings and sculptures to create further interest, and they've Stratumseind (street) which has something like 40 bars next to each other - so it really isn't as bad as everyone says. ...they've a helluva job convincing people of it though!

We went to Den Bosch together too, which was far nicer. And that, between all the attempts that Linda made on my life, was about the sum of our time together. She hurriedly off-loaded me onto Monique and Florian (who had the good sense to not even be at home) in the middle of the night with the sweet parting words of: "You smell" (I _had_ just finished walking 43km in 30 degree heat!). A shower soothed the aching limbs and a half-hour spent chasing a retarded cat around the house trying to put it in the kitchen for the night ensured I was limber the next day. Yeah, thanks for that Psipsi... I don't think I became any fonder of Psipsi over the ensuing days as she came on heat and weirded out, all the while making half-strangled screeches. Despite her best attempts at flirting, neither her fellow cat Chipie (her mum) nor the de-sexed female dog Frimousse showed any lasting interest. Although she did make the dog very, VERY confused...

I hung out with Monique and Florian for around a week not doing a whole bunch. We went to the Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem (where they have old houses from around the country, and ye-olde-time activites) but I think that was about the only scheduled activity. We walked the dog, watched movies, played pool, ate out, shopped, had a dinner party, saw some nearby villages, ... Undoubtedly other places I went to sound like I had more fun 'cause I had more to write about, but this was the kind've time I wanted to have, with the people I wanted to have it with. So despite a lack of resulting hilarious anecdotes, rest assured that I had a fantastic time here.

My last visit in the Netherlands was to lovely Maastricht (the SECOND oldest town in the Netherlands! :) and the home of Suuz and Tim. Both Linda and Monique had put up with me before, so weren't particularly fussed about hosting me again (no offence taken/intended!), this was Tim and Suuz's first time and they went all out to impress on me how crap Maastricht wasn't. I'd actually passed through here on my first backpacking trip about Europe and was a little underwhelmed. The square that the guidebook said was a fabulous must-see was a 20m deep hole at the time (it invariably occurs that wherever you go something you hoped to see is either covered in scaffolding or just plain not there right now. This Europe place is old! Things need a bit of a spruce up. Why they choose to time it just to annoy me I do not know...).

Anyway it was with a sense of great hope that I approached the square that had taunted me last trip, to finally have unveiled to me it's wonders. And perhaps that may have happened, if it wasn't for f***ing Andre Rieu! The composer-musician is a local boy made good, returning with his show every year. He's a popular guy (not with myself, naturally) with 3 concerts and in addition monitors set up in some of the squares, all of which were packed.

In any case, with locals in tow and a walking tour guide in hand, Maastricht easily made a far better impression on me this time 'round. It's no Eindhoven (obviously), but it's a very nice place.

I had a packed schedule of activities and the next day began with a cycling tour of the region where it was proved to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Netherlands does indeed have hills. And just in case I wasn't physically exhausted enough, we went to a trivia night to ensure my mental exhaustion. The rest of the team carried me for much of the night (bar a few that I pulled from left field, eg: "Which movie had the lead actor change 48 times?" Babe!) and, despite my earlier goal of grinding all the other teams into the dirt, I think we could be happy with our seventh place.

Next day we figured a good escape from the mid-30s heat would be into the limestone caves that were dug into the some of the surrounding hills. For centuries, firstly as building blocks, latterly for concrete manufacture and in-between, for refuge during wars; people have been excavating their way through the mountainside. A labyrinthine warren remains and, luckily enough for us, someone who knew their way about it, guided us around. Unlucky for me he only spoke Dutch! But I think I got the gist.

We came out of the cave and it was absolutely _pissing_ down. The kid who was crowing about how brave he was to go underground became a pants-wetting, bawling mess as the thunder and lightning ripped and roared above. Worst thing was, we had to catch the last boat. There was absolutely no cover so we got drenched. Me slightly less so 'cause I had a rainjacket but, in an damp attempt at espirit de corp, it leaked plenty, believe me.

The rain hung around the next day for our visit to Drielandenspunt, where the borders of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet. We ran around and around the little plinth marking the spot... I don't know why exactly. But it seemed the right thing to do. About 50m away is the highest point in the Netherlands, at a lofty 322.5m elevation. Thank goodness the bus drives you straight to it and we didn't have to scale it's vertical slopes! ;)

And then we went to Aachen. And it actually IS an Eindhoven...

Germany got one back the next day, with our trip to Cologne. The skyline is mighty impressive with the cathedral and some of it's 250-odd other church's spires popping up. And.....I'm obviously getting tired of blog-writing 'cause that's all I can think to write about it. Undoubtedly you're getting tired of reading this also but, to make a logical end and to not sell Tim and Suuz's hosting achievements short: a quick dash to the end!

We'd done our dash during the week and had a bit more of a relaxing weekend: depsite the THREE parties we attended in one night. Yes, I am a true feestbeesten. OK, so one was a dinner party at Tim's parent's house but the next one was a _combined_ 18th and graduation party - so I guess it still works out to three. Here's a taste of Dutch culture: when many students graduate from high school they hang their bags out the window. It took me several days to work out that it wasn't just a big coincidence that they'd done their laundry at the same time....

And then we had pancakes in weird Dutch fashion with bits and pieces on and in them (no, not in THAT Dutch fashion with THOSE bits and pieces). Yay, blog over!

Next one will cover some or all of Romania, of which I have been partaking for the past 4 days. A last "hoi" goes out to trivia queen Anna Carpendale, and pancake-maker extraordinaire Michelle van Mulken who made cameo appearances during my Maastricht stay.

Hope everything is cool with everyone. Those that feature above: feel free to tell me which bits I got wrong (then I'll make an editorial decision on whether to include the correct version). You all rock!

seeya :)