Night location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

It was an early start for both parties this morning as Gemma, Gareth and Edith had a 6am flight to Rome via Helsinki while Amber and David had an 8am flight to Amsterdam. Both sets of transits went smoothly however and we arrived in our final destinations by mid morning.

The city of Amsterdam is a lovely place to conclude our holiday as it is really easy to get around and the canals with narrow houses lining the streets offer a delightful beauty to the city centre. Our hotel has been designed to incorporate 25 canal houses between two canals so every room is different and the centre has a large atrium with a lovely cafe. In our room there is a brief history of our canal house which was originally built in 1647 and became a very successful silk shop in the 18th Century.

We have had a very relaxed day today which has been really nice. By returning to a city that you have visited previously, there isn't the same desire to see the major sights as there was in cities like Moscow so we could spend time wandering outside without any sense of urgency.

After dropping our bags at the hotel we caught the tram to an Australian cafe called Little Collins and enjoyed a delicious brunch. The weather is much warmer than our last two weeks so we sat outside in the sun.

The rest of our day was spent walking through the old streets looking in shops and crossing multiple bridges spanning the canals. We had a rest in our room before dining at a lovely restaurant around the corner from our hotel.