Clogs, windmills, cheese, hash cookies and the red light district. That's about all we new about The Netherlands before we went there.

We looked at clogs, we went to Kinderdijk to see the windmills, we ate some of the famous Gouda cheese, skipped the hash cookies and toured the red light district.There was however a little more to see and do ……. There were fries with satay sauce to eat (oh yes, oh delicious), there was frikendel to eat, there were stropwaffles to eat……… getting the picture?

We really liked Amsterdam, apart from the above mentioned things we didn't really know what to expect. Amsterdam is a wonderful city full of canals and buildings made with really really little bricks. It was one of those cities that you can just wander around for hours….. days.Of course the fries with satay sauce helped.

A night tour of the red light district was 'educational'. We got to witness one of the girls press her panic button and half the city of Amsterdam come to her rescue. Apparently the Police are usually the last to get there - not because they don't care. It's to give the other girls and the body guards a chance to 'deal' with the offender! I wouldn't want to be in the guys a shoe that's for sure. The red light district is actually one of the safest places in Amsterdam, with CCTV cameras on every corner and horse mounted police roaming the streets.

It was a bit strange walking around the streets seeing girls in nothing but bikini's staring out at you. My first reaction was to cover my eyes and say sorry, like I'd accidentally walked in on someone in the shower. After a while you get used to it.The girls in the window's as they are often referred, are actually girls in rooms which have glass doors which open onto the street. If you're interested you go up and tap on the door and work out a fair price……..

After a night in Amsterdam we headed to Gouda (pronounced Howda - with a bit of spit around the H) to spend a few nights with Nadia to escape hostel dorms and communal bathrooms and to have some good wholesome home-style cooking. It is here Duncan was introduced to frikendel and I ate my body weight in stropwaffles. Ugh, I'm still trying to loose those extra kg's I picked up in those 3 days!

Next stop from here was Belgium. Belgium wasn't originally on our itinerary. We were there in May so didn't feel the need to go back. But then I remembered waffles with white chocolate sauce and La Cote D'Or Chocolate and pralines and so we went back. Antwerp was a pleasant surprise one of the worlds diamond capitals and a cute little town to boot.It has the most amazing train station, worth the trip just to see it. We even managed to accidentally stumble across the Antwerp red light district.The red lights at the end of the street should have given it away, but oh no, I had to look directly in the eyes of one of the girls in the window before I worked out where we were.Oh well. Unlike Amsterdam, Antwerp's district was only one street and rather than being filled with tourists and the occasional guy brave enough to approach one of the window's it was filled with sleezy looking men…

Antwerp was followed by four nights in Bruges so I could eat waffles to my little hearts content. Last time we were there I swore that after tasting the goodness which was a freshly cooked waffle with melted white chocolate, all crispy on the outside and doughy and warm on the inside, that I would never eat another waffle again (unless it was in Bruges). I had stuck to this and was rewarded with the waffles tasting even better than I remembered.Our time in Beligium was pretty slow paced and relaxed.Lots of sleeping in, reading books in cafes… we hardly even indulged in the local brews. Although I did try a nice cherry beer that I quiet liked.Did you know there are over 1000 beers brewed in Belgium?Well you do now.

Our tour of the Low Countries over, we jumped aboard a train for the capital of Romance….. Paris.