Holiday Day 3

We awoke this morning to the sound of rain pattering on the cobbles outside as the street cleaners disposed of the huge piles of rubbish dumped along the street. We ate breakfast in the cafe downstairs and by the time we were ready to go out the rain had cleared.

The first port of call today was Nemo - a science museum on a grand scale inside an amazing angular metal clad building that looked like a gargantuan submarine rising from the waves. Inside were dozens of different activities and things to see - giant soap bubbles, a three meter high anamatronic robot, optical illusions, pickled monkey brains and skeletons, a 3d film about the inside of a cell to mention just a few. The highlight for me was a demonstration of a heath robinson style chain reaction of mind boggling ingenuity that took five minutes to unfold from a rocket that tripped a wire, to the falling lead weight at the end. We were there for over four hours and could have spent longer. The roof serves as a sun terrace with an amazing view over Amsterdam, but it was a little bit too chilly to stay there too long.

We headed south on weary feet towards the flea market at Waterloopein, which manages to outdo even the famed Chesterfield market for the number of esoteric stalls on offer - even ones selling cannabis lollypops ... ;-)

Back to the hotel for a rest, where we met Igor the cleaner - and no, he didn't say "Yeth Mathter" once ... He was puffing on a spliff and talked our ears off with warnings about pickpockets and stoned Italian students burning curries in the hall and setting the fire alarm off.

I felt much better for a quick snooze, and I was ready for a cheese, chorizo and mushroom pancake with a nice cold glass of beer. It seemed scarcely possible that we had only been here for just over a day - the intensity of the experience, not to mention the tiredness from rather more walking than I am usually used to in a day, made it seem much longer. Much better than just lazing by the pool for a fortnight. Oh, and we walked back via the red light district which was a bit of an eye opener to say the least ... ;-)