jules.com.au

I’m easing myself back into the mundane now. Listening to Triple J and getting all my washing out of the way before I fly out tomorrow.

So I finally did make it to a (proper) beach and go swimming. I never imagined that it would be in (ok, near) Amsterdam. Zandvoort a Zee, bout a 30 minute train from Amsterdam Centraal. It was wicked! Lots of nice sand, water a bearable temperature and perrfect weather. Even managed a little bit of sunburn. Never in my life have I seen such a packed beach, it was people as far as the eye could see in both directions. I guess it’s a reasonably easy drive for much of Holland’s 16 million and I’m pretty sure most of them decided to join me on Monday ;-)

Ironic that in the red light district all the girls have to be clothed to a reasonable degree while at the beach there are no such encumberances.

Amsterdam is a really beautiful city and I look forward to going back there sometime to do it properly; 2 days isn’t sufficient. I didn’t see enough windmills for starters! Would need a bicycle and a ride out of town to see some more I expect.

Was quite trippy moving through Amsterdam, Brussels and London in one day. Watching the scenery change along the train route really accentuates just how close these different cultures are to eachother. Having the train stop (due to congestion) while in the Channel Tunnel (i.e. while well under the ocean) was also memorable. If a little boring.

So James threw this crazy guy’s site in my direction. Makes my attempt at an epic bike adventure look rather pitiful; he’s riding from Chennai (India) to Charing Cross (a London tube station!). What a freak! Not that I’m jealous you understand ;-) Knew I should have taken a BMW instead…

That’s all really. I’ll be back to reality after long flight to Melbourne. Looking forward to seeing you all!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 11th, 2004 at 18:38 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.