I really enjoyed myself on this trip (4th to 5th Feb 2006). It was great to meet up with a bunch of 11 Dutch people from Planetarion and be shown around their wonderful city. There's so much construction work going on around the city but it still keeps a lovely air of beauty about it.

Seriously though, the red light district has to be better than the view from Table Mountain or the rides at the big American theme parks or the taste of your first kiss. All those gorgeous (mostly - some you could lose yourself in) women (some you'd probably class instead as girls) strutting their stuff. My illness must have climaxed and I was temporarily dead and in heaven or something. All the breasts! Crikey, I haven't been able to sleep since!

I can't believe how much I had to psyche myself up to ask one of the ladies how much she charged. For those that are interested she told me "Fifty euros for a fuck and a suck. You want to come inside?" I said "Sure, but I'll just have to pop to the cash point. Give me 10 minutes." and walked off. I imagine she's still sat on her bed waiting for me, dreaming of my beauty and charm.

And the sex shops. Dildos that could blind you, DVDs that would make you sick, whips and chains that would make you bleed. It's such a kinky place!

Oh, and then the sex museum. It's just room after room of hardcore porn. This city just couldn't get any better!

We had a few beers in various places. Nothing much to report other than the depressing lack of English/Irish style pubs (which is apparantly a phenomenon across the whole of mainland Europe) and an equally upsetting size of head they pour on their lager. Oh, and the weakness of the Dutch should be mentioned. Andrew, little Richard and I were throwing down the pints whereas the Dutch were sipping at their halves.

I can't wait to go back and hopefully meet up again. The people we met up with were all lovely people. They set a fantastic image for their country and I could easily fall in love with a place like Amsterdam, especially considering it houses a wonderful people. They spoke in fluent English when ever we were around, even if we weren't involved in the conversation and not once did they mention our (frankly quite rude) lack of Dutch language.