Amsterdam Trips Out (without Hemp)

On our first day it was decision time, with so many things to do. The plan was to maximize the trip and see as much as possible. There was the options of getting the canal boat Hop on / off or get the bus and do the same. Both packages came with free entry into various things. We opted for the bus, which also included a free tour of the Gasson diamond factory ( really interesting and one of my favourites of the weekend) , a canal cruise, diamond museum and a few other bits which we didn't cash in.
The bus took you to certain points where a group of attractions are, we ended up visiting Anne franks huis which even though we had to queue for 3/4 hours it was worth the wait. The building next to the house has been converted to allow for the entrance, the cafe and the shop it then leads to the warehouse part of the main house and utimately up to the offices and then the secret part of the house. Unfortunately it had no furniture, apparently at the request of Otto Frank which as he has now died is a shame. They furnished it for one day to film stuff for the many videos around the house but it was all then removed.

The Canal tours were also good value for money if you can call it that with the value of the pound against the euro, we took 2 one went round the major attractions and the second was a bit longer and had a proper guide and took in the docks and the eastern part of the city. All very interesting and allowed plenty of time for Pictures and video footage.

Dam square was a must to visit and although we didnt go in Madame Tussards was the next largest Q after Anne Franks Huis. The Bloommarket was also good, this was a range of house boats where the flower seller have their shops, the whole row consisted of about 15 boats and the best one was the last as the picture shows.

More to follow:

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Amsterdam Weekend Food

In our time in Amsterdam we have had 3 evening meals, 1 in an Italian and 2 in the Greek. I think the money has gone to the same person as they are next door to each other have the same décor and tonight the Greek became the Italian overfill.
The food in both has been lovely, however the Italians are cheeky b ... Tards meal came to 39 euros, I gave him a 50 euro note and then waited an age ( no change) after a prompt the change arrived and funnily enough the 10 euros came as change rather than a note just to make sure we tipped. ( I didn't by the way). You may think awh that was cruel, it was an accident, well only 10 minutes prior to that I saw him do the same to a german couple.
I have tried local Dutch at lunchtime, one of the days in a nice pub by the old church at Westerkerk. It was meatballs in a soft bap with mustard, I was offered peanut butter but declined.
I have been trying to get the pizza from the bakers but as yet have not been able to do. I have one morning / afternoon left.
Overall there has been plenty of choice here food wise, we could have also chosen Indian, Spanish, mexican, steakhouse, macdonalds, Kentucky fried, and hemp if we were really hungry or could have gone to one of the nice ladies in the pretty red windows to see if they could have knocked me up something. We did have a nice Hot Dog though.

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Amsterdam

Arrived yesterday ( thurs) at 5 pm, flew from Exeter with flybe. We were slightly annoyed to find we had a delay, but were not told of the delay until 15 minutes before original take off time. It was just a note to say operational reasons
On boarding the plane we were told the plane had to be changed, it was in actual fact upgraded for a faster plane so the extra half hour on the ground wasn't as bad as the journey was now to be quicker and we would get there about the same time. WHY COULDNT THEY HAVE TOLD US THAT IN EXETER WE WOULD HAVE BEEN OK WITH THAT INSTEAD OF MOANING FOR HALF AN HOUR.
Amsterdam has a strange airport the arrivals and departures all mingle together in what is a very open and modern Airport.
We went to catch a train from there, the ticket machine causing some confusion ( it didn't like my debit card but we didn't catch the message saying so).
The train was unusual it had upstairs it also went underground and overground. It was quick though so we got to the centre without hassle. I had booked an Ibis hotel which was next to central station, in actual fact it is right above it. Rooms are clean and tidy with a nice flat screen tv and a few British channels.
The evening was cold and overcast but we ventured out as the food in hotel was very expensive.

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Started Twitting and new Apps on the Iphone

It seems like Facebook has now become old hat and all the trendys are now on Twitter. I think I have gone over the top with it, I have Twitterfon, Twitteriffic and Twinkle on my Iphone, all doing the same thing sort of. I then have Tweetbox and Tweetdeck on my laptop, again doing the same thing. I expect as time progresses I will have a favourite and can limit the number of applications I have. I am liking Tweetdeck at the moment, it is distracting me from writing this blog.
Yesterday was following Phillip Schofield as he came down to Newquay for a family funeral and then he had a bit of a session with his brother and introduced him to Twitter. He has quite a following. I googled stars on Twitter and can now follow Jonathan Ross, Andy Murray, BBc Sport, Tim Lovejoy, along with my sister (but she lives up north so dont get to see her much).
Picked up another couple of useful Applications on the Iphone too, was watching the gadget show special which I had recorded and they used a Hotspot finder, ( I'm off to amsterdam next week for the weekend and it may come in handy) will want to keep up my blog and bore you all with my sightseeing.
I also found this app called Rumble, which you can look at places to go in your area using the GPS function, you can also create a list of your favourites so other people can get recommendations in your area.
I have added three so far, though I do visit 1 of them every couple of days, and the other two regulary. The Costa in Barnstaple is a regular haunt and when in Exeter we always have coffee at Bernaville Nursery and then if feeling particulary hungry will go to Darts Farm near Exemouth.

Lunch At Saunton Sands

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Lunch At Saunton Sands

Weather not very nice so not really wanting to travel to far. Stayed local and as Row has a client here now we came to Saunton Sands Hotel. We did plan to the garden centre at Ashford for our usual but they were only operating at half capacity.
Anyway nice here and food lovely along with a nice view of the sea. Surfing is quite good here not that I have tried but no hardy suffers out today with a wind chill of -5. It's blown out anyway.

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Had to start fire to get going!

Bit of hot stuff, but e ben with 4 x 4 on couldn't get out of close.

The snow stops Bideford.

Riverside close as you never seen it.
Just tried getting on to main road which is moving, but blocked in
cars not able to do small hill! Blooming morrisons Lorry tried the
back route, which would have been difficult for him on a good day.

Snow finally here in the South West

With the whole country reeling from heavy snow fall, it was disappointing that we were free from all the flurrys. It has fell finally this afternoon and these are the scenes at the Manor one of our care homes.

Lazy weekend

Chillin this weekend in more than one way, the weather is bloody freezing, the sun is out but you are caught out by the cold wind. It was Rosies birthday on Friday so we went for a meal and then Saturday was her day to do as she liked, it turned out quite good for me too.

we went out early in the morning and headed off to Bude the weather forecast wasnt that good but they always seem to be wrong these days. It was cold but you can wrap up against that cant you!

After a bimble round town and picking up an absolute bargain ( a ben sherman jumper for £15 ) we had lunch and headed back. My phone gave me a reminder that the royal Marines were playing at appledore, so wrapped up I headed off there to watch and catch up with some old friends.

The Royals were missing several key players, so didnt look a shadow of the team I used to referee they had a lot of possession but could not find the back of the net, even with the divisions top scorer in the side who seemed to have an off day.

The game ended with Appledore coming up victors 2-1 in a reverse of the meeting at Endurance Park, a few weeks ago.

At the end of the game I was freezing as I wasnt wrapped up nearly half as much as I should have been.

Footenote written by Rosie: I am in a better mood as rosy said i was going to the dumping ground if my mood did not improve. Which if my blog is going to continue in the same vane is not very good as I am going to have to get angry with someone.