Still in Amsterdam

Oh the blessing of the qwerty keyboard, let me sing thy praises.
Your Q is next to your W, not on the bottom row where some would have you sit; oh no! You take your rightful place under my last two fingers of the right hand, on the top rows, in important places!
Okay, enough.
We have been in Amsterdam for a few days now and it is such a relaxing, friendly city. Again the architecture is something from a story book, a pop-up one, as if there is nothing behind the facade. Canals are everywhere, as are the bicycles and the cats (I miss my little Genki very much in this town for every cafe seems to have a resident cat who lolls about on the footpath accepting pats). It is much cheaper here than in Paris and the service is friendly and English is so widely spoken that we do not feel lacking in communicative abilities.
We are staying at the Singel Hotel, right on one of the main canals - it is staffed by lovely people, especially the breakfast manager who is delicate in his attentions to the half awake guests - an important skill indeed! Yesterday morning Jason and I rushed down to breakfast at 9.50 (it finishes at 10am) and with glazed eyes surveyed the almost full room and heard giggling as we entered - it seems the whole room had come for breakfast in the last few minutes and it had become a little joke amongst them. Check out is 12 noon, which for a city which allows you to get ripped off your tits, is courteous.
Ali, Christian and Sara left this morning - Ali & Christian to fly home and Sara to spend a few more days in the UK before heading back. It was a little teary.
Jason and I meet up with Arna and Alex in Liege tomorrow night (Belgium) and perhaps to Germany thence.
Keep tuned!
x