Tuesday 22nd of December
I saw Kelly off at some stupid hour of the morning and headed back to bed. I had the day to myself in London but no idea what I wanted to do.

While I thought on this, at emmavescence's advice, I sought out a little café in Soho called Flat White who, funnily enough, make flat whites! So good to have a "real" coffee again. Afterwards I met the aforementioned Emma (so annoying having two that I know in London :P) for a delicious and stuffing lunch at Wagamama and a final catch up. Even if my prescence couldn't get her the lunch break time she wanted.

Since we hadn't been when we were in town last time, and because many people recommended it to me as their favourite, I spent the afternoon losing myself in the Victoria & Albert museum. The V&A was great, especially their sculpture collection which is one of my new-foud art interests.

The journey to Enfield (apparently the most northern suburb of "London proper" I'm informed) was uneventful and my cousin, Laura met me at the station. Had a peaceful evening meeting the flatmates (Mychael and Jo for this playing at home) and just catching up on things.

Her Aussie accent has been abolished and any attempts to resurect fail miserably. I need to be careful too, as I'm already unconciously uttering phrases Englishly >.>

Wednesday 23rd of December
Everyone is still working up until Xmas so I'm left home alone. My day seriously consisted of getting up, having breakfast, and plonking myself up against the radiator (it's a new flat and they don't have much furniture yet, read: any chairs) and next to the Xmas tree.

From there I wrote my "memoirs" i.e. The last journal entry. Afterwards, I was struck by a sudden need to play Bejeweled... 3 hours later, I'm trying to crack 100 000 (isn't there a rule that we're not supposed to be using commas in big numbers anymore, or did I make that up?) in Bejewled Blitz on my iPhone.

I think I should be thankful that Mychael came home when he did and prevented my brain from melting. We were under instructions from Laura to go to IKEA (Myke needed a bed, among other furniture stuff) and she would meet us at the "...surprise" later.

Baffled (well me anyway; he was in on it), we head off to said giant furniture shop. I am thanked many, many times for knowing my way around and knowing the systems to get us through the perilous pathways quickly and without unnecessary but interesting items.

After arranging (very cheap!) delivery, we wander off, trying to avoid going A over T in the direction of "...surprise" and Mychael and I bond with stories of previous housemates and the like. We arrive at a place I can only call Camel (because the name is Turkish and too hard to recall. So much fooooood.

Thursday 24th of December
For some reason, we had got to Xmas eve without doing any food shopping. I was scared for our lives at going later in the afternoon and so offered to go while the others were at work.

This was relatively pain-free (aside from the fact that I couldn't buy any pear cider from Tesco because I didn't have my passport for ID with me). Laura and I ventured out again after she got home early for some extra things like more desserts which ended up costing about 5x as much as what we already got >.>

Pretending to get food for dinner, I was kept in the dark about another "...surprise" outing. Those two are so conniving! Yay, Nandos followed by Krispy Kreme which was a failure as it closed way early.

Then, I'm afraid to say we went to the movies. The only thing on we hadn't seen was *gulp* Twilight. Mychael crashed out in the opening titles but Laura and I endured. It was hilariously bad and hideously boring where it wasn't terrible, but we got through it.

Laura was keen to go to a midnight church service and I agreed to go out of tradition. Neither of us believes, but we both have the same Bishop for a Grandad and so have grown up with this.

I always have liked the midnight Xmas services better than going in the morning on
Xmas day. We actually had a good time, especially with singing "Oh come let us etcetera!" in Oh Come All Ye Faithful as that's how it was printed in the booklet for the latter choruses.

Of course, what do we do when we get home...? Watch porn bloopers of course. Bad, I know.

Friday 25th of December
Since we stayed up until the wee hours, no one really emerged until about 11. After a round of High School Musical Mystery Date (I came second, going to the prom with Chad) we started dinner preparations.

While things were roasting, there was High School Musical Uno to be had, and also Scattegories. We tried to play Cranium but forgot that you need 4 people :(

We made a sweet-arse dinner (sweet arse-dinner?) of a chicken as there were only 3 of us and a heap of roast vegetables including parsnips (my favourite!) and swedes. As is customary, no one moved for a while afterwards to prevent stomach rupture from overfilling ;)

When it came time to start on the desserts (trifle, chocolate trifle, lemon merengue pie, ferrero rochers, Ben & Jerrys, Baileys) Mychael had an epileptic fit.

Thankfully it was one the ones he can sense coming so he lay down in the living room. After making sure he was breathing and safely fitting.... Laura and I ate our dessert while keeping an eye on him. He came out of it a bit groggy so we took him upstairs to his bed to rest, where he had another fit.

The house rule is that no ambulance is allowed to be called until he's had at least 3 fits (because the hospital trip is usually pointless) and since it was Xmas we waited as long as we could before doing so, around the start of about the 4th little one.

We had a good chat with the ambos while waiting for him to become conscious again (he's a big guy around 6" something and no one wanted to take him down two flights) after which he decided (as expected) to stay home instead of being taken to A&E.

That was the end of it however and we spent the remainder of the night playing various incarnations of SingStar :D

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Friday 18th of December
The morning almost was almost disastrous, but everything was fine in the end. We were waiting at the train station for the airport express. The board on the platform said "Airport Express". A train came in 4 minutes before said express was meant to, with no destination displayed. Thinking that the train would sit there for a few minutes before the scheduled time, we boarded. The doors close and tell us that we're going to Luxembourg. Oops.

It turns out that it needed to stop at another Brussels city stop so we were able to get off and head back to catch the next (actual) train to the airport. We spent our last few Euros on chocolates at the airport and boarded. The flight was uneventful in that we were stuck on the (pretty snow-covered) ground in Belgium for almost an hour due to holdups at Heathrow due to the winter weather.

Back in good-old London town, Kelly treats me to a new wallet so that I might be able to survive when she leaves. We were hankering to see Avatar so we grabbed some tickets to a session that night. Very enjoyable and spectacular.

Saturday 19th of December
The movie finished around 3-something that morning so it was the wee hours before we got to bed. We did have to be up, however, to greet the equally sleep deprived Sabrina (phoenixdreaming who had come over from Ireland for the weekend.

After recharging with coffee and such we all headed in the direction of the National Gallery. We only got about half-way through before Sabrina and I had to head off to the pantomime.

Now, this was phoenixdreaming's first experience of pantomime so it was extra special. We saw Jack and the Beanstalk and were three times the age of most of the audience and half the age of the rest. I thought it was a lot of fun and definitely could have been worse if the kids around us were brats.

Afterwards, we had a nice coffee with Emma (the one who I caught up with a few weeks ago) before finding Kelly and having dinner at Covent Garden. As I hadn't had it while over here yet, I had fish & chips & peas.

Sunday 20th of December
Sabrina and I had plans to meet Emma (this time emmavescence) and spend some time with her. We knew that she had been out the night before, so in the meantime we explored Brick Lane and Spitalfields markets.

It's probably a good thing I don't have any money... or I would have left with none anyway. So many fantastic things!

We experienced frozen feet and crazy ah!ing women while waiting half an hour to find out an ATM didn't like Sabrina's card as well as pretty graffiti on walls near Liverpool Street.

When Emma surfaced, we met her over near her place and has scrumptious pub roast for dinner at her favourite pub. I had the chicken (because there was only 2 serves of beef left and I was a gentleman) and it never ended. There was about 5 chicken breasts on there... and delicious parsnips. Of course, I could not resist the banoffee pie for dessert and couldn't even finih the whole thing.

One treacherous walk later (quite a bit of ice around) we hung out at Emma's until we had to leave. As is customary, IRC shenanigans were had with the Ponies.

All this while, Kelly had been exploring Camden markets, spending all her money and eating for hours on end at a Polish birthday party for a lady she used to work with. So, she didn't miss out at all.

Monday 21st of December
For both Kelly and Sabrina's last day, London pulled out all the stops on the weather. After the aquarium (which was full of school groups >.<) it was drizzly but not too bad. We ventured to Camden to help Kelly acquire shoes she resisted the day before (which ended up being not in her size!) and when we got there it was a wintry shower (big flakes of snow with rain, but not sleet or graupel) and by the time were back at the hotel it was snow proper.

After seeing Sabrina off, Kelly and I waited out the snow in the relative warmth of the hotel and for word from Natalie (who we met in Lyon for those playing at home) as she was on a train back from Birmingham.

The idea was to meet her for drinks in Soho, but I forgot that she doesn't drink. Instead of cheapish cocktails, we had delicious hot drinks instead and caught each other up on our respective travel adventures.

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Microsoft Seeks Patent On Shaming Fat Gamers

So!
Microsoft.
What the hell?
As though gaming wasn't hard enough to master for any of those people who's hand-eye coordination or other such motor skills aren't "top notch" or pro level, but now you're planning on limiting gaming experiences based on health levels??
Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't computer games (or any games really) created for the idea of fun? Created for a measure of escapism during those times when life is being just a -wee- bit stupid?
The last thing anyone wants is to try and forget the world for a little bit in a game, only to have it break them down and have you tell them how much of a loser they are as well, and that they're not allowed to play because of it.
Well Done.
I hope you fail dramatically.

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Wednesday 16th of December
Here we are in the "Capital of Europe", Brussels, Belgium. Somehow we neglected to look for a place to stay before we left (and when we had decent 'net access too) so there was a small time spent finding somewhere to stay. It's a little bit comforting to be back in (mainly) French speaking lands, but it doesn't mean I uderstand any more of it; just have a better grasp on it than German or Dutch.

We wandered about town to see what it has to offer. Waffles for one, and multiple statues of peeing things. There is a super-fantastic Xmas Market on here that was better than a lot we've seen so far. Took a ride there in a gigantic ferris wheel in which the gondola liked to swing about much if it's own accord.

Back at the hostel, we met a couple of nice Aussies from Sydney who are staying in our room (Tom and Rose for the record) and had a good little chat. I'm constantly amazed at how much easier it is to get on with fellow expatriates.

Thursday 17th of December
We took a metro trip out to see the Atomium (big sculpture thing) where as soon as we were out the door it started snowing. There were thoughts of going to see Mini-Europe but we didn't think it worth the entrance fee.

Instead, the Museum of Musical instruments was our destination. On the walk there from the metro station the snow really started coming down! I wanted to take some pretty pictures but I hadn't charged my camera since Munich and it chose now to run out. Snow covered and a little chilly, we head into the restaurant above the museum for lunch.

The museum itself was pretty great. So many different instruments and special radio-receiver headphones that play music by them when you are in a certain area near them. Th only thing to ruin this experience was the hordes of schoolchildren apparently descending there today.

Our othe goal for the day was to find the sister of Mannekin Pis, which is a peeing girl statue. The tiny map we had told us she was in an impossible location and 3 times around the area we gave up; mostly too embarrassed to ask where we could see a peeing girl statue.

After an excursion for Kelly to acquire chocolates to bring home, we made our way back to the markets we went to last night for Spanish dinner and I experienced a hot mojito which was delicious and warming.

So ends the mainland Europe part of our trip. I'm a little bit sad and a little bit relieved to be returning to familiar territory.

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Sunday 13th of December
First thoughts of The Hague: freaking cold, but really nice. For one, there is some fantastic modern architecture around and is a lot more spacious than Amsterdam. After getting acquainted with the city (read: having coffee) we checked into a hostel and on the advice of the counterstaff, headed to the beach.

A beach! In the Netherlands! Sure, I did know it was coastal but I just wasn't expecting to go to the beach on my winter holiday. It was pleasant (if you can call 1C with wind pleasant) with dunes and "real" sand - none of this pebble stuff that some places call a beach. I have never been to a beach wearing as many layers of clothing as I had on that day.

One thing the Dutch do exceptionally well is dessert foods. We had giant pancakes in a restaurant on the pier and they were massive! With Belgium coming up we're going to need a lot more guilt-inspired salad dinners I feel.

Monday 14th of December
I'm not used to museums being closed on partiular days of the week, made all the more worse when all of them are closed on the same day. Such was the predicament we found ourselves in today.

For lack of better things to do, we took the short ride to Delft where it was snowing(!!) and had some chai chocolate and hot delicious bagels while watching the square outside. It turned out nothing interesting was open in the town anyway (all of it was closed on Mondays or we had to pay €3.50 each to get in to look at a church) so back we went to The Hague.

We've been kind of wanting to see a movie for some time now. In other countries it has been harder to find them without dubbing than here in Holland where they seem more at home with subtitles With nothing else left to do (and keeps us out of the negative temperatures outside) we saw 2012. It was everything I expected and more: mostly hilarious in it's improbability but very enjoyable.

Tuesday 15th of December
Today was designated as our museum day. Starting the day off in the Mauritshuis we spent a good deal of time examining and learning (I am very appreciative when we get free audio guides - I won't pay for them - as it makes you concentrate more on what you're looking at). Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring was much more fantastic in person, while The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolas Tulp was pretty good too.

After lunch focussing mainly on a deep-fried doughnut thing filled with cherries (wow, I do talk a lot about what we eat!) we shuffled over to the Escher museum. It's just amazing how his mind works and it was great to get an idea of his processes behind his tesselation works especially.

I'm a bit sad to leave The Netherlands tomorrow as it's been quite fantastic. I can't decide if I like here or Switzerland more. I had hoped to catch up with fraught while I was in the country, but she lives all the way over the other side and was swamped with work-stuff this week.

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Wednesday 9th of December
The train ride from Germany, through the Netherlands was interesting. For one thing, we couldn't see much as the land was covered in a dense fog. It was in this that we arrived in Amsterdam, making it all the more exciting and mysterious.

The accommodation we found was a private studio apartment, set above the shops adjacent to the main mall. We didn't bargain on the ridiculous stairs to get up there though. Half stair and half ladder we had to clamber up with our backpacks: Kelly got stuck half way at one point.

It was amazing how nice it was to have a (small) kitchen again! To be able to buy real food and cook it and save money was great. Also, it had a percolator and a whole canister of ground coffee.

We decided to take a canal cruise to get orientated and maybe learn a bit about the town. Everyone eats chips here! Which is kind of understandable in conjunction with one of the main reasons the city is famous...

Not that Kelly or I partook, even though we could have if we wanted. Neither of us are particularly interested in getting any kind of high that isn't born of caffeine :P

Thursday 10th of December
Upon trying to leave the apartment in the morning, I discovered that I couldn't find my wallet. I was convinced it was somewhere around (other times I have thought I've lost my wallet, it was around the house somewhere). After looking absolutely everywhere I decided that the only other place it might be was left at the supermarket after I paid for food the night before. But they didn't have it.

I was not worried at this point; there was not much money in it, there was no chance it was pickpocketed, and I checked with my banks and there were no transactions. I put it off a day to cancel the cards in case I found it in the meantime.

Originally we were going to spend the whole afternoon in the Rijksmuseum. After paying our (what seemed exorbitant but found out is about average for the Netherlands) €13 or something each - and by we I mean Kelly because I now have no money of my own - we are disappointed to find a tiny art gallery that only takes about an hour to peruse. Granted, they do have Rembrandt's The Nightwatch but nothing much else really noteworthy.

After this, we were disinclined to enter the Van Gogh museum that afternoon for another princely entrance fee. Instead, we traipsed on over to the Anne Frank house and got a dose of history. Actually, since Dachau I've been quite interested in the Second World War and Nazi involvement. I'm reading a great book that Kelly picked up about Auchwitz by Laurence Rees which is proving really interesting. Anyway, the Anne Frank house was worth visiting for sure.

Back at the apartment, I again looked for the wallet to no avail. I decide to give the supermarket one more chance in the morning before givin up on it.

Friday 11th of December
Nope, it wasn't there. I called and cancelled my cards and transferred the last of my savings to Kelly. It's kind of scary how quickly all the money goes!

So anyway, today we took a little tour out into the countryside to the north of Amsterdam to get in touch with the Dutch culture. We learnt about dykes, canals, and polders, and generally how ridiculous it all is. Apparently the saying goes "either we pump [the water out] or we drown".

We visited a place that had a bunch of awesome windmills that were used for things like making paint, mustard, and sawing wood. It was hard not to squee a little bit seeing them. After this we made out way to Edam (pronounced by the tour guide as "Eeeedam") and had a wander through the very pretty canal town.

Our next stop was a farm that made cheese and clogs. We tried lots of delicious cheeses and it was hard to not buy them all, if they were smaller we would have definitely come away with more. The clog making was pretty cool and surprisingly fast. Yay clogs!

The last place they took us was to Voderdam(?) which is a traditional fishing village on the shore of a giant lake, which, get this, used to be a sea! But they put a dyke through it and pumped it out to make it a massive freshwater lake. Those crazy duchies.

Saturday 12th of December
Something that I really wanted to find while in Amsterdam was a small gallery called the KattenKabinet. It consists entirely of artwork and sculpture of cats. It ended up being in someone house, pretty much and was cute. There were also house kitties that kept us company while we went through.

We decided to give the Van Gogh museum another chance, in the hopes it would be worth the money. And it was, although there were a ton of people there (being the weekend). Possibly even more enjoyable was the Alfred Stevens exhibit they had on. I wasn't familiar with his work before, but I am now and mightily impressed.

I have to include a special note now of the delicious poffertjes we had that night. Seriously, the best ever.

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