Celebrations in the Dam

It's a shame when it rains on your holiday. It's raining this morning. We were thinking of doing one last trip into the city centre before our 48 hour tram tickets ran out but I think we might just check out and go on our way. Fortunately we have had quite a good weekend, if not a little windy, and also fortunately we have a nice cosy campervan to hide in rather than one of the little tents blowing around on the field in the middle of the campsite.

Yesterday we woke up late, read some books and found out where we should go. A new map (now the fourth in our collection of maps of Amsterdam) pointed out an area we hadn't been - on the West side of the city, Jordan. So making the most of any tram connections we negotiated our way over to these quaint residential streets. As Ed was nearly dying of hunger (!) we focused in on a pancake restaurant, which the map had suggested. For once I dared to try maple syrup with my bacon... not actually as bad as you would think...

The restaurant itself was underground, a queue of people indicating its tiny entrance, and at every proceeding corner was a small bar with chairs spilling out alongside the cycle path. Huge decorated house boats lined the canals and with fewer tourists this place had a relaxed buzz about it. However, any place with a TV screen was packed out, we could hear the cheers from where we were, thundering out past each bend, it was incredible. And then half an hour later, when we found ourselves back near to Dam square, we turned in on thousands of Ajax supporters pouring through the streets. We had no idea where they were headed, or where they had come from - it was crazy!

And to top our chilled out Sunday off, the tram back to the campsite collided with a bus!! Luckily no-one was hurt, but we were not the only English on the tram and so none of us really knew what was going on. One of the windows in the tram had shattered but was still in its frame and the back window of the bus had a precarious jagged line around its edge.

So now on to Germany.