Multilingual

Today we went to the market for breakfast as our bed and breakfast is actually a bed and no breakfast. We were suggested were to go and found two massive street markets and found people speaking actual Dutch. I discovered giant raisin balls, which are a sort of hot cross bun with no cross on, and really packed with raisins - 30% minimum protected by law apparently.

After the market we wandered around the town away from the tourist hot spots which was much more enjoyable than the rather smelly/dirty bits that have too many people in a small space.

Today's blip is the new Library of the University of Amsterdam, which has a phrase in multiple languages going all the way around two sides of it. We stumbled onto to it by accident in our wanderings and were quite impressed with the building's facade.

We tried and failed to find maps in any bookshop or indeed the main public library. We had a lunch by a canal (everywhere seems to be by a canal) and in the later afternoon had a good wander round a large park to the west of the city centre which was quite nice. We also saw several herons pinching food from people - the way you'd expect from a seagull!

The weather held out all day and we were much more impressed with Amsterdam once you pass beyond the tourist hotspots.