Day 6 (in Brugge)

It is indeed a very nice little town. The canals and buildings have a nice medieval feeling (different feeling from Amsterdam).

The churches and the several towers scattered around are worth the visit and in every corner there are very nice old little houses that make you feel like you have traveled back in time (this is especially true if one walks during the morning when there are not so many people around).

The amount of different details in town is overwhelming and is hard to describe... it just needs to be experienced.

At the main square (De Markt)

We went up to the top of the town's Bell Tower, and the view from above is really nice. The climb involves winning over 366 narrow steps (snail like).

The climb to the Bell tower top...

At the top...

View from the top of Bell tower

The Bell Tower

Brugge is often called the Venice of the North so we had to try a boat excursion in the canals. It is also worth doing (it is not very lengthy - 30min - so it is easily done).

Doing the canal excursion by boat

So far the weather continues to be unbelievably sunny and warm :) It may change by the middle of next week, but until then we will try to enjoy it fully :)

We finished up our day with the famous Moules & Frites (Moussels and french fries)... YAAMMM YAAAM. Very good dinner at a small place called 't Fonteintje (we recommend it; tasty mussels, very nice staff and good beer also).

"How to eat mussels - use one of them like a forceps - LOL thanks Oliver&Joana for the tip ;)

 Tomorrow is another long travel. We will go to France where we will spend the most of our journey towards south. Next destination: Caens.

Day 5

Last day in Amsterdam. We loved the city. Great atmosphere above all. We decided not to do much museum visits so that we can do it at another time. For now it was all about "feeling" the city :) We did go to one of the most important museums the Rijksmuseum and it is worth the visit. Superb works of art by famous Dutch painters and interesting art collections of other types.

The I AMsterdam trademark in front of Rijkesmuseum 

After that it was time to leave Amsterdam and head to Brugge. We decided however to make a small detour and try to find the famous dutch Windmills around Amsterdam. They are found at a place called Zaanse Schans and although we got a bit lost getting there we finally managed to find the place and it is really worth the visit (we were 5min away of turning back to Brugge out of frustration for not finding the correct road - lots of construction work on many roads and bad indications did not help). Anyway the place is amazing, like a "green" fairy tale land.

Windmills at Zannse Schans (fairy tale land in our view)

Yeah the goat seemed nice but I was not completely sure I could trust it LOL

We then headed off to Brugge a bit later then expected. Unfortunately that meant driving at the rush hour through the Dutch highways... one word... torture. Many many Km at 50Km/h on a highway is not fun LOL. Anyway, there was no other option so we tried to enjoy the green landscape and the "millions" of cows and sheeps on the green fields along the roads (OK they were not millions but they were so spread everywhere you looked that it seemed like it).

Arrival at Brugge around 20h00. No so much time to walk around. After dinner we did managed to take some night photos - a curiosity....,we found "Sarumans" tower / Isengard"("Lord of the rings") it really looks like it at night  doesn't it? LOL

Isengard (Saruman's tower)... Also Known As Brugge :P

Tomorrow is walking "marathon" in Brugge :)

Here was our itinerary for the day (308Km)

Since we left Amsterdam nothing more appropriate than the music by Coldplay - Amsterdam

Day 4 (@Amsterdam)

Today was all about visiting Amsterdam, its numerous streets, canals, coffeshops, etc.
Day started relatively early, 9h00, and from then on it was Km and Km of walking LOL. we did not have any bikes unlike all the Amsterdam citizens it seems. Bikes by the way come in all different colors and styles.

Every street has hundreds of bikes lined up, and parked...

During the day we walked around several of the canals, which are all quite charming.

This is also the city of the museums. One can find museums of about anything you can think of... well actually there are some museums that one does not think about so often...

The more common museums types... 

Less common museum types...

...and of course the famous Cannabis plant museum...

So, this place is all about freedom as everybody knows, and we confirmed it. People are extremely relaxed :P

Other things of interest are the floating flower market.

Lots and lots of tulip bulbs

Just beside the market...the infamous mushrooms LOL

There is a quite big "ChinaTown" which is also close to the much more well known "Red Light District" (here it is not so advisable to take photos LOL)

Chinese signs were EVERYWHERE...

Even a Buddhist shrine you can find in Chinatown.

A simple photo just to remember the famous district LOL

Ok so now just some more random pictures from our day, cause is getting late and tomorrow we are off to the city of Brugges :) Ah... we were amazed by the weather so far. Today was clear and sunny sky with temperatures surely around 25ºC... perfect

De Waag - remainings of old Amsterdam fortress

Old Church (disappointing actually,  not much to see inside, although they say they are renovating)

Quite nice "white" beer, which was being ordered by quite many people at a cafee/bar in the afternoon

Cheese heaven!! (only for cheese lovers, Cláudia is not one of them LOL)

The house where Rembrandt lived

See you tomorrow... (no time for music today sorry, too tired of all the walking... :P )

Day 3 (first, ferry to Travemunde, then drive to Amsterdam - 540Km)

Ferry departed 22h. Quite amusing initially since we had never traveled by boat for so long and especially not on a ferry.

Our king sized cabin LOL ("not").

View of the harbor from the ferry.

No "titanic" event... so no need for this one LOL

After the initial fun, the night was not that fun actually... word of advice... bring some hear plugs to your cabin because the ventilation can be NOISY!!!!  Wake up call was at 6h00 since we needed to be in our car at 7h30 to leave the boat.

After this it was the long drive to Amsterdam in the famous German highways. Quite a tough drive today. Roads extremely busy and many many Km of road work. Of interest... we were pulled over by the German police YYEAAAHHH... no not for speeding... for a customs control or something LOL. Guess they founded odd two portuguese driving a Swedish license plate car in Germany(??!!)

Anyway... eventually arrived in Amsterdam. Traffic also crazy plus the added crazy bicycle riders.

Bike jam at traffic light(?) in Amsterdam

The buildings and atmosphere in Amsterdam feel nice (we just walked for a short while today, since we were quite tired and arrived already at 15h00).

The famous canals...

Do you notice something odd with the building? ;)

So this was just a taste. Tomorrow we will explore better Amsterdam :)