4:30 am wake up! Ouch! We quickly packed up and headed down to breakfast. We were ready and waiting at our bus promptly at 6am and got our first look at our tour director, Gerry and our tour-mates. Rox’s first words on seeing Gerry – “Wow, do you think he’s single, can you see a wedding ring?” Oh boy, this could be fun!!!

As soon as we were all aboard the bus and organised we set off for Dover. Once on the bus, Gerry introduced himself to us and we had a look to see who was from where. About half the bus is South African, quite a few Aussies, a few Canadians, a couple of New Zealanders and 2 Malaysians. We have a very large tour group of 52! There are quite a lot of youngsters on the tour – 2 boys who look to be between the ages of 10 and 13 and then about 6 teenagers. We have arranged for Rox, Paula and I to share rooms on tour and Dad and Grant will share a room.

Once we arrived in Dover we got to glimpse Dover castle and the white cliffs, before boarding the ferry for Calais. I totally enjoyed the ferry, surprisingly enough. I have no idea what I imagined the ferry to be like, but I never imagined it would be a proper ship, with proper shops and a canteen and a pub and a coffee lounge! We bought some sandwiches and drinks (more cider!) and, oh my soul, I got to eat my first pain au chocolat. Heavenly! We then browsed the shops and Grant and the girls and I stood outside on a little deck and watched France coming closer. Beautiful!

After disembarking we met up with our driver, Rudy, and climbed aboard our coach for the first time. We headed off from Calais, bound for Amsterdam, via Belgium. The countryside was very flat. I loved driving through Belgium, it was so green and lovely. There were fat, contented looking cows wherever you look. (If ever I am reincarnated I want to be a Belgian cow!) I’d love to spend some time in Belgium.

We saw the beautiful spires of Antwerp as we drove past, shortly before entering the Netherlands. We stopped at a service stop and I insisted Grant buy some salty liquorice – not nice!! There was fascinating scenery on the way into Amsterdam – windmills, tulips…really lovely.

Gerry is giving us lots of interesting information as we travel - lots of history, interesting facts and Dutch lessons. He seems to be a super tour guide so far.

We got to Amsterdam just after 5pm and took a whirlwind bus tour.

What you see up there on the bridge is thousands, upon thousands of bicycles! Imagine trying to find yours at the end of the day??

We then got on the optional canal cruise. It was absolutely beautiful! We journeyed along various canals, seeing gorgeous canalside homes. I could SO easily live in one of those! We also saw houseboats, some beautiful, others less so. I really loved the canal cruise, I’m so glad we chose to do it.

Then Gerry took those of us who wanted to go on a quick walk through the red-light district. I was quite surprised by the red-light district, it wasn't nearly as "bad" as I thought it would be. I just hated seeing the woman in the windows though, that's plain sad. It was still quite early, so not all the “ladies” were working yet, but still! After that we were free to find our own supper, Gerry suggested various options, but we went investigating on our own and found a lovely Chinese restaurant. Yummy!

Sometimes I just know that these girls hate me - check out Rox's expression!

Back on the coach at 9pm and it was still broad day-light – that’s going to take some getting used to. It’s been a very long day, everyone is looking a bit exhausted. Our hotel, the Hotel Dorint Amsterdam, is superb.