Last weekend, I went to Amsterdam to visit one of my favourite people in all the world, Daniel, and his beautiful girlfriend, Petra.

It was a gorgeous weekend.  The sky was bright blue, the sun was shining and the temperature was a balmy..well, it may have even been double figures.  (It's Northern Europe!  In Winter!  Nothing was frozen; let's just call it warm.)  Obviously, the Amsterdamians thought it was warm too - even those who chose to stay inside behind a window didn't wear much.

Daniel and Petra inflicted bike-iness upon me, and we rode all about the place.  I got to see all the major sites and didn't have to set foot inside anywhere where I might have to learn anything.  But the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank Huis look very nice from the outside.

We were ogled in the Red Light District, were fascinated by the wares in the smart shops, lay about the Supper Club and boated down the canals.  I got to wonder why Dutch builders didn't use plumblines.  And I got to eat lots of stroopwafels.

A most excellent weekend.

I found Belgium to not be visually stunning (though medieval Bruges is rather cute) but it made my tummy happy.  Beer.  Waffles.  French (Belgian!) Fries.  Chocolate.

Mmmm, chocolate.

Also, mmmm, waffles from a vending machine.  Fabulous invention.  Spongey, but tasty.

I'm intrigued by the 'symbol' of Brussels, Manneken Pis.  I can't help drawing obvious comparisons with Den Lille Havfrue of Copenhagen.

The small siren is rarely dressed-up (barring those burqa incidents).  She doesn't have over 1000 different costumes.  I've never visited her and discovered a whole crowd dressed similarly and singing songs.

Manneken Pis might be a little more indelicate in comparison to his northern neighbour but has never had his limbs or head chopped off.  And as far as I know, the symbol of Copenhagen is unable to 'mermaid' on her audience on cue.

I had a wonderful visit to Seattle over Christmas/New Year.  Did bugger-all.  Just hung out, and it was grand.

One of the most surprising parts was discovering what I missed most about Seattle.  After the people, of course, the thing I miss most about Australia is the food.  I was shocked to discover that the thing I missed most about Seattle was, after the people of course, the food.  And not just because I'm generally ambivalent about eating.

I had Adovo Chicken Pasta from Desert Fire, coffee from Victrola, tacos from Chipotle (twice!) and gingerbread waffles from Coastal Kitchen (also twice!).  I also had enough Starbucks lattes to tide me over between Copenhagen airport visits.

The other thing I also always miss is the book shopping opportunity.  When I hit Sydney airport on a visit home, it's straight to the newsagent.  As soon as my gob is full of Cadbury, I'm perusing the new offerings of the Australian publishing industry.  Incidentally, why is so much sci fi/fantasy written by Australians?

So as usual, I over-patronised the bookstores on this visit too.  Luckily, a nice check-in agent at SeaTac told me that instead of charging me $50 in excess, she could give me a box and I could take advantage of my "2 pieces" allowance.  Repacking on an airport floor is a tad embarrassing, but then if I had any shame, I'd probably not be trying to smuggle so many books.