I have been away for three weeks. Sadly I must say that I never had such a bad weather during any of my previous holidays.

I spent my holiday in Germany (Mannheim most, but also some days in Darmstadt and Frankfurt), and the last couple of days in the Netherlands. It was really great seeing my friends again, and not just spend hours on the Internet, mailing and chatting with them.

As the weather was so bad, there was plenty of time for eating. I got plenty of bratwursts, brezels, various schnitzels and my favourite, schweinehäxe at Adolf Wagner in Frankfurt.

In the end of my holiday I left for the Netherlands, and had Apeldoorn as my base for the stay. I would like to thank Eddy Groen (Eddyspeeder) for letting me stay. The first day we went biking in the areas around Apeldoorn, a long channels and rivers, in farming areas and through old towns and villages. It was great, we counted the distance to have been in between 50-60 kms. I especially liked the town Deventer.

The next day I left for Amsterdam. It looked to be a great day, but after walking for about an hour, it started raining again…

I walked a long many of the channels and took pictures of the typical bridges they have a long the channels. The first museum I visited was a diamond house. They still make diamonds there and make sales to the whole world. It fun to walk through the building seeing each stage of the production. I even got a guide that spoke Norwegian! Next stop was the Rembrandt museum. This was the house where he made most of his painting and where he lived. A beautiful museum that I recommend all to visit.

At lunch time I sat down eating an apple cake and had a coffee. The apple cakes in Holland are of the best ones I’ve tasted. I also took the time to have a taste of my favorite beer through years: Amstel.

After lunch I went to Anne Frank museum. The que was long and it was still raining. There were to many people in the museum, and you were just following the stream. I have always wanted to visit this museum, but I didn’t find the quietness that I expected for this place. The story is now an even bigger mystery for me. How could 8 people hide there for such a long time? Mostly in darkness and always in silence.

The weather was now turning better, but it was then time to leave back to Apeldoorn. On the way to the Central Station I found a shop that sold a wide selection of whiskies, some of them even bottled in Holland. But for this holiday, I had already made up my mind, I was to buy Genever. In Flekkefjord, we until last year had our own brand, Madam Møllbach. It was made by Bols, but production sadly ended last year.

On wednesday the trip went home to Norway. First with train from Apeldoorn to Rotterdam. Then a few hours stay there. The airport is small and completly lacks a tax free shop. The shop there is more expensive then in normal shops, and the selection can be described in one word: Horrible.

Sadly the weather in Norway isn’t much better. I am now sitting in the office looking out of the window. It will not even get light to today, and on my way to work, it rained.