Belgium and the Netherlands

I arrived in Belgium from Scotland on late Saturday afternoon after a "quality" ryanair flight where they informed us that we had been delayed in taking off because of a flat tyre. Little did I know that the 2 days prior to this were bank holidays and Belgium was experiencing a heat wave!! So every Belgium and his dog were out travelling around... I managed to find a hotel in Brussels after a wandering around for an hour... but in the end it was all ok.

Belgium is a beautiful country with lots of old towns, waffles, chocolate and many many types of beer. All the beer have their own special glass which is supposed to be especially designed for the beer.Brussels was a nice city to wander around in and eat awesome food in especially after the lack of decent food in the UK. I also did day trips out to Antwerp (apparently that's where diamonds come from for all those Snatch fans) which has a beautiful old town and a massive old church. I then went down into Le Ardennes which are these amazing rolling valleys down in the southeast of Belgium. I stayed in a hostel with just 2 other people and did a lot of cycling and kayaking. I use kayaking loosely as it was really just floating down a river and drinking beer with another Aussie...
I then went and visited Luc and Veerle and their little boy Sil in Ostend. This was a nice break from the travelling and was great fun seeing them again, reminiscing about Malaysia and experiencing some great Belgium hospitality. Although Veerle did torture me by taking me to a 60's, 70's and 80's party which most of Ostend attended. My ears will never be the same.
I made day trips from here to Gent which was a beautiful student town set on a river with lots of canals and also to Brugge which is an ancient city. The highlight of Brugge was definitely a Brewery tour and the tastings afterwards.I left Belgium and went straight to Amsterdam. This city has a really good vibe to it and everyone seems so relaxed... Could be something to do with all the coffeshops! I managed to stay with Geert and his housemates, one of Veerle's friend's brothers who showed me a bit around town even some of the more seedier corners just for a laugh. I managed to get to the Van Gough museum which was fantastic and also to the modern art museum which had some really intriguing exhibitions.
After 3 days in Amsterdam I took off to Helsinki in Finland...