Volendam

Well I suppose it was all too good to be true! We were travelling north in heavy traffic from Belgium into The Netherlands when a woman failed to brake in time and rear-ended Thelma. That pushed us into the back of the car in front of us, which was a lovely new black Mercedes. It took an hour on the phone to the UK insurance company and another hour waiting on the side of the busy highway in our very fetching, high-visibilty vests before help arrived in the form of a tow truck.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt and the Belgian tow-truck driver was able to pull the bumper bar off the front wheels so that we were able to get back on the road and reach our destination of Volendam, in Holland, before sunset.

Volendam is a pretty tourist village close to Amsterdam. It is on the water...which can be said for EVERYTHING in the Netherlands.

As well as many beautiful souvenir shops, there are food stalls selling fresh seafood, 'frieten' (amazingly good chips with mayonnaise) and of course, those little pancakes.

We stayed in a wonderful 130 year old hotel with dining rooms that looked more like a museum than a restaurant.

But, its not all classy! Couldn't resist this shot of a cow stool. I want some for my place.