Xmas. And the Dam. And new years

Christmas is a very special time of year here. People seem to take it far more seriously, determined to enjoy themselves and be friendly to everyone at any cost. In many ways I think it's an attempt to give yourself something to look forward to in the freezing cold weather. There is a whole culture which surrounds Christmas. The songs on the radio all change, the Pogues play at the Brixton academy, cards are sent out by just about everyone I know, people are generally very happy. It's nice.

I spent Christmas with my father's sister Maeve and her family. After a gift opening ceremony with Aunt Brenda and twin cousin Nell, we went to my cousin Clare's house in Sevenoaks to eat the biggest turkey in the world and open more presents. Honestly, 6 grown adults and 3 little uns got through about a quarter of the bird, it was that big. We then drank, and drank, and showed the kids how responsible adults act at an important family occasion.

It was really lovely. Special mention must go to my uncle John. I've never met anyone who receives the same thing from every person he knows, a bottle of Jamesons whiskey. He ended up with about 6 of them, and he was very very happy about it. Thanks for a great day guys.

On boxing day I flew to amsterdam to spend 4 days with my friends Juergen and Vicki who, after spending a month or so in India, had spent a couple of weeks in Europe.

Amsterdam is an amazing city. Actually, Holland is an amazing place. Most of the landmass has been reclaimed, meaning that most of the country is in fact lower than sea level. The primary purpose of the windmills is to pump the water away from the land and out to sea. The Dutch have succeeded in completely transforming their landscape. Astonishingly, land reclaimation has been happening in Holland since the 11th century.

Amsterdam itself is beatiful. It was designed during the Dutch golden age in the 16th century, and consists of large roads running alongside canals, which are everywhere. We took in a lot of culture. The national museum, the Van Gogh museum, Rembrandt's house, a canal cruise, a day long bus tour to a clog factory and cheese making farm, complete with many windmills. I don't know of any place that considers the wearing of wooden shoes to be a good idea. We watched some being made. I don't care how much varnish or polishing you do to the damn things, and I don't care how long you expect them to last or how strong they are, they cannot be good for your feet! But you aren't here to read about clogs.

Most cities have a red light district. The thing that really makes Amsterdam quite unique is that it openly advertises the fact. Any map of the city will happily show the red light district, which is rather big, and features some rather lovely looking women standing in windows courting for business. Not all of them were beautiful mind you, but many were. DVD cabins were on every corner, sex shops were everywhere, live sex shows and peep shows were available through just about every door.

And if that wasn't enough to satisfy you, there are the coffee shops. If you see a place in Amsterdam that advertises itself as a coffee shop, it means a number of things. 1, that they sell dope or hash. 2, that you can buy dope or hash as easily and as quickly as a beer. 3, that they will allow you to smoke that dope or hash either at the shop or on the street. This really took some getting used to. Something that is so underground everywhere I've been to is so open there. And it is really cheap and, as we discovered, extremely good quality. At least, that's what Juergen told me.

Another feature unique to Amsterdam was the Argentinian steak houses, which were everywhere. Argentinian beef is rightly regarded as some of the best in the world, and after eating at a random restaurant, it wasn't hard to see why. It was in my top 5 steaks of all time. We surmised that Dutch food is pretty ordinary. We did look at a Dutch menu, which had entries like 'meatballs, cheese and saurkraut', or 'cheese, saurkraut and meatballs', perhaps Argentina saw an opening.

Whatever the case, the restaurant was incredible. The place was fully decked out in cow rustler type material. Our cushions were covered in leather, cattle brands adorned the wall, pictures of cows and men with big hats carrying whips were on the wall and cow print leather covered the bannister up to the toilets. This was nothing compared to the cowhead shaped catcher which lined the urinal, that might have been going a little too far. The restaurant gave us, thats right, complimentary, on the house, 2 of the strongest cocktails I've ever had. There was a lot more tequila than sunrise in mine. After the second one I went and took a photo of the urinal thinking that it might make a good blog picture. Given that I am now sober, you're all safe.

Given that this place was so kind to us, I promised them a mention. Dos Argentinos, near Leidesplien. Great steak, great decor, great cocktails. Get yourself there.

As for new years, very simple affair. Stood on waterloo bridge with a couple of friends with the intention of watching the fireworks on the London Eye. The first 3 - 4 minutes of fireworks were spectacular. Then the soft breeze blew all of the smoke onto the bridge. We could hear what sounded like an amazing show, but despite the fact that the Eye was no more than 200 metres away, we couldn't see a damn thing. Ah well, the champagne was lovely, as I hope yours was too.