July 11, 2000

The sightseeing around here has been quiet the last couple of weeks as I said but I have done a couple of things. Went to the markets in Valkenswaard which are on every Thursday and it is fantastic. They are not like our markets in Australia. They haven’t heard of such things in Holland like garage sales or taking second hand goods or crafts to the markets. Apparently Belgium has markets like that on Sundays like us but it is a big novelty here in Holland to go to those markets in Belgium which I am sure to do one Sunday. However, back to the Thursday markets here, they pretty well consist of business stalls but they are incredible. It was one fruit and vege stall after another and the produce looked absolutely mouth watering. We got a kilo of the biggest, darkest and most yummy cherries for 6 guilder and also the sweetest and juiciest peaches. They were delightful. And there is just stall upon stall of that stuff. Not to mention the endless stalls of cheese and the long line of fresh seafood stalls which you can smell from afar J And the plants, well you really should have seen the healthiest flowering African Violets that I think I have ever seen. And those stalls were endless too with some really beautiful plants that I dont think I knew.