27 days later...

Up early for a quick departure to Amsterdam. The aim was to arrive by midday. Mission accomplished! First stop Coster Diamonds to see how they cut diamonds. Unfortunately the ones I wanted were kind of out of my price range, typical. It was amazing to see diamond valued at €126 000. Thankfully they had us in a locked room surrounded by security cameras. The weather was turning less then pleasant and I managed to lose my recently purchased umbrella, so at Coster's I walked away with a new umbrella, and no it didn't have a diamond encrusted handle. ;)

Next on the agenda was a canal cruise. It was great to see Amsterdam from this level. From there we had free time to explore what Amsterdam had to offer, coffee shops, many bikes and the disturbing red light district. On route we managed to delight in the most delicious Belgian chips. 
After spending the afternoon exploring we had our farewell dinner at a traditional Dutch restaurant. I decided to try a typical winter meal - Hotchpotch. Potato, carrot, cabbage and sausages. Pretty tasty!

The following day we crossed 4 countries to return to our starting off point, London and used 3 different modes of transport. We couldn't believe how quickly 27 days had flown by. It was sad to farewell my 46 fellow Cosmosians, but thank goodness for Facebook :) That evening I made an immediate departure to Porchester to see Uncle Mart and Aunty Linda.