Last weekend was just beautiful here in Amsterdam and this weekend is almost as nice. I won't comment about the weather most of the rest of the summer.

A week ago I was still hard at work finishing up my MPhil thesis so I didn't have too much time to enjoy the weather. I did walk around the city at bit on Saturday which was great since it was the Amsterdam Gay Pride Parade. This being Amsterdam, it was a boat parade on the canals!

Lots of people lined up along the water and many boats with all kinds of different people on them. As expected there were a lot of boats with scantily clad, well-built men dancing with each other (Madonna was a favourite musical choice). There were also quite a few boats with a political message. Many people feel that anti-gay violence is on the rise in Amsterdam, though it's not so clear if it's actually the case. At least one gay tourist was attacked in the street and sent to hospital just that weekend. Many boats urged people to report any kind of incidents they experience to the police. Some people had placards with enlarged versions of newspaper headlines about ethnic youths and Canadians (I kid you not) attacking gay men here.


I finished a semi-final draft of my thesis on Friday so this weekend I have more time off. I went yesterday to the beach with friends: between Zaandvoort aan Zee and Bloemendaal. A nice 23 degrees, with the water just warm enough to keep me in for 15-20 minutes at a time. The train from Amsterdam Centraal to Zaandvoort basically broke down halfway through the trip and everyone had to get off at Haarlem. This wasn't so bad, since we had brought our bikes with us and planned to make the short trip from Haarlem to the coast anyway.

A great day and only a few burns to show for it. Some highlights include these wonderfully hairy big horned cows standing in the water along the bike path and Marcel's woefully short towel.