Not all camper stops are created equal

Not all of our nighttime stops are equal, some towns are really set up for campers, and some (Antwerp) are really not.

In Ghent we stayed by an Olympic standard rowing lake. 

The next night we rested in the company of some rather luxurious looking floating palaces. 

 On another it's windmills alongside a canal (my personal favourite)

Schiedam is a really pretty place, just on the outskirts of Rotterdam. It really gave us the canal side experience we hoped from Amsterdam but in what was likely to be much calmer surroundings. 

My view while making tea in the morning. 

Out and about along the canals. 

Despite all that the kids highlight was to see a skip being picked up (shrug)

From Schiedam we then drove straight up to Amsterdam. We stayed in a very ugly, barren wasteland of an aire north of Amsterdam (forgot to take a photo it was so bad). On the plus side it's 10min walk away from a free (and regular) boat that takes you straight into town and it's in a quite funky, ex industrial/ship building area that is being re-colonised/gentrified.

The inside of this massive warehouse is now full of small pods where designers/artists work.

A few of the artists have been at work outside as well. 

The weather we had was appalling, so for our first day we decided on going to the highly recommended science museum - it was fantastic!!! Really set up for kids, pretty much everything is interactive, we had a great time.

Later we rather aimlessly wondered into the heart of Amsterdam, this proved rather uncomfortable as inevitably we found the red light district. Queue questions from the kids; why is that lady in just bra and pants? What is she doing? 

The one that had me really blushing was after this photo was taken (large Nutella seat was the attraction) while Ali was picking up a souvenir... 

...I turned my back for a second and next thing I know F&G have their noses glued to a lap dancing lounge window much to the merriment of the punters inside. 

We quickly hurried away for an early Wagamama dinner at the train station.