Netherlands

Amsterdam.. Oh lord where to start..
Well I guess picking up from the last post is as good a place as any.

We did infact end up in the Red Light District our first night there. And to correct a previous statement I made.. we werent in THE district, we were a few streets a way. I figured the 3 brothels outside our window meant we were there, but I guess its not contained to just that area (lucky for us!). So Im guessing you want a description of the District (its really not a place that conforms to the constraints of the english language, and language in general).. but if I had to try to describe the feel of it, itd be something along the lines of a grown up Disneyworld (horrible analogy, I know). But thats how you feel.. its just something totally different from everything youve known.. its every taboo in the flesh. And did I mention its great! You walk around dumbfounded as its a total role reversal between men and women.

But the Dutch are wonderful people.. the friendliest so far, followed very closely by the French believe it or not.

Our second day of Amsterdam consisted of insane weather and Rembrants grave (well its in a cathedral.. but no one knows where). Later we went eat sushi (I caved).. and during all of this we experienced sun, torential downpours, hail, and 2 rainbows to finish it all up. The 2nd night was also our last night, so we made run last trip to Disneyworld and then went to sleep early in preparation for our early 6:30am train ride to Munich (an 8hr ride).

I hated leaving but Im pretty sure the cops are closing in on us by now. First it was PETA after me for eating horse in Switzerland (insert "so hungry I could eat" joke here).. then it was the French police after us for sneaking out of that Versaille train station after not having the right ticket.. then the British were on to us for our illegal taxi ride (but desperate times called for desperate measures).. and now an angry prostitute in Amsterdam wants my camera because she thought I was taking a photo of her (it was of the canal and the church in the background, I swear!). Hopefully Germany accepts asylum seekers because they just got 4 new ones.

So I figure I can give you a good laugh about todays train ride (since these always end up humours at our expense). Well we boarded and everything was going perfectly to plan untill the loud speaker notified us of a change in plans do to a train wreck yesterday or today. So that led to an hour or 2 detour. Then we had to change trains again and we still arent good at doing this apparently since we couldnt find a seat and ended up (once again).. sitting on the floor in the back of a train car (see sometimes you have reserved seats and other times you dont). So we rode on the ground for about an hour with 2 Canadian girl backpakers until the nicest train employee came by and led us to some first class seats in a "special" part of the train. Well the special seating turned out to be the smoking cart (good thing 2nd hand smoke doesnt kill!). So 10 hours later we finally made it to Munich and I love it already.

Note.. these entries are never re-read.. so excuse everything about them. Id like to say its because im following in Kerouac's footsteps
"first thought, best thought".. but its more lazyness.

London has gone the way of the US, and George Orwell isn't resting peacefully in his grave because of it.

Everywhere we heard about the heightened state of security and had CCTV cameras watching our every move.

We did see a lot though, but London (in my opinion my other companions may argue differently) can't compete with Paris. Paris is the Texas of Europe. Everything there dwarfs the rest of Europe. But I won't turn this into a hate fest because it wasn't all a let down.

On our second day we split up, the girls going shopping and Quentin and I going to some museums. We ended up seeing the Rosetta Stone as well as Egyptian, Greek, and Roman artifacts. From that museum (whose name slips my mind) we headed to the Imperial War Museum and saw a lot of D-Day/WWI/WWII exhibits that were really cool if you are into that sort of thing.

The 3rd day consisted of going see the Tate Modern art museum, the National Gallery, and the Millennium Bridge.

Now I'm on today..
We had a train ticket for 8:30am on the Eurostar leaving for Belgium. So we left early from our shitty hostel (I'm glad to be still alive from that experience) only to find that the metro was closed until 7:30am...and when you are about 30 mins outside of London, and you have to be at you train 30 mins. early to go through customs and what not, you start to panic a little (and rightly so). So we walked around thinking our best bet was the bus, but quickly realized a taxi would need to be found, and fast. By some miracle we walked upon one and got our ride to Waterloo Station. On the way, the taxi driver brought us to the place where the London bus bombing occurred last summer. When we finally made it, we thought everything was going good. We boarded with little problems (Lindsey got searched) and then we boarded and our train got delayed right before we went through the chunnel. Did I mention we had a connecting train from Brussels to Amsterdam 30 mins. after we would arrive from London. So with the delay, we ended up in Brussels running around looking for our train with 15 mins. before it would leave. Of course it was the furthest track away, but we made it.

So midway through the train ride to Amsterdam (hour 4 or 5 of our train riding for the day) we find out we have to change trains. So we got off and get on a new one and its a much better train so we don't realize we are sitting in first class. Well when the ticket man started coming around, we realized our mishap and ended up sitting on the ground at the end of the cart for the last 2 hours of the journey.

And after all of that, we've made it to Amsterdam.. glad to be out of London (where it rains all the time and can't compete with Paris).

We've already seen Anne Frank's house tonight, but its still raining even here (I blame London) so we might just enjoy this mansion of a houseboat we are staying on and plan a full day tomorrow.. or we could experience the Red Light District tonight since it is LITERALLY right outside our window.

Photos soon.. I promise.