The Sun Came Out Today!! yay....

After five days of non-stop gloomy weather with a little rain here and there, this morning was crystal clear and sunny! So that was a great way to start off my day :). Also, my keyboard has all the right keys in all the right places, so it's a good day all around.

Yesterday I was up, fed, and out by 10. I caught the first train I could to Amsterdam, and got here around 1ish. I hiked a couple kilometers through the city and was in my hostel by 2, and unpacked by 230. I'm sharing a room with 5 Germans, 2 of whom are girls... so that's interesting. After I had sat around for awhile, I went out and walked around Amsterdam for awhile. It's a very interesting city, much like Brussels was. There are major differences, though: while Amsterdam is still between France and Germany, the crowd here is much more diverse than that of Brussels. Also, canals criscross all throughout the city, so walking around is a rather different experience altogether. After walking around for an hour or two, I was very hungry so I stopped at this little pizza joint. I had heard that pizza is the cheapest thing to buy at restaurants in Europe, but I hadn't gotten the inclination to try it until yesterday. I got what would be a medium-sized thin crust pizza at home for 4 euro, so that was good. Unfortunately, the soft drinks were two euro each, so I still spent 8 euro. I would've spent more, actually, but people over here don't really tip. The guy at the restaurant wouldn't let me. Anyway, after that I walked around a bit more and then went to bed; I was tired.

Today I woke up around 8, and was showered and fed by 9. I took some time this morning to look over maps and my guidebook and come up with a sort of itinerary for most of the rest of my trip, which I'll get into later. Afterwards, I went to two museum. The first, and easily the best, was the Van Gogh museum. Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists, and this museum had an entire floor of his work, with details on his life and work and a little bit on his social life. I was fascinated, and spent nearly two hours there (it was somewhat small). Then I went to the Rijksmuseum, which focused on Dutch heritage. They had some really good Rembrants (including The Night Watch) but I was otherwise unimpressed. The museum is under construction, and so most of it was closed, but to be honest I couldn't care less about Dutch plates and Chinawear that they started making in the 17th century when they were rich and powerful.

After those two museums, I wandered around a bit more. Amsterdam has a curious mix of areas that are essentially outdoor malls, and areas that are homes, with a couple parks and museum districts thrown in. It is, I suppose, much like any other city, but more extravagant than most. I stopped at a Burger King when I got really hungry for a little taste of home, then went back to the hostel for a bit to look at my map and get my bearings straight for tonight, then went out again. I went North, to the more seedy areas of town. I won't get into details here, for fear of offending a few people, and I didn't do anything bad... but suffice it to say that there really are a lot of red lights in the Red Light District. If you want to hear the story, you'll have to ask me when I get home in person.

I have a rough outline of what the next week and a half or so is going to look like. Actually, I may have the whole trip planned out, but I'm not sure yet. Tomorrow I'm going to Germany. I plan on spending 5-6 days there, because there is a lot I want to see. Tomorrow I'll try to catch a very early train and go straight to Cologne (pronounced Koln) because there are a couple of things I want to see there. I'll only stay one night, then try to catch another early train to Berlin. As that will probably take awhile, I may not have the chance to do anything that day, although I could take an overnight train so I save a day. Anyway, I'll spend a couple days in Berlin, then probably a day in Munich, and then head to a little town called Konstanz (I think that's how you spell it) for some great scenery and hiking for a day. After that is France, where I want to go to Paris, a little town just outside of Mt.-St.-Michel, which looks fantastic, and then Arles, and then perhaps somewhere in the Pyrenees. I want to save the last week or so for Italy, which only leaves me a couple of days, at the most, for Spain. So what I think I'm going to do is just head straight for the beach and stay there a day or two. If I save time somewhere by not staying somewhere so long, or by perhaps cutting a stop in one or more countries, then I'll stop at either Barcelona or Madrid. We'll have to see how it goes.

I've learned more about the world, and myself, in the last few days, but I'll save that for a later post. It'll give you something to look forward to!

I think that I will post here again on either Wednesday or Thursday night, from Berlin.

Oh, and Red Guy... Ok so I was never in marching band, and I don't think I was ever part of a group thing that went to Florida. But what I HAVE thought of is that perhaps YOU were in marching band, or maybe even you were the parent of someone who was in marching band and went to Florida. That narrows it down considerably. So then, that begs the question: are you my age, or are you one of my friends' parents? (Or one of my parents' friends?)

See you in a few days!!

-Swag