Germany

I started writing another entry as we left bruges, but was in a bitchy mood so I wont post what I wrote. 

We are just about to cross into Germany, having done just spent three days in Amsterdam and two days in Bruges. 

Bruges, well I liked Bruges. A fellow traveller (an aussie who was deported from the UK for having the wrong visa) had a saying amongst his friends: 'Don't go all Bruges on me'. Fair enough, I can see his point, its pretty soft, but I really enjoyed it. It was rammed with tourists, something that must annoy the locals to no end, but they seem to get on with their lives and ignore us the best they can. Had a funny little map guide written with a great sense of humour.

The beer was everything I'd been let to believe and more. It got me thinking why I stomach the piss back home. I tried to drink as widely as I could and didn't find anything disagreeable, I drank mainly things I'd never heard of, as the popular ones are exported anyway. Even Liz got into it, the Kriek or cherry beer she found enjoyable.

I was wondering how we would find Amsterdam before we got there. Its a bit of a weird one, again, very touristy, but a lot more locals a lot more intent on hitting you with their bikes. Bikes everywhere. Everywhere. Didn't get a lot of pictures in Amsterdam, having been told that a lot of the locals in the more colourful districts don't like cameras. A lot of pimps will break them or you. Fair enough.

My blistering coffee addiction hit in Amsterdam, our hostel not providing my morning cups of coffee. In fact, the entire hostel was terrible. under renovation, poorly organised, no internet, no kitchen, and the smells. We had to shift rooms, ending up in a sightly nicer one that had an en suite (6 beds though), but then we smelt the en suite. I've never been accused of being clean and therefore have known my fair share of rotten smells, but something in that bathroom was unnatural. I smell that bad can not occur conventionally, but would have to be specially manufactured by a team of evil chemists.

But back to my coffee woes, It turns out there are two kinds of coffee shop in Amsterdam. One that sells coffee (a cafe) and one that sells coffee and dope (a coffee shop). I had images of a drug fueled utopia with everyone smiling and helping each other out, wandering the streets in a stupor and eating snack food everywhere. Well, its kind of like that, but mainly its a lot of people working in cafes who keep forgetting what you ordered. But we did find a big park that was mainly full of stoners wandering around and playing frisbee. It was called Vondelpark, and its great fun adding 'Vondel' to the start of words. Try it and you'll see.

Saw a couple of good museums. The Rijkmuseum was pretty cool, lots of stuff about the powerful Dutch navy and traders whom I respect from to many hours playing as them in Sid Meiers Pirates. Also a bunch of Rembrandts. I didn't realise how awesome Rembrandt was before, but he kicks arse. Also some of his students were cool, and Vermeer was also excellent. I much preferred the Dutch masters to a lot of the Italian and French Renaissance pieces I saw in the Lourve.

The sexmusuem was cheap, both in euros and in general. A musuem full of pornography from the  last century, exactly as good as it sounds.

Anne Franks house was very moving. Wandering around those rooms really gets into your stomach and twists it in a very emotional way. I've not read the book (Liz is reading a copy next to me right now) but I knew the story and to really have it played out in front of you like that was saddening. Its just one story out of millions of the tragedy of world war two.

Well, I didn't think I'd write that much about Amsterdam, but there you have it. We've just crossed into Germany now and for some reason they've put a DVD of Greys Anatomy episodes on the bus. So I guess this is as good a place as any to stop writing. Read into that what you will.