8:35 up and on the bus for Brussels today via a tulip farm and some windmills, apparently, so this should be pretty cool! We're only a few minutes out of town and have already managed to see a number of huge wind turbines, as well as a proper old windmill. Several old windmills. The Netherlands are definitely living up to their windmill-y stereotype, that's for sure. We also passed a place called Baby Dump, which provoked a lot of curiosity. I don't know if we'll ever find out what it was. I just realised that this will be one of the few countries where I have not set foot in a proper graveyard/cemetery. Hmm... A little disappointed, actually. I doubt I'll manage in Belgium, though, either, so I guess my graveyard cred is going to have ... read more

15:55 I maybe slept for 15 minutes on the plane. I'm exhausted. The last two hours of the flight I kinda just wanted to pull my brain out of my head with a pitchfork, I was so exhausted. But eventually we landed, my luggage made it, and I am fighting to stay awake past dinner so that I actually sleep tonight and get into a good routine right off the bat. 22:30 My first impression of Amsterdam was essentially "holy crap there are a lot of bicycles here". If you've been, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, then believe me, there are a lot of bicycles. And scooters. But bicycles, really. Bike lanes everywhere. Bikes get their own traffic signals here. It's really cool, actually. I still haven't entirely sorted out the flow of ... read more

Hullo, and welcome to my revived travel blog... I'll get started in earnest on Saturday when I actually leave for Europe... but in the meantime... Something is seriously, seriously wrong. I'm packing and it looks like everything I want to take is going to fit in my backpack on the first try. This NEVER happens to me. This is making me seriously wonder what I'm forgetting. And honestly, I can't think of what I could possibly be forgetting. I've made lists. I've cross-referenced the lists with one another (yes, I am that much of a nerd). There are electronic lists and paper lists. I have been checking things off methodically as I add them. Or maybe because I've been traveling so much for work over the last little while I've managed to actually become really good ... read more

So the Rhineland.... absolutely gorgeous. The train I took today from Mainz to Köln follows the Rhine and it was nearly impossible to stop staring out the window. Honestly. I tried to start writing this entry on the train, but had to put down the iPhone. I was too afraid that I'd miss a castle or a chateau on the river bank, or miss seeing a small town with an amazing church.... or the vineyards that seem cut into the rock on the hills lining the river valley. I think this is probably the Germany of my imagination, and that's part of the reason I'm loving it so much. I had decided to head to Köln for the day today. I had no real plan other than to see the cathedral there, as I was in ... read more

Was not nearly as hung over this morning as I thought I might be, which is pretty good, although I seem to have done something to my foot - and have some mysterious bruises that are probably from bumping into benches in beer halls and the like (one particularly nasty one right at shin level I think I owe to the bench at the Hofbrauhaus...), but having said that, I get mysterious bruises when perfectly sober, so whatever. The foot is not a mystery - I actually injured it on the 2nd, I think - I was getting off the escalator at the Munich HBF, and felt something in my left foot... not snap, precisely, but there was definitely something that moved in a way it shouldn't have, and there was a major pain for a ... read more