Amsterdam day 2; Berlin day 1...

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Arrived in Berlin this morning (sun) after an overnight train from Brussels...very tired from the prison-like accomodations of the train beds. Our time in Amsterdam went by very quickly, there is too much to take in in such a short period of time...basically, we kicked things off by heading off to one of the many city squares where people congregate and mostly just puff down heaters or hit up the dope. Having a rough of idea of what to expect in the red light district, we were pretty much astonished at the overwhelming display of debauchery that awaited us when we by chance came across one of its many allys. Well past midnight, it was like walking down the strip in Vegas except that here the hoes were in the windows and were way better looking! From there we decided that we wanted a non-touristy foray into the local bars that were somewhat off of the beaten path. Helping us on our way was a drunken dutchmen on a bike that took us to his into his neighborhood anarchy bar...literally an umarked warehouse with: concrete floors, metal chairs, wood tables, and murals on the walls of gas masks and red stars...I thought we had been taken there to get our asses kicked but it turned out to have damn cheap beers. Getting out while we were still ahead, we hit up a few more bars where atleast one of the following happened in each: 1) we got ripped off at the door 2) they played a lot of Dutch music (which is heavy on the accordians and trumpets- I at first thought they were playing mexican radio stations) 3) we were served a mysterious shot that tasted like mouthwash (it probably was). Wrapping up around 5am we woke up that day not feeling too horrible and went to see the sights. We visited the Van Gogh museum (not bad) and then the Reijksmuseum (very good) and spent the rest of the day wandering the city (which is very confusing) - it is much nicer and cleaner than we expected. That night we met up with a 23 year old steel worker from Edmonton who was staying in our hostel...low on intelligence but high on morale (drugs) and with deep pockets we showed him some of the sights from the previous night. After a few hours we headed back into the redlight district (this time even crazier) - here our Canadian friend decided that he liked this area so much (hookers) that he decided to try his luck. We told him that we would meet back up with him but took off instead laughing hysterically!! Good times. Yesterday, tired of Amsterdam, after visiting the Anne Frank museum (very good) we went over to Brussels to check it out but was not very impressed with our 4 hour visit...dirty. Besides the main square and a peeing statue that attracted everyone's attention there was not that much to see...I, however, will reserve judgement - we were carrying fifty pound packs and were pissed abput having to kill about 8 hours worth of time before our train arrived. Today we are about to embark on a four hour walking tour of the city to see the exact spot where Hitler shot himself. Peace out.

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