Almost Done....

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So I know I have not written in a while...sorry. So after I spent another few nights in Berlin, which I extended my stay in because I loved it soo much. I had met this Aussie girl who had been traveling for 13 and half months!! I enjoyed her stories so much, however I do not think I will be doing that anytime soon. Berlin was amazing and I feel like I saw Berlin, however it is one of those cities you can go to a thousands times and never see the same thing twice.

After Berlin I went on to Amsterdam which was a 6 and half hour train ride. I should of made a reservation for, there were very few seats on the trian, but I did find one. I talked to this couple from Texas, the woman was from Russia and he was from Texas and they had 3 children in the military! This made for a intesesting train ride.

Once I arrived in Amsterdam, the train station was insane. There were people going every which way and there was a tons of construction. So I found information and they told me how to get to my hostel, because the hostel directions were no good. So I got to my hostel and check in. I met some awesome people here as well. My first night there, I was by myself, so I hung out with people in my hostel. The following morning my old roommate from Austria who now lives in Manchester, England met me at the hostel. We toured around Amsterdam for the next few days, we went to a tulip museum, a houseboat museum, Van Gough museum, and saw the worlds narrowest house. One of the afternoons we went out a saw the windmills which were touristy but still very pretty. Amsterdam is a big but compact city, one of the main ways to get around in via a bike. There were sooo many bikes everywhere, but on the same street as cars, trams and people. To get across the street you have to go through three different crosswalks!

After Amsterdam I came back to Cologne to meet my friends. However the night after I arrived was the Germany and Turkey semi final to the Euro Cup 2008, this is in Soccer. If you do not know europeans love thier soccer. And every night while traveling I have watch various games that were being played. But this was a big one, mainly because there are so many Turkish people who live in Germany. So my friend Conny, who loves soccer and is really into this whole thing deceided we would go to one of the major streets where there were several bars and such. The officals closed the street and it was one big festival. We arrived at 6 and there were no seats anywhere and the game did not begin until 8.45. So we stood and watched the game, this was intense. People were everywhere and you could barely move by time the game started. This was fun, but when Germany scored the crowd went crazy, I learned what a beer shower was and how to balence yourself when everyone is jumping up and down around you singing "Super Deutshland" or some other crazy song. I should also mention that I discovered even german beer is awful warm!!-yuck. After the game we just stood there forever to wait for the crowd to clear, which it still had not by the time we left. We we left there was beer bottles all over the street, I am soooo happy Conny made me wear tennis shoes insted of my sandles, good call. I am not sure I would want to repeat this night again, however it was quite a sight. Now I understand Germans love of soccer on a whole new level.

The day after the game whe went to Bonn (the sister city to Cologne) and had breakfast with Tim and Ben. Tim had some previous obligations and so Conny, Ben and I went around the city and just chilled out, we did basically nothing all day and it was wonderful. Yesterday we met up with the guys again and went for a hike to the Seven Hills which has something to do with German mythology. Then today all of us are going to Eifel which is a national park about an hour away. Tims parents live close to there so we will stay at his parents tonight. Then on Sunday I will catch a train to Frankfurt where I will fly out on Monday at 6.30 am!! Oh boy.....I love early flights!!

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