Holland and Belgium

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Holland and Belgium
Dave B 4-20-07
Upon arriving in Amsterdam I looked around the train station and everybody appeared normal. I guess I was expecting some sort of freakshow are something. I did notice a copious number of bikes. Actually a freakish number of bikes. Bikes on top of bikes. Well you get the point. They predominantly appeared to be junky bikes as well. The locks however appeared awesome. I walked across the street and as in all European City's I approached the street with caution being sure to look both ways. It was almost like I was a kid again. As I crossed the street I was looking around frantically as you first had to watch out for people on the sidewalks, then you had to look out for the bikes and then the cars and then the tram and then the cars again and then the bikes again and then the people. The bike paths are just like another lane of traffic. I finally made it across the street safely and saw my first coffee shop, albeit coffee is not what is most sought after there. It's the weed. I could smell the aroma of marijuana wafting through the air. Unbelievable have not been off the train for more than 10 minutes and already have the smell of weed in my nostrils. Why was I surprised? I suspect that is why a large percentage of people come here. To smoke weed. I continued on and saw some sex shops. I saw older people, kids, middle aged people all walking through the streets with the smell of weed and sex shops all over. I only have 2 hours of sleep in the tank, but I do not feel tired. This is intriguing. I suspect their is no other place in the world like this. Quite certain about that. As I walk a little farther I am somewhat startled by a women in the window selling her goods. I had heard of this, but did not expect it this early in the morning. I walked on.

I had already had breakfast, but thought what the heck I might as well sit down and have another breakfast. I had lots of time to kill as Jackie was not getting off work until 5:30 so I had all day. I walked around and finally found a place in a very touristy area. I had the irish breakfast. Not sure why, as I didn't really like it in Ireland, but that's what I had. It wasn't very good in Amsterdam either. I decided to keep walking a little longer. I wasn't really seeing the huge buildings here like I did in England. I need to take each City for what it is and not compare them. After walking around like a zombie I decided to work my way towards Jackie's. I was just too tired to really get much out of Amsterdam in this state.

After walking back to the train station I got on the tram she indicated, which took me to her house. I had my tram map out and was watching the streets and stops closely. It was difficult to follow as they were names I had not heard of and the street names changed frequently kind of like England in that sense. I asked the driver where the stop was and he told me. I got off at Oosterpark. It was just past Artimis Zoo. I decided to just walk to Jackie's home first and then decide what to do. I found her street and then looked for her apartment number. I couldn't find it. I asked a shop owner who spoke very broken English and she said the street continues through a playground area in front of the school. I walked across the playground area and sure enough I found her apartment. I then decided to walk to nearby Oosterpark. I walked through Oosterpark not overly impressed with it, but it was nice being in the park. From there I walked to a pub near the tram stop. Again being careful to watch for the bikes, the cars, the trams, the cars again, the bikes again and back onto the sidewalk. I walked into the pub where two older women were sitting outside. The one lady probably in her 70's was bartending. She walked in and I ordered a beer, but she indicated I needed to drink it outside. That seemed weird but ok. I went to the toilet, which was downstairs which required walking in a very narrow staircase and watching your head at times for low doorways. Anyway the deed was taken care of and I went back outside. I took in the scene. The bikes were buzzing around out on the street. Two ladies were seated beside me smoking and having a couple beers. Actually I think everyone smokes. I decided to try and call Jackie just to let her know that I have arrived. Maybe she would be getting off work early. I wasn't having any luck dialing her number. I got out my Rick Steves book and tried his instructions, but did not have any luck either. The two older ladies did not speak English, but another lady who just arrived knew English. She tried the number as well with no luck. The ladies sugguested I go to the post office and try their phone. At the post office I was going to have to pay several euros to use their phone, which I decided not to do. I walked back toward the bar and stumbled across another bar and decided to go in. These folks did not speak very good english either. One person had a dog at the bar who kept barking at everyone. The bartender suggested I look her name up in the phone book to make sure I had the right number. I looked up Jackie Bas the name I saw on her email address. Well it turns out Bas was the name of her dog and not her last name at all. Needless to say I could not find Jackie Bas anywhere in the phone book. I decided to head back to the original bar and have another drink. It was still only about 3 in the afternoon and Jackie would not be home for a couple hours.

Finally, I decided to walk through the park again. I saw one kid fall off his bike and a couple bums with beer in their hands came over to thelp the kid who appeared to be about 4. Finally his parents arrived and helped him, while the bums all were gathered around watching mom tend to her boys ouchiess. It seemed kind of funny to me. I watched all the mallards and various other birds swimming around. I finally decided to just go to the school playground in front of Jackie's to wait for her. Maybe she would get home early. By the time I got there it was about 4:45. There were lots of kids hanging around kicking the soccer ball. Lots of people drove by on bikes. This was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. All these moms driving by with their kids riding over the backtire at times, sometimes in a cart in front of the handle bars, sometimes there would be both kids in front of her and a kid behind on just one bike. I am not sure how, but the kids seemed comfortable riding where they were like they grew up doing it which I am sure they did. I took pictures and one of the kids noticed me taking a lot of pictures and yelled Photo, Photo, Photo for some reason. I guess he was making fun of me. I kept taking pictures. Some kids pulled up on a motorscooter and then left. Their was plenty of activity going on in this area.

Finally Jackie arrived at about 5:35. We went up to her apartment and talked for awhile. It was nice to see her again. She said she was going out to meet some friends at a bar. I told her I would like to go along if she didn't mind. She said she wanted me to go along. I decided to take a nap however as I was spent. I slept like a rock. When Jackie woke me up I was so asleep I was trying to figure out where I was and who the lady was that just woke me up. It was a weird feeling being that out of it. After a few seconds however it all came back. I took a shower and we headed out. We biked to the bar, which I could never find back if my life depended on it. I just followed Jackie. There was one time she darted out into traffic and I was hesitant to follow. She said you don't get anywhere if you don't drive aggressive. I told her you do not get anywhere if your dead either. Jackie is fun to tease and we were always giving each other a hard time. At the bar her friends showed up and we had a few drinks. Her friends are very nice. After a few drinks we headed back to her place. I was loving the biking. Amsterdam is crazy about their bikes. It is like the whole City is set up for bikes with traffic lights just like for cars. After making it back to her place. I was happy to be back as I was tired. I slept like a log that night and didn't get up until around noon the next day.

I was feeling lazy most of the time in Amsterdam and I had come down with a cold as well so that didn't help matters either. One night I decided to give Jackie a break from me so I biked into the City myself and went to an irish pub. There were a couple guys in the pub from Oregon as well and a guy from Australia came in a little later. He had just gotten off the plane, which is like a 24 hour filght so you know he was tired. Some lady from Slovakia came in with some Slovakian vodka and was really bragging it up. She was giving people shots of it. I asked her if it was so good why was she trying to give it away. I think she did really like it and was just ready to party. I went ahead and tried it and it seemed ok. A little bit later someone bought a round of Jaegermeister shots, which I had one as well. I had drank a few beers as well so I thought I better slow down. The Oregon guy ask the Australian if he wanted to go smoke a joint and he said sure and they went to a coffee shop. I have actually heard a local in Amsterdam say that weed is actually better than booze, because you do not get a hangover from it. The coffeshops do not sell alcohol, although I understand you can take the joint to a bar and smoke it if you want. I never did try any of the pot although Jackie and I went into a coffeeshop to just check one out. She had not been in one for a long time and does smoke pot and was interested herself. I think a lot of the coffeeshop business are for tourist. We went in and had some hot chocalate. We looked at the pot menu and it looked like the cheapest joints were about 12.50 euros. I really do not think pot is a super bad drug like America tries to make it out to be. I don't see the harm in it. I have never seen violent actions from someone high although I have not been around a lot of high people. I have saw lots of violence as a result of alcohol. Never the less I think your better off not smoking it for a myraid of reasons.

Anyway I stayed there awhile longer and talked to the remaining kid from Europe. It turned out he was only 19 and just got out of high school. He said he drag races in Oregon and loves body shop work. The person he was traveling with said they just came here to smoke pot. He said the weed here is so good one smoke will last you all night. That reminded me of that song from the guy in California who had given me that cd . In the one song he sings, his weed is so good one hit might just last you the rest of the night I say Sandie Ohhhh........

About a half hour later the two pot smokers (do you feel a negative connotation when you read pot smoker?) came back and we continued our conversations. They really didn't seem any different to me. After a few more minutes of further conversation I decided I had better get back as it was around 11:00 and I thought Jackie might be worried. I walked out of the door and an empty feeling came over me when I realized I had no idea where I had parked Jackie's bike. I thought for a moment about the location. I knew there was some tourism boats just in front of where I was parked. I vaguely remembered where it was. I began walking and walking and walking just hoping something would be recognizable. I was not finding anything that looked familiar. I jokingly thought, well I could walk home and wait until the morning thinking most of the bikes would be gone around mine by then. After about an hour of walking I finally recognized the area and sure enough the bike was right where I left it. It was now around 12:00. I jumped on the bike and headed in the direction of Jackie's house. I drove around again for awhile not sure of where I was at. I saw the Heineken Brewery, which was a good sign. I just need to head left for awhile and then go right. That should get me pretty close to Jackies. At least close enough where I would recognize something. After riding around for about 20 minutes I decided I better check the map. Some how I was way off. I jumped back on the bike and headed in the direction I needed to go again nothing was looking familiar. I saw a guy and gal that both appeared really drunk. The guy was puking. I ask the lady how to get to Oosterpark. I got my map out. It took her a while to find our location on the map, which is mighty difficult at times because the streets change names about every block. You do not have the long stretches where the street retains the same name such that when you get to that street you know generally where your at. Throw into the equation all the canals, which you tend to follow around not knowing where you are at along the canal. Fortunately their really isn't any extremely unsafe areas like you have in the US. I understand their are a few, but I have not been anywehere close in any of the City's I have visited. Actualy Jackie told me, when I had asked her where the unsafe areas or in Amsterdam, that her area is probably one of the more unsafe areas. I never once felt unsafe there.

The inebriated lady told me to make a right at the first street I came to and that will take you to Oosterpark. Finally I thought I will make it back. I actually really like driving the bikes around so even when I get lossed I like to cruise. It's really fun when I am following Jackie as I do not have to worry about directions I just ride and look at all the people around me and wonder how bike crazy they are here. They are in good shape here generally but they smoke a lot which I would say counteracts some of the health benefits of all the exercise they get.

I had made the right and again was in an area that I did not recognize. I peddled on for awhile a longer and saw a windmill that I had not seen before. I got the map out again and really never could find where I was at. Maybe I was off the map? I decided as much as I hated to do it I needed to ask for assisstance as it was now around 1:45. I ask a guy how to get to Oosterpark and he didn't know. That's a bad sign as Oosterpark is pretty big. Another guy gave me a direction to head. Again unsure of things I asked one last guy and he said just head down the street I was on and turn left. He wished me good luck as he didn't seem to have much confidence that I would find it. It was easy though as that street ran into Oosterpark, at which point I knew exactly where I was at. It was a comforting feeling to know where I was with 100 % certainty. I walked inito Jackie's apartment a little after 2:00 in the morning. I apologized to Jackie for getting home so late. It was quite the night out. Most of the night I had know idea where I was at. Quite the deal. I would get lost more times in Amsterdam. Actually I think everytime I went out I was lost unless I was in sight of Oosterpark.

One afternoon I decided to go the Van Gogh museum. This cost a little, but I did enjoy it a lot. He painted a lot of self portraits. I liked a few of his paintings, but not all. He experimented with brush strokes and bright colors. I like his self portrait where he is wearing a wool hat and another painting I think was called potato workers. He exaggerated the hands a lot in the worker painting to emphasize that these folks were very hard workers. This was his first real attempt to make a painting to sell and it wasn't that popular. A lot of his paintings I really didn't like much, but I am very glad I went as it was definitely worth it.

Another day I went to the Rembrandt house. I was largely disappointed in this house. There were really none of his paintings there, just mainly sightseeing of his house. I would rather had spent my money on something else like the Anne Frank House. I didn't go in the house, but did drive by on bike. There was a long line to get in. I have heard people say it is very cool. Maybe next time.

Jackie and I spent one day going to Keukenoff (sp). It was extremely crowded the day we were there. It was the Sunday prior to Queensday, which I guess may be the busiest day of the year. Not sure, but I know it was busy that day. We walked around for about an hour and then both agreed we had enough of these crowds. To top it off as I walked out I was going to use the toilet and saw, where they were charging 0. 30 euros to use it. I decide I would rather my bladder rupture before I paid that. I can understand the charge in some places, but not after you pay 14 euros to get in. Give me a break. I noticed on Queensday itself their were people advertising toilet use for 1 euro. Using the toilet is big business in Europe. You see it in the airports and train stations all the time.

Wow I am on a train as I type this and it is really moving. You can really feel it in the corners. One day we went to Mikelotte's house, a friend of Jackies, who I had met in Florida. She has a great place in the Country. I loved her house and her garden. I tried to convince her to plant some tomatos, but she said she can buy those in the store. She was going to a friends house, but decided to spend the day with Jackie and I before she left. That was really nice of her to do. After sitting at her place and having some tea and a snack we went to this real touristy area called Zaanse Schens or something like that. It had lots of windmills and is very cool. We got to look around in an actual working windmill. The only reason it was working was for the tourist. It was crushing limestone rock into dust for stuff like chalk lines for athletic fields and to make dyes for painting. Some is also used for crushing seeds to make oils etc. Essentially these are how the old mills worked. If they did not have wind they did not work. The guys that built these were quite the craftsman. All the gears and levers etc. were quite impressive. I loved our tour of the windmill. From there we went to a cheese making building. This is some of the best cheese I have ever had. The longer the cheese ages the better the flavor (to a certain extent I presume) and the higher the price. I liked best the garlic herbed cheese. I actually purchased some of that.

From there we were off to the wooden shoe factory. Again we saw lots of Japanese there taking "photo, photo" as they say. I kind of feel like I am making fun of them, but yet it just seems funny to me. I love to watch them when they see that I am going to take a picture of them. It's sort of a weird addiction I have really. They often will strike a pose or do something entertaining. The one guy was having his picture taken at the wooden shoe factory, while he stood in some oversize wooden shoes saw me taking a picture of him and he put his hand up as if to salute me. Who knows they may be actually making fun of me.

This turned out to be an awesome day as the crowds were not too bad, but yet we got to see some pretty touristy stuff. We also had some pancakes for lunch. They are fixed a little differently than in the US as they virtually are flat and do not rise. They were ok, but I think I like the American version a little better. We spent some time at Mikelotte's while she got ready to go to her friends. Mikelotte had some great photos of her travel to Africa. Mikelotte is really into photography, gardening and home remodeling. She is my kind of women.

On the first Saturday of my stay Jackie and I went to Nymeygen, which is where she grew up. It is very near Germany. We ate some great food prepared by her mom and then decided to drive into Germany for the night. Jackies brother had picked us up at the train station and after some persuading she was able to convince her brother to let her take the car for the night. He has a nice Mercedes that Jackie likes to drive fast, although to were, she often did not know. She is a good driver, but seems to be quite self assured of her driving abilities and I reminded her that people that are confident are the ones that have the most accidents.

In Germany we went to a bar and had a drink. I drank a beer and Jackie drank soda as she does not drink too often. We ask the bartender about a bed and breakfast and the bartender pointed us in the direction of one across the street. After some discussion I am not sure what was being said he finally said he had a room. The cost of the room was only 40 euros and included breakfast, which turned out to be about a 10 euro value. Jackie can speak some German, which helped out some. The worker at the bed and breakfast could speak about 4 different languages including Dutch, German, English and his own language, which I think was a type of Russian. His linguistics was pretty amazing.

The next morning we went back to Nymegen and walked around there for awhile. It is a pretty cool town, but since it was a Sunday not a whole lot was going on. We went back to Jackie's mom and hung out there for awhile. Later in the day Jackie's brother dropped us off at the train station and we were on our way back to Amsterdam. We had a fun night. Holland is very flat, but the region of Germany we visited had rolling hills, which I liked a lot as it reminded me a little of Batchtown.

On the last day of my stay in Amsterdam we went to Queensday. The last time I saw 1/10th this must orange was at an Illini pep rally. It was amazing. Essentially, Queensday is a community wide yard sale with the community being Amsterdam in addition to being a big party. As we walked around every one were selling their goods. There were little kids selling toys along with all other ages selling you name it, as everything appeared to be for sale. Actually there were a lot of good and sometimes odd stuff. I could have bought a really nice fleece coat for 2 euros, but it didn't fit and I didn't feel like going through the effort of mailing it thousands of miles back home in hopes that it might fit someone back there There were lots of vinyl records for sale. I would have loved to have bought all the Bruce Springsteen vinyl records that I came across. There again the distance was a little bit of a hinderance.

We walked into the crowds, where the only way I could see ahead was to hold the camera up over my head and take a picture then look at it. After fighting the crowds, we sat down on a wall of the canal and watched all the boats go by. I have never seen such diversity of boats in my life. There were extremely large boats approaching barge size that had difficulty even making it under the bridges. There were extremely small boats. The ages of people on the boats range from 5 to 80. It was amazing. Lots of booze was being consumed yet everything seemed to be orderly. In the US I know this kind of party would have been a big boob flashing spectacle, whereas here I saw none of that. Nudity is not that big a deal over here as you see it when your 2. Just walk into any video store or book store and there it is. Some of the boats had fog machines on them. Most of them had big boom box systems often ran by a portable generator. I loved watching all the diversity. It seemed like once things would slow down a little there would be some kind of other crazy boat come around the corner. I had a hard time getting up and leaving that spot. It was people watching at it's best. Also saw a lot of young kids on the boats and a lot of them did not have life preservers on. I know in America some parents would have been having a coniption fit about that. Jackie said in the past there was a big fight at a Queensday event at the train station and they had to shut down the train station. I saw lots of public urination. But as previously stated there are not many alternatives. They have some porta potties that have no back to them. I saw some of them however over flowing. Yea that is a little disgusting. No doubt about that. In several locations there were big jams of boats. There really was no organization on how and where, the boats traveled. I often wondered where all that alcohol was going once it was processed in the human body as there did not appear to be porta potties on the boats.

Earlier in the day we watched the Royal Family of Holland meeting people in the City. Jackie said every year the Royal Family picks a different city to visit. It was neat watching all the festivities. It kind of reminded me of New Years Day in the US. Didn't see parades however.

5-1-07
Well this was the morning, where my Amsterdam stay ends. It's been a great time, but it is time to keep on keeping on like Joe Dirt says you gotta do. Oh by the way, I convinced Jackie to watch that movie and she said too, that she liked the movie although she didn't cry like I do every time I watch it. I have seen the movie probably 15 times now. I got up around 7:30 and sent a couple couchsurfing emails for stays in Venice and worked on the blog for a few minutes. That took about an hour. I had some cereal for breakfast. Took a shower around 9:00 and got things packed. I was a little sad to leave, but felt like I had gotten a nice feel for the City of Amsterdam thanks to Jackie. I owe her greatly for her hospitality. I started to feel a little rushed as I should have gotten up a little earlier. At about 9:30 I was finally out of the house. Jackie had left around 7:30. She had been ill last week and missed 3 days of work, but was feeling much better now.

The window in the door to her apartment had been broken by Vandals throughout the night. Maybe this is a rough area of Amsterdam after all? She said one time she was forced to give over her purse at knife point. There are a lot rougher areas in the US and maybe there are in Amsterdam as well even though I covered a lot of it and I did not see any. It can't be that bad as there are kids always playing right outside of her apartment.

I made it to Muiderpoort train station around 10:00 and a train was there, but I needed a ticket. The guy in front of me was taking a long time. He finally got out of the way and I tried to navigate the screen in Dutch. I then realized it could be changed to English. Just as I was about to get the ticket spit out the train pulled away. Next train 30 minutes later. Oh well I thought time is on my side. I did think about hoofing it to the train station, but figured by the time I make it there, I could have waited for the next train as it would probably arrive about the same time I did and I would had been extremely hot and sweaty. As I rode the train to the station I thought man I should have just jumped on the train very rarely do you ever get checked especially in Amsterdam. The long distance train rides are a different story however as they always check for tickets on them.

When getting to the train station I went to the area to get my Euro pass validated. Mistake number two today, I should have validated my ticket yesterday as there was a big crowd today. I took a number and 45 minutes later my number was called. I got the ticket validated and made a reservation for a train in Frankfurt, Germany to Milan or Milano as it says in the book. The lady working there claimed my Eurorail book was not accurate as she said the train I planned to ride from Brussel to Milano was not coming up on her computer. A lady at the same place had told me a couple days earlier that the book is still current. I told the lady from a few days earlier their is a disclaimer that stated schedules may change. The lady said no it is right. It seems if you ask 3 people you will get three different answers. Anyway I got my ticket. I didn't realize in the book whenever it says a train must be reserved you also have to pay a fee to reserve the seat. I thought everything was paid for once you got your Eurail pass. This will be some extra expense for sure. She said the cost to get a bed is 20 euros and the cost for a seat is 10 euros. I was a little disappointed to hear it was that much. I shrugged my shoulders and said to give me the seat. She looked at it again and said no it's only 5 euros. I didn't think to ask about the cost of the bed again, but had already taken the ticket. I probably would have taked the bed for 10 euros if I could have gotten it for that. Anyway after an hour in their I was glad to get out and realized time was no longer on my side.

I had only an hour at most in Rotterdam and then I was going to be extremely rushed in Brussel. I decided after some contemplation that I would just get on the next train from Rotterdam to Brussel. I didn't have time to look around in Rotterdam. Really the only thing I wanted to see in Rotterdam was the port, which is the largest in the world. Really was that going to better than what I might see in Brussels? Probably not. I was very comfortable with this decision. I got off the train, found the platform for the next train to Brussels, and went there to wait. Everything went very smoothly and I am gaining confidence on my train riding abilities. Jackie helped me understand the scheduling a lot. Yeah now that I am sounding cocky I will probably end up in Paris trying to get to Milan.

The train to Rotterdam was pretty nice and I thought ok here we go. It's time to experience this great mode of transportation in Europe. I was amazed at how the trains are always on schedule. You can pretty much set your watch to them. I enjoyed talking to a young Netherlands kid on the train. He was drawing a picture of a rocky coast scene. I told him he should put a sailboat in the picture. He said he wasn't planning on doing that. I then saw him erasing part of the rocks in the picture. I ask him if he was making room for the sailboat. He said no. A little later I looked over and saw a boat in the depression in the rocks that he created. I said hey you drew a sailboat and he said yea and the mast is broken off due to some recent fowl weather. Quite the imagination this kid had.

We talked some more and he ask me some questions. He said around here they say Americans or all fat and they eat a lot. I ask him if I looked fat? He said no. Then I told him he was wrong then all Americans are not fat. I told him those are just stereotypes and you need to be careful with those things. I was thinking I should have told him I thought all Dutch wore wooden shoes, but I didn't. We then started talking about our electronic devices. I told him my phone was bigger than his. He said that's not a phone it's a PDA. I told him you can make phone calls with it. He again said it is not a phone. He then pulled out his PDA, which was bigger than mine. The people around me had been listening to the conversation and laughed that he had a bigger PDA. We had a good conversation and I think the people around me were entertained a little as well. I also had conversations with a couple who live close to Nymegan, which is where Jackie is from, as well as a girl from Rome and her Dutch boyfriend who is an engineer. The Dutch couple were extremely nice people and I loved talking to them. There was one kid one the train that had his bags on the seat next to him, while about 30 people around him were standing. If I really wanted that seat I would have said something to the kid as that was absolutely stupid. Stuff like that really makes me mad. I took a picture of him and his bags just so he knew how stupid I thought he was. I asked the Dutch people what nationality he is and they said probably Dutch. Here I was talking to some of the nicest Dutch people in the world, while there was a Dutch kid sitting there being pretty much the rudest you could possibly be. You can't stereotype as you have all kinds in all societies. I talked to a couple from Tennessee at the Brussel train station a little later in the day and they said they were just in Paris and said the French people there were extremely nice to them even though in the US people say the French are not nice. The government is good at propaganda. The Bush people even went as far as to change the name of French Fries to Freedom Fries just because France said we should not go to war in Iraq. The French were right we shouldn't have. The Bush people are smart enough to know that the simple minded people who do not follow politics in the US thinks stuff like that is cool. I told them the French kids I met in the Hostel in Killarney, Ireland were extremely nice as well. Anyway it was a fun trip to Brussels talking to all the people.

In Brussels I got off the train and walked in the direction of the boy peeing (Mannekin Pis). This is an extremely popular thing to see in Brussels so I did. The guy on the train that I had asked about that (who appeared to be of middle eastern decent) said it was ridiculous. Sure there were lots of people there and the restaurants all around it really played it up, but in all actuality it was extremely silly. I also walked to the Grand Place Grote Market (or something like that). Now that is cool. It's my first real European square type area that you see in so many pictures with brick pavement. Very cool. I was impressed. From there I walked to the Place De La Bourse Beursplein (some big building). Then to Place St. Catherine which is a really old church. It was labor day in Europe and they had a big party going on there. I then walked to the Kathedraal Cathedrale. Which you can tell by the name is a big Cathedral. From there to the park called Parc de Bruxelles. As you might guess by the names of these places, Brussels is French speaking. This kind of surprised me. I went back to the train station as I had to go to the south train station in Brussels to get my train to Frankfurt, Germany and I didn't want to be late. I was again glad of the decision I had made to forego Rotterdam in lieu of adequate time in Brussels. Brussels is very cool. I saw lots of chocolate shops as chocolate is big in Belgium.

At the train station I caught the train to the southern station. I had about 45 minutes to spare so I got some food and bought some chocolate. As advertised the chocolate was very good. The brand name was Godiva, which I believe was the brand Jackie had recommend.

As I walked to my platform I saw our train. Now we are talking fast trains. This thing was splattered with bug guts. This was a German train. Once on the train it was quite obvious this train was like no other that I have been on. I was a little confused about the reserved seating and finally just sat down. I figured if someone ran me off, they ran me off. The seats were very comfortable. Once we got going I noticed the ride to be extremely smooth. I got my PDA out and started typing in my journal. It was easy to do and it almost felt like we were not moving. When there were bumps it still stayed smooth. Not once did I experience anything that threw my typing off. Not sure how fast we got up to, but I suspect it to be around 80 mph, which isn't really that fast, but I really do not know the speed either as it may have been faster.

The countryside in Belgium towards Koln, Germany was very awesome. Nice green rolling hills. Occasionally you saw cows grazing in the pastures. Some Churches built in the hill sides. I thought for a second about the German soldiers and Allies fighting all over this land. There are lots of fence lines and obstructions that would require fighting in close proximity of each other. Lots of hiding spots. It was very pretty countryside and I was excited. We have fast trains and beautiful scenery. As I type this we are pulling into Aachen, Germany. It seems kind of funny to me that in the Countries I have traveled so far they speak instructions over the speaker in the native language and then in English. There are women and men kissing all over the place in the train station. It was a 4 day weekend and lots of people visiting from all over. Public displays of affection are more prevalent in Europe than they are in America though some people are shy about it as well. No stereotyping.

We made it into Frankfurt, my first German City, to stop at with the exception of the one Jackie and I went to. Once getting out of the train I saw a big sign that said Deustchland. I walked around looking for the toilet and didn't see any. I found an internet café however, which is something else I had been looking for. The cost was only 1 euro for 30 minutes. Not bad for a train station. I saw a sign that said WC on it and I thought that might be short for water closet. I followed the sign back up to where I had gotten off the train and sure enough it was the toilet. Of course you had to pay to use the toilets and this was the highest I have ever paid at 70 cents. Oh well what are you going to do. I paid it and made darn sure I got my water bottle filled up as well. That way I feel like I am getting a little something extra for my money. That's cheap for bottled water and I get to drain my bladder as well 😊 From there I noticed I only had about 40 minutes before the next train left. I walked back down stairs to use the internet café there. I decided to just go with 15 minutes as I did not want to be hurried getting to the train and the cost was proportional at 50 cents, which was not bad. I checked my emails and was happy to find that the Venice couchsurfing host had agreed to host me. This was great.

From there went back upstairs to grab a bite to eat before my train left. I grabbed a bratwurst as I had heard that german brats are good. It was good and very reasonably priced for being a train station. I also grabbed a coffee for the train ride. I was thinking I would get some typing done on the train until I was absolutely wiped out and the coffee would get me really awake for awhile then when it wore off I would be wiped out. You gotta to have a plane. It is really surprising how well y health has been since I have started traveling. I can tell my blood pressure is a lot lower, as evident by my last checkup, and things like caffeine do not have the same nervous-making affect on me.

I went to the train platform, where we were to board the train and it was about 15 minutes before it's departure. It got to within about 10 minutes before the departure and still no train. You could see the other people starting to look around as if they were concerned. These trains are so prompt on their departure time and for the train not to already be there was obviously surprising. Then over the intercom an anouncement was made that the train was now arriving. I had a reserved seat and asked a worker where the seat was. I ask him if the number 267 was the seat number. He said yes and ask if I was going to Milan and I said yes. He said your in the last car then. I walked back to the last car and got in. The exterior of this train wasn't nearly as nice as the last train. It didn't look like a BMW like the last train more like a volvo. A good train, but just did not have that speedy look and it appeared that this was not it's first time going down the tracks either. The interior too was a little old and their were young Italian kids running all over the place. It appeared they had some sort of sporting event and they appeared to be about 16 years old. They were running all over the aisle. These cars were arranged a little different as there is a hallway like area on one side the train, then small compartment like areas with six seats. The seats did not look like they had tray tables even. I got to my compartment number 267 and there was an italian guy laying on three of the seats. I opened the door and he got right up. I showed him my ticket and he put his hand down on that seat as to invite me to sit there. We spent some time rearranging things and I gathered there was another person in this compartment as well. The italian guy bearly spoke any English. The compartment was already full of luggage. It seemed like a lot of luggage for just two people. Finally I suggested I move to the other 3 seats as the other guy wasn't there, that way he could go back to laying down like he was. The windows had blinds and I cracked one so I could get a little light into the compartment so I could do some typing. The Italian guy said that was fine to do. The Italian kids running up and down that train corridor were making all kinds of racket. I was wondering if anybody was supervising them. I began typing, but it was slow typing as there was nothing to type on. I put my fanny pack on my lap and started the slow typing. I typed for about an hour and was getting tired. It was a full moon out and it was beautiful to watch over the German country side. I decided to try and get some sleep and I layed on the 3 seats on my side of the compartment.

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Photos

Windmills
Let the windmill fun begin!

Queensday
Let the Queensday madness begin!

Tulip City
See all the tulips from the airplane as we make the final approach to Amsterdam International?

Cheesy
It's time to make the cheese!

Tulip Streaks
Have you ever seen tulip fields from 20,000 ft. Now you have!

Coffee Anyone?
Just outside Amsterdam's train station I came across this coffeeshop. This is a place where pot is for purchase. Most people that smoke pot in Amsterdam or not the locals it's the tourist.

Amsterdam Canals
One of the many Amsterdam Canals. There's actually more canals here than in Venice.

Amsterdam Outhouse
It's better than public urination or is this public urination? You be the judge.

Amsterdam Parking Lot
Amsterdam Bike Statistics:
800,000 people ;
1.6 million Bikes ;
20 Euros Value of Each Bike ;
50 Euros Value of Lock on Each Bike
You make your own joke :)

Kid Transportation
They use their bikes for everything and in some very creative ways too.

Amstedam Hardrock
Every real city has to have a Hard Rock! Amsterdam definitely qualifies.

Camera Shy
This is a pic taken at Mikelotte's house who I met in Florida during my travels there. Jackie, who is pictured here, is a little camera shy so I pursuaded her a little to have her photo taken. Mikelotte has great home and I thank her for letting me visit!

Welcome to Holland
This cow was roaming around Amsterdam airport. Who let the cows out? Probably the same guy who was supposed to be watching those dogs!

A Small Part of Amsterdam
The sex shops are a small part of Amsterdam. Mainly tourist I believe utilize these areas along with the coffeeshops.

Work Day is Over
This is a teacher leaving school at the end of the day. See where the young kids ride by the handle bars? The Dutch are bike crazy. As a result most of them are in good shape, but they do smoke a lot of cigs. which is not my thing.

Amsterdam is Sinking
See the result of settlement on this building. You see buildings like this around every corner.

Amsterdam Commuters
See where the young girl is riding on the more distant bike in the picture? You see lots of people riding there even adults. They just grow up like this. The closer bike shows where you sit over the back tire.

Amsterdam at Rush Hour
Rush hour traffic in Amsterdam.

Red Light District Church
This church is in the heart of the Red Light District. It is amazing you see children, kids, adults and the elderly all walking in the Red Light District. It's just another residence for a lot of the folks.

Rembrandt Park Creature
I ran into this guy in Rembrandt Park in Amsterdam. He was friendly and agreed to pose for a picture.

Mikelotte and I
Mikelotte showed Jackie and I around this touristy place near her house. She was very gracious to show us around since she had other plans that day but changed them to accomodate my schedule. Thanks Mikelotte.

Windmill Inner Workings
The folks who constructed the windmills were very skilled craftsmen.

Quackers
These ducks were out enjoying the windmill fun.

Wooden Shoe Fun
It's time to make the wooden shoes!

Japanese Fun
I often take picures of Japanese having pictures taken of theiself as they often will strike a pose or do something funny. In this picture he saluted me. They love their pictures.

Tulip Fun
Jackie so graciously took me to Keukenoff (sp) to see the tulips. They were beautiful. It was extremely busy however and we left after a couple hours.

Tiptoeing Through the Tulips
Not sure what Jackie is doing, but you can see in the background there are a few other flowers other than tulips. I am guessing she is preparing to tiptoe through the tulips?

Most X-Chromosomes
From this point on I am showing the prize winning boats taking part in the Queensday festivities. This boat won the award for most X-chromosomes. There were lots of women on the boat.

Partiers Most Desiring a Bigger Boat.
They tried everything to make their boat bigger even to put a surf board between the two boats.

Comments

[Nancy R]

bikes
My mom used to have a kiddy seat on her handle bars, and a kiddy seat behind the seat on her bike. Very Dr Seuss.