Amsterdam, Nederland

Back to the real "Sin" City. I hopped on a train from Brugge to Amsterdam and made it to my destination, the Heart of Amsterdam Hostel, at about 2:30pm. Upon arriving I met another American from Atlanta, just making it to the hostel as well. Alex is from Sandy Springs, Atlanta, Georgia and goes to Amherst in Massachusetts, so we related right off the bat. Locking our packs in lockers, we bee-lined for the Bulldog Coffee shop and acquired some Silver Haze. A lot of people-watching insued through the streets of the Red Light District as I showed Alex around, since he is an Amsterdam first-timer. The night started before dusk since we had Wok-to-Wok (an amazing Amsterdam noodle box) with Columbian Mushrooms. Lots of foot-touring and listening to the hundreds of languages was bewildering, every language started to blend, become incoherent and finally become one language...everyone in the world can communicate, regardless of their native language! A late night ending around 6am supplied only four hours of sleep...not very bright with another whole day in Amsterdam in front of me. The next morning Alex and I rented some Dutch Bikes and rode about the beautiful Canal-laden city. To Jordaan and Oosterpark, to the Harbor and Haarlem...my God, those bikes were scary, not to mention the trouble of avoiding people, cars, motorbikes, trams and other bikes. The night consisted of partying and Philosphor Stones, touring the red-light district and a wild nightcap at an asian lounge with amazing Thai Bartenders! This morning I bought a plane ticket to Copenhagen (skipping Hamburg) however, it doesn't leave until tomorrow. So, now I am stuck in Amsterdam with my pack in an airport luggage locker for one more night and no place to sleep. Its Saturday, and although I am behind on my itenerary timing, another party night in Amsterdam can't kill me? I hope...

Since hostel-booking has not been as easy as I anticipated, I have gone ahead and booked for Copenhagen (Kobenhavn), Stockholm, Gdansk, (skipping Poznan), Berlin and Praha, CZ then I will be right on schedule.