Hamster's Dam

So it has been a while since I've been able to get internet access. I will just make a couple posts about the past two big events.

Monday (I think) was when we headed out to downtown Amsterdam. The hostel's breakfast isn't really as glorious as I'd expected it, but that's probably because it was free and the hostel I stayed at last year (which had a selection of fruits, breads, cereals, coffees, spreads, etc) was more expensive.

The shuttle takes about 45 minutes and we also made a stop at the uptown hostel. Our first stop in downtown was a small market because I really really needed fruit because I had only been eating bread and snacks - there's hardly anything convenient while traveling and there aren't really 24 hour stores around. I'm pretty sure I paid too much, but hell, I hadn't had fruit in many days. I also haven't biked in about two weeks... Oh man.

 Our next stop was the Anne Frank Huis, which
even in the morning had a really long line to get in.
Took about 45 minutes but we saw this guy:

After the museum we just walked about for a bit, had a cappuccino and snack. Of course, we got massively lost in the city, streets and canals. There was a street preformer who hardly did any tricks. He told some bad jokes then juggled fire with an apple.

Eventually we wound up at the Heineken, and it was quite interesting. I learned how to make beer (well, the general ingredients and process), got to smell some barely, got turned into beer. They had this "ride" where you go in a room and they show a movie of what happens to the beer and they shake the room so it's like you're the beer.

After that, me and Kevin wandered the city and again, got severely lost. But it was fun to wander because it was a whole new world. We ended up going to a vodka museum since it was on the way and it was free - we had quite a lot of time to kill. Not too special, mostly a gift shop. The next stop was a sex museum, which was basically funny naked people statues. And of course we saw the Amsterdam Red Light District with all the ladies.

Then came time to head back to the shuttle and we just hung out in the lobby/bar for a little bit. Then to sleep and off to Hamburg! Who do we meet at our Amsterdam train? FELLOW WACKENERS WHO COME FROM AMERICA! We sat together and talked. We had all of the same stops so we helped each other out.

In Hamburg, I got picked up by some old family friends whom I hadn't seen in over a decade. They live in the same apartment as they did when I used to play there over 13 years ago. In a way, it looks a lot a like, but in some ways quite different. It seems smaller, but that must be because I grew 2 feet. Nickel, the boy I used to play with all the time took us out to the city, the St. Pauli Red Light District and a club with a few of his friends. And I got a phone number there too.... yay? We got back around 4AM and got up at 10 to continue our journey to Wacken

(next post named Wacken!)