Amsterdam, Netherlands

We got up early this morning in Brussels, packed our bags and headed down to the town square for a Belgian Waffle breakfast. I ordered mine with ice cream and chocolate sauce (apparently not as unusual as it sounds). It was delicious.

We then made our way to the Brussels subway to get back to the Midi Station in order to catch a train to Amsterdam. We met some people from Australia on the way, heading to Paris, and struggled along with them to find the train station in the city center, which was largely unmarked and underground.

We are staying in Amsterdam just for one night. We just a sub-par dinner at a little restaurant near one of the many canals that make up the city. Then we headed to an Internet-cafe to check back into the real world for a few minutes (we no longer have the luxury of Adrien's wireless apartment).

Tomorrow morning we are booked on an 8 am train to the border between Germany and Switzerland, but we were unable to book a second train to Geneva, as of yet. Once we get to the border (Basel, Germany) we should be able to get another train and make our way to Geneva to meet up with Brian's friend, Jeremy, who has been living in Geneva for a couple of months and is studying advanced physics at a particle accelerator.

With all of its canals and historic buildings, Amsterdam has the potential to be a beautiful city, populated by a remarkable number of bicyclers; however, the excessively liberal Netherlands laws regarding narcotics and prostitution attract a notably unattractive clientel. All in all, Amsterdam is a beautiful place to visit, but not to make a home.

Tomorrow will be our longest day of train traveling. Once in Geneva, we will have two fulls days (17th and 18th) before I head for London on the 19th for my return flight on the 20th, and Brian heads for Italy on the 20th.


View Larger Map