Amsterdam

Thursday afternoon, Justin, Jim (Chicago), Grace (Chicago), Albert(Missouri), Jen (Missouri), and I left for Amsterdam. There was a wreck ahead of us (train derailment) and it took over four and a half hours to complete what is normally a two and a half hour journey. Luckily, we had cards and hence Spades to pass the time. We met Adam (Poland), Chris (STL), and Pat at our hostel.

Thursday night we went into a couple different bar districts and did some bar hopping. We ate at a cheap Italian restaurant. We frequented a number of 'unique' establishments that night. Beers were pretty expensive in the Dutch capitol: 4 euro for a half liter of Heinekin. In Maastricht, it is 3 at most.

Friday we did all of the tourist stuff: Reijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, walked around the Red Light District (again), Erotic Museum, Dam Square ... that night we ate at an Irish pub and watched the World Cup drawing. The United States got a pretty tough draw: Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana. The Czechs are ranked 3rd in the world and the Italians are top 10.

Later on, about half of the people were sick (and broke) and ended up going back to the hostel. 5 of us went back to the district for some late night fun.

Sunday was kind of a zoo as well. We checked out at 10 and walked to the Anne Frank House - which had a two block line outside. Then, we jumped on a train to Schipol airport so that J-Dubra and I could change our plane tickets ... we waited in line an hour and a half before giving up. Then, we went to Utrecht to see a castle that Pat's Grandmother's family has a claim to, but there was a special event going on and it was too foggy to see even from a kilometer away. And of course, the wreck from Thursday wasn't cleared up yet. We ended up having to take a bus from Denborsch to Eindhoven. From Utrecht, which is normally two hours, it took a solid 3 and a half. Needless to say, not having to deal with public transit will be a definite bonus upon my return to the states.