Old Nickel Amsterdam

... and cozy without being fancy. The real wood floors have a comfortable creak when you walk on them. The table has the rings of glasses from all the people who came before me. Everyone has left something behind. A mug from Seattle University School of Law, different teas, novels read and shed for the next traveler to pick up. But the owners are selling this boat and the one they live in around the corner on the Amstel so there is no point of ...

... at all the coffee shops (with me holding my breath). It was amazing how many girls actually motioned for me to "walk in the door"... and yes the belly could be seen so they knew i was pregnant. <br>The amount of canals is just amazing and the architecture is just gorgeous.<br>Didn't have enough time to do as much as we wanted so will have to come back. Chris is hoping to convince me to let himgo to the red light district alone... not going to happen!!!<br><br>

... I do not know what arcane winds blew through there, but what I do know is that by the time I came back downstairs, my sparcely populated little bar that played horrific euro-pop had been transformed into a bumpin' little bar that ONLY (yes ONLY) plays Michael Jackson and Michael Jackson remixes. I also came down to discover that Ben was no longer alone and that my previous seat was now occupied by a young Norwegian by the name of Eirik. Now ...

... Full breakfast<br><br>&#8226; In-suite lunch &amp; dinner service<br><br>&#8226; In-suite afternoon tea service<br><br>&#8226; Evening hors d'oeuvres daily<br><br>&#8226; Complimentary espresso &amp; cappuccino<br><br>&#8226; Shoeshine service<br><br> By the time it came to leave home, we were looking forward to our Baltic adventure with very high expectations.<br><br> The Trip Begins: After ...

... square, but ran into Vondelpark, which is a huge park that we essentially circled. One thing I really like about Germany and the Netherlands is that everything is fully green. I feel like I'm in some tropical country compared to Finland, no offence Suomi. It's really nice here seeing everything green. In the museum square there was a liberty festival, and then we went for a tea and then took a walk in the Red Light district again, this time when it was dark. The next day ...

... Bikes everywhere...business men and ladies riding in good clothing, bikes with a trailer on the back to carry bigger things back from the store, bikes with a trailer for children on the front...but our highlight was meeting up with a young couple we met in Tuscany and having an all you can eat Sushi meal sharing some great times. Our impression of Amsterdam...very ethnically diverse, very open, noisy, dirty, fun, permissive, lots of character.....

... every time I say that). Unfortunately for us, the Royal Palace and the other pretty buildings in the Dam Square (hee hee) were obstructed with a ferris wheel and carnival rides. No worries, we had the first coffee of our jetlagged day 1 and kept walking. I heard the Flemish fries are famous here, so I went like a local and got some in a cone, covered with a pound of lard (aka mayonnaise). Mmmmm. Lard. Let's say that will be my last ...

... in Germany. In Duisburg we'll change to the Jan Kiepura train which will take us all the way to Minsk in Belarus, via Poland. In Minsk we'll have a look around for one day and from there we'll continue to Moscow. I hope I might be able to make another entry somewhere in Russia! Greetz, Michel.

... so much so that I put layers on to cover up my skin, sweltering in the process... doh! Anyways, I never actually got to meet Mike - a grand disappointment and false advertising if you ask me! The tour was run by an American guy who had lived in ...

... a cool pub/coffee-shop called "Hill Street Blues." We stayed there for the rest of the night, the boys smoked their pot, I drank beers, and we met some very interesting people. Apparently, Amsterdam is where all the Spanish people go for vacations. I know this because everyone we met in Amsterdam was Spanish. I did hear American English being spoken, as well as British English, but generally, it was Spanish. We stayed there talking to people until about 2 am, then went ...