Off to Paris...

We left London via coach overnight. The coach was okay enough except for one drunk Englishman who was causing trouble throughout the bus. He smelled of cigarettes, alcohol, and b.o. and was slurring and calling passangers names. By the end of the ride the coach smelled a bit and it was hard to sleep. On top of that we arrived too early to check in to our hostel.

On the ferry from Dover to Calais, France, I met Lucy from L.A. and Laura from Scotland. Laura was quite drunk and was spattering on about George Bush and Tony Blair and how it was our (Lucy, Amar, and me) fault that the world's going to hell in a hand-basket. It was difficult to get a word in because she was spattering at a mile a minute, staring at the deck, and never stopping to breathe.

Getting back to Amsterdam, we arrived to early to check in, so we left our bags and went walking around for a bit. We were so tired that we really were walking around aimlessly. We stopped for awhile at a Best Western and crashed on the couches in the lobby. Eventually we worked up enough energy to continue on. We ended up in Dam Square and people-watched for awhile.

We finally went back to the hostel and found out that our room was still not ready. So we decided to find a laundromat and do some laundry. Amsterdam was looking totally unappealing at this point. Firstly, we arrived at 6:00 in the morning and had to walk to the Red Light District: not the most pleasant of walks.

After laundry and a quick nap (we finally got into our rooms) we were charged up enough to go explore. We explored for several hours. Amar was tired so he went back to the room. I ended up in an Irish pub run by Moroccans. I was talking to a Norweigian about the Scotland v. Norway football match. This was a big night for the U.K. and Ireland. All four countries in the U.K. and Ireland were all playing that night. I ended up staying to watch the Irish get disappointed 2-0 by the French.

The next day and today we wandered some more. We've definitely walked several tens of kilometers over the last week. Our feet are pretty blistered. Yesterday, we started the day at Anne Frank's Huis (House). It was a pretty down-beat way to start the day, but I'm glad I went.

Next we walked through Vondel Park and hit three more museums: Van Gogh, Rijks and Heineken. The Heineken museum was pretty dumb, but we got three beirs with our ticket so it wasn't too bad!

I've got a minute left on the internet so I'm going to wrap up here. I promise to write more later.