Amsterdam

Coolest guys we could find in Dresden

Lost: Another towel (fortunately I have one of those large, middle-eastern-style scarves though)

Found: Another four kilos (yep, I’m a chubby-chub)

Anyway, what I meant to say (before my bum trip) was that after leaving Berlin, Michael and I rocked around Dresden for a while. We didn’t know where the good places to go out were, so we drank cheap beer on the streets before following the coolest looking people we could find, going to whatever venue they went to. This proved to be very effective.

We went from there to Bonn, which, in comparison to the awesome east of Germany, is rich and dull. Everyone has money and would like everyone else to know that.

And from Bonn, Michael went home to Sydney and I trecked on, alone once more, to Amsterdam.

One of my lovely photos of Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a city of bridges (there are over a thousand) and bikes (there are over a million billion). While it doesn’t boast spectacular panoramic views, it settles instead for everywhere being really interesting. In fact, the most fun thing to do there is just wander round and get lost. I think my record was about six hours during which I had no idea where I was.

I also had a good time with Pat Schneider’s Berkely mate, Emilie, hanging out at a sort of bohemian cafe/pub in one of the richer suburbs of Amsterdam. When she found out I was planning on

View from Emilie and my cafe (and from everywhere else in Amsterdam)

skipping dinner for financial reasons, she determined to take me out somewhere, right up to the point when she realised her wallet had just been nicked. She called her sister, who lived nearby, to borrow some money, but her sister had just had her wallet nicked as well. I bought Emilie dinner and gave her fifty euros to get by on. Not sure if I got done there. Probably should have said my wallet had just got nicked.

 

That's all for now.

Best,

Michael