Day 2

Well then. Apologies for any odd spellings or characters, I am using a freaky German keyboard.

So, day 2 in Amsterdam was pretty loaded. Granola and toast for Breakfast, showered and checked out, stored my suitcase in their lock-room and headed out. First stop: the Van Gogh museum. Very cool, and ate up like 3 hours. Good pieces, good displays, interesting anecdotes and themes noted throughout, as well as contemporary pieces for comparison and such.

Next, to the Heineken Experience! Seriously, if you,re in Amsterdam, do this. Good stuff at the original Heineken brewery, where they now do small batches for the tours )main brewery relocated). History and awards, take all the photos and video you want. Through the brewing room where you get to taste Wort )sweet, kinda gross, then past the horses and on to the "Brew You" video, which takes you through the whole beer brewing process on a shaking floor with water spray, heat lamps and bubbles to make it immersive. Very fun. After the video, a small beer is served by a brief guide who talks about various things like why they pour with a big head (keeps air out). Then a couch-lined room showing commercials and video from around the world and on to more information on the process, marketing and brand itself. Ends at a bar, where you get another free beer (our guide didn,t collect our tokens the first time, so we got 2).

Walked back for my suitcase, went to Centraal Station and put it in a locker, then walked to the Dam to see it, the royal palace and the national memorial. Then over to the Anne Frank house, which was neat and interesting but kind of underwhelming - not sure what I expected, but there you go. Still worth doing. Meandered back to the station, caught my train to Amstel Station to catch my bus (had some fries with mayo on the way).

Crazy guy at the bus station asked for change, I,d seen him in the train terminal talking loudly to himself (NOT an earpiece, I checked). He asked if I spoke English, and explained his dislike for all the "tourists" he had already asked who didn,t' then asked for change to call relatives since he lost all his Euros. I told him I had no change left, and he seemed fine with it. Then he looked in the general direction of a guy on a bench and seemed to have half of a conversation with . . . who can say. He later entered the bus station and ranted at a payphone, something about New York. Good times!

Bus. Oh cripes, what a bad idea. I sat next to a guy with smelly feet, but we got on well. I frankly don't smell like fresh cookies myself, so whatever. We chatted a bit about various laments, he was heading on to Poland from Berlin. My tailbone hurt for some reason so I couldnät recline comfortably, and couldn't sleep easily bolt upright, so basically I tried to doze in between long bouts of staring at darkness. Checked passports around midnight when we hit Germany, stopped for food and restroom around 2am, arrived in berlin a bit after 6am. I made my way to the hostel, which was incredibly easy from the bus depot, so that was a saving grace of that debacle. But I can't check in until 2pm - it#s 8:35am wight now. I'm going to rest up a bit, then I figure I might as well walk to the TV tower and see what's up. I wish I could get a shower first, though. Later, hoping to meet up with Rachel, sightseeing tomorrow starting with a walking tour that gets rave reviews, hook up with Olaf and go from there. I fly out Sunday for Dublin at long last (so ready).

Lesson learned: Traveling alone basically sucks. No one to talk to, lots of random seat partners, can't use the restroom because you can't leave your bag, and you watch all the myriad tourists with their friends or relations for company and get hella jealouis and lonely (jealonly?).

That said, I feel kind of like a badass for pulling this off so far. At this point, if I do nothing but sit in a hostel room until Sunday I can be proud that I did what I done.