Hard to Leave Amsterdam!

I seem to be having trouble leaving this place. There are a couple things I still want to do...the dykes sound interesting, and I think I'll check out the Marijuana Museum, perhaps followed by a Jazz Cruise. I want to see Roterdam as well, I just found out they have the largest port in the world. That should be cool!!

Bike Ride

Earlier on today I went for a nice bike ride through a park that had lots of local people and was much less touristy than other parts of Amsterdam. It was awesome! I'm actually debating a lot about whether or not to keep my bike or sell it to the guy at the hostel. The offer is only 20 euro, but that's better than leaving it behind and getting nothing for it. Plus he is a cool Auzzie that said he plans on coming to Canada for a year when his European visa expires. Interesting because of the number of Canadians I know that are going or have been to Australia for a year or so. Cool little deal our countries have. I like Auzzie's, I feel like they're cousins to Canadians. I've met quite a few already and by the sounds of it I am going to meet much more because they're really into traveling.

Back to the bike, I really want to bring it with me to my next destination but I'm not sure if it's worth the cost and inconvenience of bringing it on the train versus simply renting bikes along the way. I'm going to go to the train station and ask more questions about bringing bikes to help me with the decision. I took some pictures during the bike ride this morning. Funny thing about that. I just had another lesson about the importance of packing efficiently. This morning I saw the cable to connect my camera to the computer and just threw it in my bag. Now I'm having trouble finding it...next time I'll put it in a better compartment in my bag. Pictures to come when I find the cable :-)

I decided to do something different today - wake up early! I was awake and downstairs with my bag all packed up by 9:30 this morning. I don't know for sure if I'm leaving today or not, but I'm ready to check out just in case. It feels good being awake so early, I have the whole day ahead. Now, to figure out what next...

Walking Tour & Pub Crawl

At the second-highest level of this building (above), you can see a hook. A pully can be attached to this for moving big pieces of furniture upstairs because the stairs are so narrow in old Dutch houses. You can also see four black staples that are actually helping to keep the building in tact. I thought this was pretty cool!

I was walking around a little bit aimlessly yesterday and ended up catching the beginning of a free walking tour. It was a lot of fun and I learned some interesting things. I particularly liked learning about some of the engineering that goes into the houses. I'd like to learn more about the water system used for keeping it dry, something that's very important considering how much of the city is below sea level - including their international airport! If you're interested more in red-light district kind of things, I also learned that the oldest prostitute in Amsterdam is 75. Oookay.

Dutch Christmas delicacies through my eyes!















Gotta like the real working sundial!

Merry Christmas!

Playing Games

This is perfect. I bet if I was back home I would be playing games with the family this Christmas eve. Since I can't be there, I'm happy to say I have introduced my hostel family to Dice. As many of you know, this is the 6-die game that was big on Snake Island a few years back. Now back to the games...

Made it to Amsterdam!

Happy Christmas eve! I am glad to say I successfully caught the overnight train last night from Copenhagen to Amsterdam - I actually almost missed it because of the chaos of moving out of my dorm. Rather than pack over the past few days, I was of course enjoying the remaining time with my friends I've met in Copenhagen. This was a strange goodbye because these were not friends who can be easily visited by car; they live all over the world and in reality there are many who I will probably never see again. On a more happy note, I am hoping that my travels will reunite me with many of these friends in their hometowns in Europe. That should be a great experience and a lot of fun!

I went for a walk downtown today with someone I met in the hostel. So far I like what I see - I think I am going to really enjoy it in Amsterdam! I am in my hostel now and have met some cool people to spend Christmas eve with. A group from Finland as well as people from other nationalities. One of the first questions I got asked here, after "where are you from," was "what are you doing for Christmas eve dinner tonight?" Exactly what I wanted to hear! I am going to go hang out with them now - don't want to be the guy on the computer for too long. haha. I took some pictures today that I'll post on here a little later.

Jake

Hello and Welcome

Good Day! For those of you who don't know, I have been living in Copenhagen for the past 4 months. I didn't feel the need for a blog, but now that I'm reflecting on all the good times I've had over the past four months, a blog suddenly seems like a good idea. I decided it's not too late to start one, because while this is the end of my Copenhagen adventure, it is the beginning of my experience as a backpacker. Yes, I have purchased a Eurail Pass and will be traveling Europe over the next two months. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures along the way. Jake :-)