Amsterdamed

So, lets see. It took me over 10 hours to get from Munich to Amsterdam when it should have taken 7 hours. I took a wrong train for a little ride. I got in Amsterdam around 9 and took me about an hour to find my hostel. I was to go down the Damrak, take a left on the Damstreet at the Damsquare. Then I was to take a left on some street I can't spell at the moment, but I just couldn't find the damn place. Oh, and it was raining that night too. Anyways, I finallyt did find the place and put everything away and went to 'the smallest pub in town' and proceeded to get drunk off some beer there. The food here is rediculously expensive and not worth it. There is not national dish that I know of here. Tons of shoe stores here, no idea why. I'm trying to find a hat that Alain Delon wore in Le Samourai. The next day I got up around noon. I just walked around pretty much, got used to the tram system. At night I went to a jazz club that had a live jazz band, it was really cool. I then proceeded to a pub that played rock/metal (they only played metal when I was there), no live band, but I had a few good beers and took off to a Blues club. They had a live band playing some blues covers, really cool. The next day (today) I got up at 10am and proceeded to the Heineken Experience. Man, it was a bummer. It was pretty lame. 10 euros and all i got was a .25L glass to show for it. I did enjoy some of the commercials they showed. I then went to the van gogh museum and proceeded to blow my mind with good art work. I also went to a pub that served 250 beers that were only from the Netherlands. I never knew there were so many beers in this country, a lot of them have been very good. Oh yeah, I also stopped by a beer store that only sold bottled beers, bought three beers. They only had two beers that represented USA that I saw there: Sierra Nevada and tons of different varieties from Anchor Steam. Go California! Tonight I am going to the Absinthe bar. Maybe I'll develope Absinthism, at least that's what the American government believes. Oh yeah, and yes, I have been taking advantage of Amsterdams "tolerance". Still no USB ports found.

Once more in Munich

Have some time to kill before bed. Going to sleep early today, taking off for Amsterdam tomorrow and the train takes about 7 hours. All I did today was check out the Monastary at Andechs. The whole trip took about 7 hours. I arrived at the town and went directly to the visitors information booth thinking that there was a bus that would take you to the place. I find out that there are no buses and it's a good 4 mile hike to get to the place. An hour and a half later I get to the place and it was everything I thought it would be, great beer and the food was very good. The potatoes they gave me were a little odd, they looked like scalloped potatoes, but were a little colder than room temperature and it tasted like someone pour vinegar all over them. The church itself was awesome, got some great pictures, but unfortunately, I still can't post any yet, there is no USB port on these computers.

The way of the Bavarian

hello, lots has happened since last post. Met a bunch of people from all over the world. I went to the Nyphenberg Palace on Friday, it was really windy that day. That night I went to an Irish bar and had two litres of Guinness (four glasses). The next day I went to Friesing to see the Weihenstephan brewery. Lucky me, it was closed(not really), so I wandered around town and took off. I came back to my hostel, brought four bottles (2 litres) of beer. The best way to make friends around here is to offer free beer, as I have found out. Went to a bar two doors down with two Australian women, one American guy, and one German\Irish guy. On sunday I went to an Art Gallery with Susu, an Australian girl and Le, a Korean who shared a room with me. Came back and rested at the Hostel, then went to the bar at the Hostel and talked with Cathrine, the other Australian who went with us to the bar two doors down and found out someone stole her luggage, which was worth over 4,000 australian dollars because she was planning on staying in Europe for 2 years. Today, I went back to Friesing in hopes to find the Wiehenstephan open. It was open, but their tour was not available and their visitor center wasn't either. I did have a few of their beers at a local pub in town, so it wasn't a compelete waste. Got back in Munich and took a walking beer tour around town and saw how Paulaner brewed its beer and had 1.5 litres of beer at Hof Brauhaus. The Hof Brauhaus is famous for being the first meeting place for the Nazi party and was the first brew hall allowed to sell its beer to the public by the king.
Tomorrow I will be going to Andechs brewery which I have been assured will be open. I have been instructed by my brewhall guide what to buy for food and beer and he swears it will last me the day. we will see. next time I write I will be in Amsterdam. Until then.

Just checking in

Have a few minutes so I thought I would report in. Been having fun in Munich, first night I got here I got drunk off their excellent beer. Their beer here has no preservatives, so you dont get hangovers in the morning. I checked out the Deutsche Museum, spent over 3 hours there looking at the various german achievements. This internet cafe has no usb ports, so no pictures this time. A few little quirks about Germans: Their keyboards are weird, they switched the z and y. The first floor is actually the second. When using escalators stay on the right side if you are not walking up. I will try to get some pictures up sometime tomorrow if I can. I will be either going to Andechs or Weihenstephan tomorrow. Andeches is a monastary on a hill that brews its own beer. Anyways, more later.

Preperations and Plans

This will be the way I will communitcate with the outside world. This will be much easier than updating my website, I can upload pictures to this place and they automatically resize the pictures. Plus, people can comment on the my posts.
Preparations are pretty much done. I just need to find small versions of deoderant, shampoo, and get some extra contact lenses.

I really haven't planned my trip too much so far. It goes without saying that I will be going to all the major museums in all the cities I go to. I also want to visit a few jazz clubs in a few of the cities, check out some old churches, and eat some good local food. On top of those things I have planned for in Munich is to see Opeth play on the 16th and check out the Weihenstephan brewery. If you don't know, the Weihenstephan brewery is the worlds oldest brewery, started in 1040. Yes, that's right, it is almost 1000 years old. I also was planning to go to the BMW museum, but according to one of my guides, it's closed for renovation until 2007.

There is a pub in Amsterdam I'm very interested in going to and I have heard the Heineken brewerey tour is pretty cool.

Brussels is probably the lease planned city. Many people say it's a boring city, I hope to entertain myself by indulging in the varieties of beer they have. If I find it hard to keep myself entertained in the city, I might move on earlier than planned to Italy and stay in Prague longer.

There are tons of places to go to in Florence. I was looking at a travel book and it looks like there is something to see on every corner. I'm going to see if there is some sort of wine tour I can take around the Tuscany area.

In Prague I plan on doing a little day trip to Plzn where Pilsner Urquell, the original lager, is brewed.

So, that's about it. Any suggestions for places to check out are appreciated.