Amster-DAMN and the land of (mannequin) Pis.

Sorry for the delay in updates kids. My most recent hostel has SUPER crappy Internet and even checking my Facebook has been a challenge.

So Amsterdam! Land of decriminalized marijuana and hookers! In all reality I was kind of disappointed in it. I thought it would be prettier once you got away from the main tourist hub, but not so much. Just...confusing. The morning my train came in I met another Canadian at the hostel who was also heading my way, so we decided to adventure together. It was nice having company to navigate the rail system for the first time. Once we got to Amsterdam proper, we exchanged info so we could meet up for drinks or something before we went out seperate ways again. From that point on it was myself and the ever lovely Sophia, who had just come in from Heidlburg. We caught our shuttle to our hostel which was about 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam in a beach town called Noordwijk. Beautiful little place in behind all the tulip fields and across the street from the North Sea.

Sophia and I's original plan was to go to the Keukenhof, the worlds largest spring flower garden. What ended up happening is we rented bikes and rode 35km in a marked loop behind the tulip fields, through a few beach towns, up through a national park of desolate shrubs and dunes and ending at the beach by our hostel. While EXHAUSTING, it was nice to get out of the city and explore a bit. All of the flowers were in full bloom, with the hyacinth fields aggressively perfuming the air almost as strongly as the rows of colour along the ground.

Yes, I did dip my toes in the North Sea. And yes, it was BLOODY FREEZING. But kind of nice after biking for 8 hours. Kind of wish I had stuck my butt in instead.
 Sophia and I DEVOURED the Appel pannekoeken (a thin crepe like pancake with apple slices cooked in drizzled with syrup and icing suger) we ordered at a beach side stand. I think we scared te nice Bangeladeshi lady :/

And then it was Brussels!

Where I had the most delicious fish and chips of my life. Period.

It's this little place called Bia Mara were fish and chips is all they do.  But not just English bitter ale and haddock. No. I had curried salmon with a spicy tarragon tarter sauce with balsemic and white truffle tossed chips. For 10 euro. (For you playing along at home, that's pretty cheap for restaurant food). I would have gone there everyday if I could and I wasn't trying to diversify my palette.

The third night I was there I ended up going to a bar called delirium with 4 American guys (California, Washington, North Carolina and New York), a Brit from Gurnsey and 2 girls from Calgary. It was a pretty wild and crazy time. We made fun of each others accents and the Americans inability to hold their liquor. There were also shots of absinthe involved. La vie boheme!

Thanks god I was just riding a train to Paris the next day because I'll admit I was a little worse for wear. But it's nights like that that make me enjoy traveling alone and staying at hostels. You will ALWAYS end up meeting someone if you just step that liiiittle bit out of your comfort zone and say hi to a complete stranger.

Things I've learned:
- Amsterdam in over-rated if you are not a pot head
- I need to learn the name of that marzipan filled cookie I kept eating. Freaking delish.
- I also need to  find out where to get the curry ketchup the Dutch put on things. Way tastier than normal ketchup and lighter than mayonnaise
- not all hostels keep cooking basics (like salt, pepper and oil) in the kitchen. This is inconvenient.
- I WANT to say I'm all chocolated out, but I'm totally not. If anything I crave it more. All the time.
- beer however is another story. I think I'm ready to switch to wine now.