victory lap

last day of the trip.. kinda shitty to be honest. i could go longer, but i am excited to get back home and do home stuff again.. mainly just have some sort of structure to my life after winging it for a month.

we took a victory lap around amsterdam today on our extremely stylish rented bikes. it was excellent, a very pleasant way to enjoy the sun and see more sites.

i just had some thai food with nate and els that was pretty good.

i will write more when i get home on some funny stories, thoughts and just, well... stuff. perhaps some sort of retrospective look at things?

i will also post pictures as soon as i get home highlighting some of the things i have talked about here.

see you back across the pond here in a few days.

amsterdam

wow, this place is something else. words cant really describe it.

if the 600,000 bikes that you see in the city as you walk out of the train station didnt tell you that this place is something different, then certainly enough the lady knocking on the window in the red light district trying to lure you in for some of her "services" did. the "coffeeshops," which ironically enough may not even have coffee at all are very interesting. we went to one where the entire place was a giant pilllow. there were no chairs for the sitting but rather just pillows, bean bags, cushions, etc. quite nice really... but that gives you an idea for the sort of "difference" i am talking about.

and speaking of red lights, at first walk through the red light district after meeting up with elsbeth, i felt like a little schoolboy. it was almost ridiculous. it is 2 in the afternoon, a bit chilly and overcast and we are having a nice stroll near one of the canals to find a kebab. my head is on a swivel you know, we have only been here for a few minutes so the curiosity at this point is killing me. i am still not in the amsterdam mindset, not used to all the amsterdamish qualities-- the sex, drugs and hustle. over my left shoulder i peer and this half naked "woman" is staring me down. i mean i cant help but laugh... but i felt like a little kid laughing after seeing his first boob or something. nate and els both made it a point to tell me i was acting childish. anyway, i believe it was at that point i felt like i was in amsterdam.

and i will say the kebab to follow was quite tasty. amsterdam, after all, may have a contender in the top 5 kebab list.

and finally, nate is quite decongested at the moment. he came down with a cold venice'ish. so he is battling through it now. we went to the pharmacy this morning in hopes of getting him some decongestant. however, in holland, pseudophedrine (that could be a completely made up name for the drug that is the common decongestant-- but it sounded quite technical to me) is completely illegal, 100%. how in the hell do you make pseudophedrine illegal when people are smoking pot all over free of any care? i got a kick out of that.

all else is well. i was telling my parents that this is the first backpacking trip i have been on where the thought of staying on the road really doesnt make me cringe. usually at this point, my bed and some clean clothes sounds nice. and while these things do sound fantastic, i could handle some more hostels i think.

brugge

brugge was excellent, thats all that needs to be said. i seriously didnt expect it, but definetely one of the neatest places on the entire trip. i enjoyed how calm it was, how small it was (not incredibly small.. we still managed to get lost-- so large enough to keep you busy) and of course the belgian fries. the cafes were excellent and the beer incredible. belgian beers in general are just phenomenal. i read that a lot of the brewing traditions and techniques started centuries ago by monks who had their own brewery type places. beer wasnt such a social drink, but more a holy thing.. needless to say, some of the roots were established here-- so theres some history.

the streets are all cobble stoned, and there are canals that run around the perimeter of the city that really are pretty cool. the building are all pretty old so a lot of character is maintained which always good to see in a city. the town itself has population of about 120,000 but come tourist season in the summer this is the most frequently visited city in belgium and the temporary population jumps to an incredible 2 million. seems outrageous given what we have seen--- that very fact makes travelling this time of year quite nice.

we are off to antwerp today and will be there for another day before ending the entire trip in amsterdam. seems outrageous that the time has gone by that quickly. but hey... its been a good one

gondolas and mussels

for starters, the keyboards in belgium are totally different than the US of A, so pardon the ,misspeling qnd odd punctuation. i feel like blake trying to type now, one finger tapping away.. haha

the train ride to venice i have to sqy was incredibly beautiful-- rolling hills, green grass, neat architecture... the first pleasing viez of italiqn countryside i have seen yet-- this could be partuially due to the fact i a, not looking in the right places. but it was really beautiful.

and speaking of trains-- the same train i was on to venice from florence crashed later in the day-- the sa,e day i was travelling right near bologna. two trains collided... people dead, many hurt. i really have to thank my lucky stars on that one. ill take a broken camera over a broken train any day.

venice itself was pretty sweet but def quick. the concept of the water city is mind boggling really, so,ething i hqve never seen or could really imagine. everything is by water taxi, ferry or if you are feelking up to paying the 40 euros-- gondola. which by the way seems incredibly expensive for cramped views of the water (which smells like crap by the way). perhaps given the proper situation it would be nice-- aka money.

the price of a pint in venice nearly stopped me deqd in my tracks: upon arrival, we sat in an outdoor cqfe and had a pint. 7 euros later for that pint-- heineken mind you, i al,ost choked getting the bill. but all in a good time

the kebabs in venice were so-so.. not a top 5 contender; but some good flavor.

i woke up super early for the flight to brussels-- 3:23 am to be exact. i couldnt sleep which was really odd. we finally hopped on the flight agfter being searched by the italian federales to an incredibly ludicrous degree. and in the end, it was my combo lock that tipped them off... but just doing their job i suppose.

brussels really is neat. i mean come on-- a country known for its waffles, beer; chocolate and mussels cant be too bad. needless to say in the hours wer have been here you can scratch off th beer, choc and waffles... sqving mussels for antwerp. the city itself is a healthy combo of a modern cosmo city and an old historical town. really neat to be honest... such a nice change from ancient rome and italy. really lovely.

tonight we are planning to check out the nightlife it being a saturday evening and all. tomorrow we are off to brugge.

i am going to go see the statue of the kid pissing now... thats the last site to take in.

camera 3

some will laugh, some will even cry.. camera 3 has slightly gone down. its unbelievable to me that i have gone through 3 cameras in about 2 years. dont know how the lovely little canon went down, but somehow the LCD doesnt work. go figure.

i have to admit, amidst that news... day 3.5 in florence wasnt too cool. i slept about 17 of the 24 hours in the day and didnt talk a whole lot.

today was better, thanks to the support of a few loved ones... mom... dad..... thank you. today i went to pisa, saw the old leaning tower... that was about the only thing pisa has to offer. i took pictures with my half functioning camera, i hope they turn out. the tower was neat, i have to say-- but pisa itself was like an old detroit ghetto. it was run down, seemed nothing was open-- jsut old store fronts mourning for some new customers.

tomorrow early morning i am going to venice. i spend roughly 23 hours there and then am off to belgium with some friends i have met along the way. i look forward to eating mussels in brussels, no doubt about it. belgium will be pretty sweet i think.. i am kind of looking forward to having a look at places like brugge, outside of the city. nothing against the cities i have come to love, but some good country side will be a nice break from all the hustle and bustle.

other that that, nothing too new to report. i have been enjoying the italian beer peroni.. nothing too intense, quite a nice beer to drink. i think you can get it in the states, but i am not sure.

i started a new book maybe a week ago--- "a sunburned country" by bill bryson. basically, it is a comprehensive look at australia and everything cultural to do with the place. obviously i am enjoying it due to my infatuation with aussies. thanks to laura and jeff for providing a copy of the book during my travels..

florence

life on the road just jumped up a spot here in florence. given the numbers of our group right now, we had the opportunity to pop for a hotel room. im talking a shower here folks, a private shower. after 2 and some odd weeks of sleeping with 12 other people in the same room, a single communal bathroom and shower for all... well you get the point. this little one star we are staying in feels like the flipping palmer house in chicago.

still chugging along though. i think the decision has been made to stay in florence for three days until the 6 january and then climb up to venice to fly out on 8 for belgium.

just a funny story for you, i cannot guarantee the appropriatness of this given the breadth of audience here. for dinner last night we went to get a kebab (surprise) and while eating this man with his giant dogg came in. and as a side note, something i notice here in europe is that very rarely do the owners of these dogs get their pets fixed. well, fido in the kebab shop certainly hadnt had the snip snap work yet. this dog had the biggest balls i have ever seen on 4 legged creature. we all noticed it as we were swallowing our kebabs and couldnt help but really give a good laugh, a loud obnoxious one that perhaps everyone heard... and well it continued, the jokes, the laughing, etc etc. the real kicker comes when we were standing outside, finishing up and fido and his owner walk out after finishing. the guy stands in the middle of our 6 person crowd and says to all of us, his hands out shaking around "yes... ahhh, i know my dogga hasa biga ballsa" and just scurried off. we were all now about ready to spit those kebabs back up, he had totally understood our crude reference. so much for the language barrier... ohhh man, it was incredibly funny.

so now that i have probably grossed you all out, and p[erhaps made you spit up your kebab, im taking off. florence sends its regards to all.

moto!

so, amidst the joy of our "bonus" day in rome.. nate and i decided to give our insurance policy a real run for its money. it was as if nearly losing hearing in both ears from the fire bombs the previous night in the piazza wasnt enough of a scare for mr insurance policy (as a side note, today i noticed not one, but two burn marks on my fleece jacket-- many thanks to all those from the nye celebrations). im sure you are thinking sky diving, maybe bungee jumping... perhaps something to do with broken bones. ahhh, but no. MOTOS! we rented mopeds, motos, vespas, motor scooters-- whatever the hell you want to call them.. and it was great. we putsed around every part of rome imagineable, managed to get lost in some area that very closely resembled slovakia and saw a lot of other stuff. the traffic circles and driving made me cringe many a time, but shit it was fun. nate nearly took the bumper off a car once, that was pretty funny. many times we were headed the wrong way on a one way street, but all in all we made it back. an incredibly wise 25 euro investment.

other than that, life on the road is cool. the clean socks are great. we leave for florence tomorrow and will be meeting up with our buddies there that left earlier today. i dont know how long we are going to stay, we just need to somehow end up in venice by 8 january.

i think my kebab count is up to about 55 so far. today i decided i ate my favorite one. given my desire to eat these turkish delights in outlandish quantities, i have decided i will open up a kebab stand in east lansing. ok not at all really.

buon anno!

new years in rome was excellent. we went from piazza to piazza armed with grocery bags of beer. people were lighting fireworks, nearly losing hearing in both ears. let me just say that italians have a strong penchant for explosives on new years. prior to going out, i seriously thought we were in a war zone. im not talking your little happy good times sparklers or an occasional booming whiz bang something or the other, these are some serious explosives. undoubtedly illegal in the US of A. it was awesome. i have never seen such a celebration in the streets though... people all over, all over. piazza del popolo is where we ended up, northern part of the city. there was music, some sort of show going on that invovled something like peter pan... and just shit tons of peole. and firecrackers. i mean firebombs. lots of fun.

other than that, rome is definetely the favorite place so far. it is just awesome. so much to see and do, the food is excellent and the hostel we are staying in is really great. there are all kinds of people to meet and such which is fun.

probably the coolest thing was actually seeing the pope this morning at the vatican. he was giving the new year address and we stood in the san pietro listening and watching. REALLY crazy. that made up for the vatican museum and everything else in vatican city being closed.. including the sistene chapel (sp?). big bummer, but the pope was pretty crazy.

all along i thought we were leaving for florence tomorrow but it turns out it is the 3 january that we depart, so we got a nice bonus day.

i am off to search the town for a laundry facility-- clean socks are in order at this point, big time. hope everyone had an enjoyable nye celebration.