So I am in Holland with Elena and our friend Eva who lives here in Utrecht. Now when I started this trip for all I knew Amsterdam was the only part of Holland worth going to and that the best thing to do was troll the red light district or go to a coffe shop. I had no expectations of what this country would be like, I just knew it would be nice to see Eva. Well I have been totally blown away by it here.

So wednesday Elena and I took the train from Koblenz to Utrecht. Besides making the wrong first connection, it was about 4 hours of hangingout. We got here around 9:30 that night and Eva met us at the centraal station. As it has been when I meet up with old friends here, Eva was basically star struck when she saw us. There was a lot of here just staring at us to make sure it was real. This was just the same with Bodo and Elena.

We walk out of the train station and I stop. I have NEVER seen so many bikes in on place in my LIFE. This includes the bike shop, cross crusade all of it! Everything they say about the bikes in Holland is totally true. So of course Eva had ridden her bike down to the station to pick us up. So we picked up her bike and walked to her appartment together.

On the walk I was in total awe. The roads have 3 different modes of traffic. There are 2 lanes for cars, 2 lanes for bikes and 2 lanes for people. At first it is really overwhelming to figure out how to get around without being run down. There were bikes everywhere even at almost 10 at night. It was awesome.

We went to her place, chatted a bit and hit the hay. Eva had to work the next day so Elena and I set out to see the city. Once again I just couldn't believe the bikes. They come in hoards and often have a bigger presence than the cars on the road. You have to really pay attention. Elena couldn't believe how obsessed I was, but really it is amazing. It just stopped me to see hundreds of bikes, parked and riding at all hours of the day.

Anyway we walked to the canals of the city and I couldn't believe how great it was. This city is gorgeous! You walk along these tree lined canals with ton's of restaurants, shops and cute bridges filled with bikes. I really feel at home here. I think it has a lot to do with the bikes. With people out of the car you feel so much more connected to one and other. You can see peoples faces and not the grill of a car. It's very cool. That night we got a chance to go to dinner with Eva and catch up. It is really nice to see old friends and talk about stories that only they can understand.

Today Elena and I went to amsterdam. I really had no idea what to expect from Amsterdam. I have heard SO much about it. After seeing Utrecht yesteday I figured it might be a bigger version of it. This was somewhat true.

Amsterdam lives up to many of it's stereotypes. Within 20 minutes of getting off the train, we stumbled past I can't count how many coffee shops with this odd smell and managed to get right into the red light district. I really didn't think it would be this quick and that kind of surprised me. It is also a very gorgeous city that continually surprised me.

The architecture was very unique, the canals were gorgeous and the bikes continued to be a huge presence. You could walk anywhere and feel pretty comfortable. You can see a wild side or a much more reserved side. We saw the redlight district but later we went to the Van Gogh Museum. It really is a very interesting city and one that I would highly recommend to anyone. It reminded me a lot of Paris and parts of London.

The Van Gogh museum was great. I still can't believe that I'm saying that but I'm really enjoying art museums a lot more than when I was in France. This musuem obviously was all about Van Gogh and that was really unique. The exhibition they have now is about the letter's he wrote his brother theo. Many are on display and translated into english. It really gave you a much better understanding of the artist and what his life was like and how the paintings reflect that. I liked it a lot. Sorry lauren but they did not have the night cafe, I guess it is at Yale.

This weekend eva has time free so we are going to see some things that she knows and can show us. Next week I'm going to Berlin on tuesday and will stay till thrusday morning. That morning I will be seeing the god's in wolfsburg known as Volkswagen and then off to Hamburg to meet up with elena that night. After a couple days there we are off to vienna, then venice and on to the flight back to Oregon! So that's all for now, I hope everyone is doing well. The e-mail's and messages are great and I will try to reply as soon as I have access to the internet.

E