Hallo!

Yesterday we got out of Amsterdam and spent the day in a town down the road called Leiden. It fitted my stereotypical view of Holland a lot better than the capital. Old houses, bridges, rivers, little shops, which didn't smell of drugs. They also had a supermarket, and with the ridiculous prices we've been paying for food, this was a welcome change. We'll now be living off of crisp sandwiches.

The first loss of the trip occured yesterday. I left my hat on the train. Luckily, it only took 45 minutes walking around shops and 5 euros to rectify this problem. So when pictures do get uploaded, you may notice a change in hat.

To save on accomodation costs we got on a night train to Hamburg, 9 hours sitting in a small seat, where even I, who is renowned for my sleeping abilities, struggled to get a nap. We arrived here at about 4.30, quickly found the hostel we're meant to be staying in and realised that noone was there. Coming online, we discover that the reception doesn't open until 9am and that we can't check in until 2. At least we managed to find an open internet cafe (although I think it's actually a mini casino type thing) at 5am.