Yesturday was a slower day, which was nice for our final day in Paris. Rachel and I got up early-ish and took the metro to the Champs Elysees. We wanted to see some nice designer stores, but there were very few. Most of them were cheaper sale shops. The only designer shops along the rue are Louis Vuitton and Cartier. There are a lot of cafes on the street, so we had a very french lunch outside. We all took the RER train (suburban train outside of Paris) to Versailles. It was a little disappointing. There are currently in the middle of a 3 year renovation and there was construction going on everywhere. The Hall of Mirrors was only a quarter open. There were also a lot of tourists, which always puts a damper on an attraction. But we had to see it. This morning was another very early morning. After talking for some time last night with some guys from Brazil, we didn't get as much sleep as planned. We took a train from the Gare du Nord train station in Paris to Brussels. From Brussels we took another train to Amsterdam. I slept for about an hour until we made a brief stop in one of the dozen or so villages of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. I am really glad that I woke up when I did. The part of the country we were going through is very rural, but very beautiful. The plots of farmland are small and there are a lot of animals; particularly cows, goats, sheep, chickens and ponies. The farm equiptment is older but much of the ride was picturesque. Until we got closer to Amsterdam. We arrived at Amsterdam Central around 11:30, but didn't leave the station until 1:30 because we had to wait in line to book our overnight train to Interlaken by way of Zurick on Sunday. It took forever, but train stations are always good for people watching. It was a ten minute walk from the station to our houseboat. It is very small and there is no room for luggage, but it is extremely clean and the woman who runs it is so nice, just like everyone else we have met in Amsterdam. She gave us a map and sent us in the direction of a flea market. Like most flea markets, it looked like the sellers went through someones trash, but there were a few interesting booths. From there we walked to a flower market. Everyone is so nice and relaxed here. It is Friday, but few people work on Fridays here apparantly. The city is certainly cleaner that Paris and everyone speaks English. The city seems to be primarlily comprised of tourists. And literally, everyone rides bikes. Sometimes quite aggressively. There are more museums per mile in Amsterdam than anywhere else in Europe. Hoping to go to the Rembrandt exhibit and the Van Gogh museum. Possibly going to tour the Heineken factory (we thought it was german) and go to the Anne Frank house. We leave Sunday night at 8, so I doubt we will get a whole lot in.