Amsterdam

Had to be up pretty early to catch my train to Amsterdam. Despite being in a shady area, the location of my hotel (Garnia Astoria) was good because it was only a short walk to the train station. The station is one of the coolest buildings in Hamburg. It's VERY big and has lots of good shops, bakeries and restaurants.

My train was 20 minutes late, which wasn't good because I had to make a connnection in Osnabruck with only 15 minutes to connect. I asked if it will still be okay and the conductor said to get on board and we would see. When we got to Osnabruck, I had to run, but managed to catch the train to Amsterdam along with several other people. After the 5 hour trip, I arrived in Amsterdam pretty much on time. It was a beautiful day, but a bit hot. I had a long way to walk to the hotel, but I wanted to see some of the city, so I pushed ahead. I got to the Hotel (Hotel Atlanta) and checked in. It was nice, but like most hotels in Europe, no A/C! This was not good because it was over 80 degrees outside. Worse still, my room was in the middle of the hotel, so no air flow. It was actually hotter in my room than outside!

Anyway, I dropped off my stuff and grabbed a quick falafel lunch at Maos, a veggie place. Apparently there is one in Philadelphia too. I then began exploring the western part of the city. It is absolutely beautiful. Once you get off of the main streets with all of the "coffee shops" which are really marijuana hangouts, the city is very picturesque with lots of bridges and canals much like Venice. There are also loads of bikes everywhere. Must rent a bike tomorrow. Later, I had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant and went to bed relatively early.