Happy Twenty-Ten!

Happy twenty-ten!

I love Germany. My people are the nicest we've encountered so far! Great food, even better beer. 

After a crazy train ride we promptly got some sleep shortly after checking into InterCity Munchen Hotel (not nearly as nice as the one in Dresden). Actually, Sean slept, I got BurgerKing from next door. I've definantly gained back my appetite, and most likely a couple pounds as well. I've eaten more fast food in the past two weeks than I usually do at home in two months, crazy!

New years eve day we hit the streets, our main mission: find the haufbraushaus. The marinplatz center was crazy! So many people, high end shopping and street bands galore. Sean became mezmarized with one in particular. Three gentlemen sitting in a hallway- acoustic tribal regee music almost, they were amazing. The sounds bounced and danced all across the rounded dome of the hall. It was pretty magical. 

We eventually found the 600 year old bar that is infamous by name, and lives up to it's reputation. Hostesses in Germany are scarce and the place was packed. Unfortunantly there was no room to sit and have a drink, but we were able to walk through the massive hall with the heard of other people...
Planning on going back later on we left, not dissapointed. 

With a open air street market to explore, and more churches to be photographed we wandered through the streets, still in awe of the grandor. Walking long distances for longer periods of time has become second nature, well end up walking for three or four hours and not even realize it. Our boots were made for walking... Thank goodness. 

Finally feeling a bit thirsty we ducked into a nice looking bar with an open table around 6. Two beers later we heard American accents from a couple tables over- we had to introduce ourselves. We met some great airforce guys with their wives and spent the rest of the evening with them. We'll just say it was a new years to remember, lots of beer, a ton of fireworks and a little bit of drama. God bless lowenbrow beer! 

We napped the next morning, and checked out of our hotel as late as possible- our overnight journey to Amsterdam didn't disembark until 10pm. We ended up walking around a bunch more, and found a movie theatre that uses it's old fashioned cinema to show movies all in English! Halallula! We took in a double feature, with 'The Rebound' and a second round of 'Avatar' this time in 3D! So amazing! 

Stopping for dinner at the Lowenbrow brewery we were bummed to find a packed house. Fortunantly the resturant manager motioned us over to what appeared to be a community table. We were seated on the inside, with a few older gentlemen already sipping out of their custom beer steins on the other side of the table. Little did we know, these gentlemen, the 'strammfisch' have been coming to this brewery every day for the past who knows how many years. They didn't speak much English, but we were able to converse with 'Charlie' fairly well about our travels as well as his younger days which involved an adventure in Mexico among many others. When we told him that Germany had the best beer, he even insisted on buying our next round! Quite an experience! The food was a little strange (we took a chance with an all german menu and ended up with green pasta with mayo and Alfredo sauce), but the beer and good company made up for it tenfold.

We made our way back to the train station, retrieved our luggage from it's locker and picked up a couple fabulous souviners. Feeling jovial and a bit buzzed we conversed with a few fellow travelers. One in particular was on our tain, he made his distaste for americans known after giving us a couple cans of warm beer and warned of the crazy pickpocketers. His explination of his home city was this: " everyone there is a tourist, or wants to take advantage of the tourists". Thanks for the heads up, guy! 

Our compartment was a double bunk with all of two feet of floor space. Super tight, but an experience, to say the least. Something I'll never forget was getting to watch the country side pass by in the dark as the snow slowly littered the ground. Even though I don't tolerate it like a champ, I do love the snow.
  
The bunks were not too uncomfortable, even still, neither of us slept well, even with the constant rocking of the train. The swaying put me to sleep, but I kept waking up forgetting where I was. Being on the top bunk, I was greatful for the safety net keeping me from falling off.

We were rudely awoken by a very loud alarm as a nice little wake up call. Going back to sleep 'just for 5 more minutes...' only lasted for two due to the loud rapping on our cabin door. The very grumpy stewedars alerted us to the fact that somewhere on the train breakfast was avaliable. She actually came back twice, just shouting 'breakfast' ... I think she either hates her job, or was dealing with a crazy bout of PMS, or both. We used the washbin in the cabin to brush our pearly whites and were ready to hit the streets of Amsterdam! 

Sean hit the nail right on the head when he quoted "Amsterdam is europes Vegas". It's dirty, obnoxious and over priced. We were not impressed. Attempting to check into our hotel we were plesantly suprized with a nice, clean lobby. We were offered a check in at noon and the option to leave our luggage there. We accepted both offers. 

Not knowing what exactly to do we did what we've learned to do best, walk the streets and soak in the sights. We ended up way on the outskirts of town after a long trolley ride that took us to 'the end of the line' waiting for another driver to finish their smoke break and get off their lazy butts to do their job, we spent 20 minutes standing in the cold. Two trolly changes later we were back at the hotel, well after noon. 

Honestly, I'm getting upset just thinking about it, so I'll attempt not to go off on a tangent about our check in process. Recoeving the keys was easy, making it to the 5th floor not so much. Apparently there was a small fire, so the elevators were disabled- no one informed us of this. After waiting for the comotion to die down we took the lift to our room, only to discover we could not reach it from that point. We had to ride the death trap of an elevator back to the reception area to hunt someone down to find out where to go. As we soon found out- there were actually two hotels, joined together. We had to use another elevator to reach 'the newer, 4 star hotel, sir' said the very nice gentleman who could have easily informed us of this SIMPLE fact at the point of check in, or in the 20 minutes we spent waiting in the lobby for the fore alarm to be lifted. 4 stars, my ASS! Expedia, hotwire, and travelocity will all be notified of a fabulous review. 

Finding our room was a complete adventure in itself, it was a maze just getting there. The hotels only saving grace were it's amazingly soft matresses accompined by oversized pillows. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think I logged in a total of about 14 hours of sleep in that bed. No joke.

We went for dinner, then called it a night. Amsterdam just wasn't our scene. 

I think I might have found my calling- I'm not gonna lie- I'm pretty good at hand washing clothing. Especially under garments. With half our clothes stolen it's been a bit tight- we pretty much look like we wear the same thing every day. Besides my family, obviously, I miss my bed and my thintwin washing machine the most. 

Late check out, we went to our home base, the train station, stashed our luggage- in two lockers this time- and took off... But what to do? The red light district and a coffee shop, of cours! Oh my... There really are ladies wearing next to nothing hanging out in windows... And although not officially legal, weed is everywhere. I swear I could have gotten a contact high just being on the streets! 

A little grumpy, and over the city we decided to check out the highly advertised 'neit normal' exibition. Wow... Talk about abstract art on steroids! It was very interesting and a little disturbing at the same time. They had documentary films, photos, abstract pieces of art- and all of it 'with a message against humanity'. Very entertaining. 

Argentenian cuisine sounded great for dinner, and it was right across the street from the exibition, even better. An onion hamburger, and chicken salad later we were ready to hit the train station... Again. 

So, as we coast along the track for one of the last times we are slowly making our way to The Hook of Holland to board the Stenaline Britanica for our overnight trip to Harwich in the U.K. God willing, and the creek don't rise, well make it. We have a reservation, and a confrimation, but no tickets- and were cutting it close on time. I guess even the most extensive planning isn't always the best plan of action. With a tickle of fear in my tummy that plans will fall through, again, my travel companion is calmly watching a snowboard video on his iTouch. You have to love technology.

With anxiety, and peace,
-Janiece & Sean