In Belgium needing to use the bathroom

Well here is an update about the last 24 hours. We had a good meeting in Amsterdam. Before I left, I was talking with my dad and he said that you need to be careful because everyone is intrested in US politics and they do not like George Bush so be on your toes. I said sure then and went on my way. Well in our 1st meeting the 1st two questions were 1) How is the economy and 2) who are you voting for? Well there goes that plan. I dodge the question as best I can and he seemed to be happy with my answer so that was another bullet dodged.
So once we are done with the meting, we take the train from Amsterdam airport to Lille, France. That means we have to go through Belgium. Even better we have to change trains in Belgium. So we get off the train and I need to use the bathroom. After much searching we find a bathroom but it costs money to use the bathroom. What kind of crap is that? Is that insane? Had I really had to go I probably would have found a corner or something because I am not paying for something I cannot prevent. That is unreal. It is like paying for every breath. Well I could hold it and went on the next train which made everything very nice. Also, in speaking with people sometimes when you pay to use the bathroom, they give you only a certain amount of toilet paper. Now that is down right insane. Holy cow.
So we were on the high speed train and from Amsterdam to Belgium it was not very fast but from Belgium to France it was very fast. I would say it is the fastest that I have ever been on land. I think they said it was about 200 K an hour. Wow. So we arrive in Lille and life is good.
Lille is a really cool town. It is very nice and very pretty. The city center is huge. It is unreal how big it is. So we had a good time there and it was awesome. It must not have been too damaged during the war because there are so many nice old buildings there. As you could guess when we went out for dinner I forgot my camera so that is a total bummer. So no photos of the town.
At dinner it was awesome, we were sitting in the American section. I say this because there was a guy who was I think right of the plane talking with the most stereotypical Frenchman. The Frenchman had no expression on his face and looked like someone was reading the phone book to him. Well our waiter was amazing. He was this little Frenchman how had like a 3 Musketeers facial hair thing going on and looked right out of central casting. It was awesome. I had some lamb because they said it was very good here. Because Lille is below sea-level the grass is salty and it makes the lamb extra tasty. Alcide was the name of the place and it is worth your time if you are Lille. Do not order the Steak Tartar because it looks like a huge plate of ground beef, I do not know how they eat it (and I like beef). I look forward to you all and as always MORE TO COME.

Peace out,
Kirk

They call them coffee shops but it does not smell like it

So I arrived in Amsterdam and took a quick snooze. Not too long because that would have really did me in for the jet lag. So Diane and I head into Amsterdam to just check it out and eat up the rest of the day. We took the shuttle to the airport and then the train to downtown. I took a taxi to the hotel when I got here and I got taken for a ride. Oh well, I am sure that there is European getting fleeced by an American sometime right now so it all works out. Here is the hotel where I will be laying my head Tonight . So there you go. Amsterdam is a pretty cool place. The thing that amazed me was that there was really no traffic. Maybe it was Sunday who knows, but it looked like a pretty manageable city. On the main drag outside of the Train station there is a bike parking lot and there must be about 2000 bikes. It is unreal how many people have their bike parked at the train station. The main street in the city is packed with shops of trinkets and what not. I think every store bought their gear from the same distributer. We crossed over many canals and I had a lot of thoughts, which were not limited too, 1) How deep is the water? 2) How clean is the water? 3) what do you think is at the bottom of the canal? 4) How many people go into the water every year? So there you go. So as we were wondering around I did not see any "hash bars." Well I was looking for the wrong thing. They are called coffee shops. Not only do they sell weed but they also sell Mushrooms. They call mushrooms "energy starters." Know I have known a few people on mushrooms in the past and energetic was not the first adjective that I would have used for them. So the Coffee shops are all over once you know what you are looking for. >This should give you a better idea of what they are. So there you go. We did not get to the red light district but those things happen, and that is why you want to come back. Next time I am going to get a bike and hopefully go on a bike tour and try not to crash into the other million bikes that are in this town. Well I am off to bed so I can get a good night sleep. I look forward to hear from you and I hope all is well. MORE TO COME.

Peace out.
Kirk

a long time away

Well folks, I am back. Sorry for the delay but a lot has been going on so let me bring you up to speed. I am currently in Amsterdam. I am not wearing any clogs but there was a crocs shop in the airport so they must take their cloging very seriously. The crocs sell for the same price in Europe as they do in America. The only problem is that there is the exchange rate thing that people have been telling me about, so crocs is making money hand over fist because the Euro is worth more than the USD. So the flight was fine and everyone had a wonderful time. No real problems, got some sleep and arrived in Amsterdam first thing in the morning. Customs was so easy, there was no paper to fill out, just hand them your passport they stamp and you go on your way. It is that easy. I arrived and it was raining so that is not that awesome. The airport in Amsterdam has to be the biggest airport I have ever been to. It is unreal. I think it might take up 85% of Holland with Amsterdam city taking up 13% and 1% for the canals and 1 % for flowers. It is just massive.
Well hopefully I will get into the city center and buy a bike because I have always wanted to park a bike at the Amsterdam Train Station and just keep it there for when I need it. I would also give my friends my key to my bike lock if they were ever in Amsterdam and wanted a bike. My phone does not seem to be working so that is bad news if you would like to talk to me but good news for the blog because I will be posting a lot more. I am here for a week and doing 4 countries in 5 days so that should be pretty fun. There will be a lot of travel and some business so I do not know how much I will be able to see and look around but I promise to keep you as informed as possible. You are more than welcome to join me. Also I would say the best thing to do is to RSS this blog. It is so awesome and it really helps you stay on top of things. I look forward to hear from all of you. MORE TO COME.

Peace out.
Kirk