We're here! And we're damn tired. So very, very tired. It's true -- it's impossible to sleep on a plane. Markus managed some sleep, but I think he had a few shots of an alcoholic drink, if you know what I mean. (He's a lush! One of my goals on this trip is to paint Markus as a raging boozer.)
Very much the visible backpackers, we were offered accomodations in a very pushy manner five times within the space of a few minutes when we arrived at the busy Amsterdam Centraal station. Followed shortly by an offer to purchase some of the ol' Amsterdam weed. We eventually rented a hostel at the Flying Pig, only a leering hop, skip, and a jump away from the notorious Red Light district. Seems like a pretty cool, laid back place. (Liberal pot smoking laws kind of help things along.)
Not that that's all that Amsterdam's all about. The city is stunning; the streets are very much the idyllic, glamorized narrow cobblestone labrynths from countless Hollywood movies. You look down any intersection and see so much life and activity that we don't even know where to start adventuring.
We'll start in earnest tomorrow, after some sleep! Later.
Posted by Brian at May 19, 2003 04:34 PM