Clogs, cheese and... canals

For many months I had been amping to travel through Europe by train, I heard it was the best way to travel; relaxing, peaceful, interesting.. though more expensive. Two nights ago I booked a train ticket from Hamburg>Arnhem for a pricey 82 euro, but it was worth it. This morning when I was at the train station in Hamburg I felt as excited as I felt when I left Adelaide over 4 weeks ago! I rocked up in Amsterdam this afternoon after a short 5 hour train journey though some of the most lovely countryside I've been through so far. Everything was how I pictured it to be.. here in the NL, I passed lush paddocks, farm lands and small bunches of cottages.

Rob and I spent our last night in Hamburg with his friend Sophie, whom he met at his teaching week in Spain. Sophie lived literally 5 minutes down the road from Tobii, why we moved location for 1 night I do not know, nor do I know why I agreed to it, it felt like more trouble than it was worth, BUT.. Sophie had a nice place and took us out to the Reeperbahn, showed us some nice places to eat and even stayed out so we could chill and have a beer. The Reeperbahn is a district packed with sex shops, night clubs, bars, restaurants.. oh and prostitutes. Since we went on a Sunday night, the area was fairly tame. Personally I don't like areas like this, I feel out of place, so sussing it on a Sunday was probably a good way to do so. The Reeperbahn started by the sailors who used to dock at Hamburg, remember it's a busy port.. and so the area has remained the same way.. full of bars and places for desperate men to meet desperate women.

So Germany is over, I had a good time, didn't go to as man places as originally planned but I think things worked out for the best, I stayed in Berlin for 6 days and Hamburg for 4 days, any more would've been too much. Now I'm in Amsterdam staying with my friend Edwin, I know him through an artgroup I'm apart of which has members from all over the world, I was 1 of 2 members from Australia. I have a week until I meet up with Lee, a week to explore surrounding towns.. got to go to Edam and eat some cheese etc... cliche stuff.

A bit of cool info, since couch surfing, staying with friends and the week in Spain, I would've saved a minimum of 220 pounds!.. quite good for the old savings account!! After eating hardly anything but bread and pasta, carbs, for the past month.. I'm setting out to eat some healthier food, get back into some fruit and veg!! Lets hope this can work haha.