The Netherlands

(1) I caught a 3pm flight to Mastricht on Ryan Air, leaving from London's Stansted Airport... which is likely closer to Cairo than it is to London. My college buddy, Ted, who was living near Mastricht in the town of Herlen, picked me up at the airport and took me back to his apartment. We grabbed some dinner, had a few drinks with some of his Dutch friends, and then took a short, late-night trip on the Autobahn to Aachen, Germany. That's where we met this lovely lady, a physics professor at the nearby technological university who was researching new advancements of hydrodynamics. Wait, no... I'm thinking of somebody else. This girl's a stripper. Yup, she's a stripper.

(2) I spent a few days in Herlen while Ted finished off the work week. During that time, I recharged my body after having stormed through the UK and Ireland. I also made a day trip to Maastricht and another to Valkenburg. At the end of the week, Ted and I hopped on a train for Amsterdam. It only took about 2.5 hours, and Ted put us up at the Reinasance. It should be noted, here, that Ted was beyond helpful to this penny-pinching, scruffy backpacker, and I truly couldn't have been more appreciative of his generocity. We toured the famous red light district, hit up a few bars, and really had a great time getting rowdy in this fantastic city.

(3) We spent the next day roaming around town, hitting up the Heineken museum after a visit to Anne Frank House. This particular tour would ring with a special importance later on my trip when I had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz in Poland. On a happier note, the Heineken museum was a pretty good time, and we took full advantage of the beer tasting at the end.

(4) Shocker. More cold beers with Ted on another night out on the town in Amsterdam. We actually ended up meeting some of his German friends, forming a large, boisterous group of idiots. Anyway, it goes without saying that Amsterdam is a real full-throttle city. However, it's much more than a place to party. With unique architecture, a complex system of canals, and a population of people more keen to riding bikes than polluting the air, I found Amsterdam to be very unique and livable.

(5) Ted and I parted ways in the train station in Amsterdam as I set off for Denmark - this would become a total mess of a journey. The long and short of it is that I ended up sleeping on a bench in a train station in Flensburg, Germany. However, earlier that night, I did manage to meet these two Italian girls. I shared a drink with Federica and Daniela in the train station in Duisburg, Germany, and met them again, later on in the trip, when I was visiting Rome.

Back to Europe
Back to The Pure Life (Home)