Prague

Prague is such a beautiful city. All the buildings have so much history and make everything look so scenic. And the people here use "Ahoy" for hello like pirates making things so much more amusing.

It was also my first Eastern European country so far, so I was just a little paranoid of being pick pocketed. Or scammed.

I am also convinced we witnessed the discovery of a spy's body that had been dumped in the canal after some unfortunate situations once their cover had been blown. Why else would there have been so many emergency services crowded around that tiny strip on canal-side water?

Also, did I mention how much I like free WiFi? I will never take Internet for granted again.

Dresden

Arrived in Prague today but we stopped by Dresden for a few hours and visited the Christmas markets. I wish the Christmas markets in Australia were as wonderful. There are lights and Ferris wheels and its just so festive!

We saw the perfect site for a secret spy dead drop zone.

Berlin

This city is seriously full of so much history. Every building is so old and sandstone and a better version of Sydney university campus.

I would've taken more photos on my phone but it is so tough when it's about 10 degrees below zero and I have to take my gloves off to use the iPhone camera.

Brandenburg Gate

Jewish Memorial. Every concrete block is a different dimension representing almost 3k (German?) Jewish in WWII

The Berlin Wall

On another note, you can get jäger bombs for €3.50 here, which is about $4.30 AUD.

Amsterdam

I tried to take a few photos on my phone to let you guys see a piece of Amsterdam! Unfortunately I have no pictures of the red light district because I'm afraid of prostitutes. Apparently if you try to take pictures of them they run out and trash your camera/throw it in the canal/beat you up (or all of the above).

I did get a few pictures of the canal as well as... A MULTI STOREY BIKE PARKING COMPLEX. Speaking of which, Dutch traffic is so difficult. Not only do they have cars, they also have trams and a shitload of bikes.

From The Wild Winds Of The West

What a difference a day can make. When yesterday we were covered in a blanket of white, the snow has now melted to reveal green fields that almost manages to convince you its springtime.

I'm meeting my travel buddies in London today, but before I leave, I had time for a few more things...

The Windmills at Kinderdijk

Bamishchijf, Kroket and Frikandel Speciaal

The Legendary... Knork?

Patat met pindasaus mayonaise or chips with peanut sauce and mayonnaise

But Where Have All The Tulips Gone?

Ever wondered about Amsterdam and thought it might look a little like this?

Well, probably not. This was just a photo from the internet of Amsterdam on a particularly tulip filled day. I was told the tulips don't bloom in Winter, but even in Spring they are not so abundant. Which is a shame really because I was hoping Amsterdam might just be like a really big tulip marketplace.

I was supposed to only have a 55 minute switch, but it was delayed by an hour. The reason? It was snowing heavily in Amsterdam. I didn't mind, because this was the first thing I saw fresh out the doors of the airport.

I also had a reasonably enjoyable flight. There was a huge selection of movies and I ended up watching the first 2 LOTR movies. I also met a recent graduate from Boston heading to Helsinki for a holiday (and some snowboarding), a girl from Canada visiting her boyfriend who was attending grad school in Iceland and a couple of musicians from Boston who were headed to Amsterdam to perform - he was a pianist and she sang. I encountered the thoroughly confusing Icelandic "Kr" currency, which i think are kronos or something, and paid about 1500Kr for breakfast at 6am during my stopover.

I don't want to get arrested, but the dutch have a very relaxed customs control, especially compared to America - I guess they didn't have a major terrorist attack. And maybe because I was coming in from a flight in the EU, but they  barely glanced at us as we strolled out onto Dutch soil. Or snow.

The snow is truly incredible and literally crunches under your feet.

I probably should've taken more pictures of Amsterdam instead of just a few ghost trees on the road, but I'll be back to see Amsterdam again with my travel pals soon, so instead, here's a picture of Rotterdam. 

Maybe I would've done better if I'd worn gloves and it wasn't so difficult to take my hands out of my pockets...

PS. Blog posts are possibly gonna be out of order for a bit since we have to catch up on the period in which we had extremely limited internet access and the best we could manage was an offline travel diary.