What up Holland?

One night ahead of planned, we popped over to the Netherlands. We realized that the trip from Koln (Cologne) to Amsterdam would be about four hours, and to be there by noon would require some serious AM work and logistics... So, why not go to the Netherlands early?? Chris is a genious!

We are at hostel Strowis in Ultrecht, enjoying a nice complimentary cup of coffee just 30 sweet minutes from Amsterdam, where we'll meet up with Nate and Miriam and speak a lot, (read: a lot!), of English. It was becoming a little bit of a challenge in Germany with no German under our hats. I would recommend learning the little things before jumping into a country. But the food was fabulous, the people were pleasant and direct. The Rhine was beautiful and not all that unlike the Appalachians. (Except for the multiple thousands years' history and very intriguing castles.)

So, since the last post, we've been to Oberwesel, Cochem and Cologne. Oberwesel was tiny and had a great campsite. The bathrooms were so nice I took a picture! Cochem was very neat and we hiked up the back of a castle mount in order to explore Berg Reichstag. Remodeled in the 1800's, it was more of a working home that rich people had left very cool stuff behind in. The witches tower had an interesting story: if a woman was suspected to be a witch, she was thrown off the tower. If she survived, she was clearly a witch- and was burned. Hard times for the ladies.

Cologne was big and took some patience to figure out the transit system. At the camp, we enjoyed some spargel and a pretty fancy dinner considering our budget. It was nice to have a rest from street food and kebabs!

So now we're off to Amsterdam! Don't look mom ;) (And more photos later, we have lots to share once we get set up).