Yes, I’m still alive…
Just been offline for a couple of days. 
Well, this post is going to have to be briefer than the last couple. I don’t have a day to kill writing. So an outline it is.
Thursday (after previous post)
- Went to Eiffel Tower. Tried waiting for it to be dark before going up, but they closed it. Met several internation high school students who showed me the quick way to the tower from the metro. The offical stop is not the right one. Had a nice dinner, but totally blew budget at place near tower.
Friday (6-15)
- Went to Luavre Musuem. Walked around for 6+ hours. Saw Mona Lisa. Spent a lot of time in Greek and Roman scuplture. (Statues of naked guys, what can I say?) Walked through the rest pretty fast. The place is bloody huge!
- Went to Napolean’s Arch of Victory. Also monument to unamed soldier (WW1). So so. Nothing that special.
- Went back to Eiffel Tower and actually went up this time. What a view. Very worth doing once, but I don’t think I’d ever do it again. VERY touristy. (What else would you expect?)
Saturday
- Went to Catacombs. Spoky, but cool. Mile of so walk underground through caverns with bones litterly stacked besides you. Thoughout, I kept flashing back to every horror movie I’ve ever seen. And asking, what do we do if the lights go out?
- Took train to Versialle Palace. (Or however you spell that.) Took the whole tour, but honestly, wasn’t that impressed by the building. The gardens on the other hand… WOW. Spent several hours in the gardens with a group of foriegn student travelers like myself. Amusingly enough, one of them went to the Naval Academy and knows a good friend of mine. (John) Small world aint it?
- Changed from hostel to a hotel in hopes of some privacy and a better place. Utter mistake. I would not wish the Rivoli Hotel on my worst enemy. Yuck!
Sunday
- Took train to Amsterdam transfering at Brussels. Met traveler (Evan) at Paris station and talked for a while. Also American and traveling. Nice guy. We’re probably going to do something today (Monday) in Amsterdam.
- Checked into hostel. Kind of crappy place, but its cheap. It’ll do for a couple days.
- Walked around for a while. Amsterdam is weird. I have never been to a place where the gay community is so intergrated. There are gay bars/cafes all over the city. Very visible and accepted too. Amsterdam is beautiful, though I don’t think I’d actually want to live here. One thing I don’t like is how many “coffeeshops” there are. I swear I’m gettting high just walking down the street. Mind you, I have no problem with other people partaking if that is their choice, but damn it I don’t want to!
- Took a walking tour of the red light district. 2 hours. Very interesting with lots of history and factoids about the sex industry here in Amsterdam.
- Got back to hostel late. Sat in downstairs cafe talking with other tourists for an hour or so. (Sam and Ried?) Nice guys and very good looking. They’re staying in a different room than I am. Crashed around 1am.
Monday
- Woke up around 7:40 am or so (well before my alarm) for some reason. Eat breakfast and then walked around for a while. Not really planning on doing much here, just want to relax some. Going to take a boat tour in a few minutes.
BTW, thanks for the comments!
— Amsterdam, 10:41 am local time
June 19th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Sounds fun man…did you ever make it to Spain…or is that still on the to-do list?
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:49 am
Spain has been droped from my plans, simply for lack of time. I’m getting really tired of all the traveling so I’m dropping a few places. Instead, I’m spending longer in few places.