Lessons Europe Has Taught Me So Far...

That's right, this trip isn't just for fun. It's also educational!

Here's what I've been learning...

-In Amsterdam, "Minus" equals "Plus." I was standing at a falafel booth, ordering a large paper cone of fries (which they call Frites), and the nice man asked "Minus ketchup?" to which I replied "Yes." And then he proceeded to slather the whole cone in ketchup and mayonnaise. So I obviously missed something there. On that topic, I still hate ketchup, but fries with good Dutch mayonnaise are delicious!

-To make any call from a German pay phone, you have to dial zero. This took Fischer and me about a half hour to figure out, while we were attempting to call his friend who was hosting us in Germany. But it's true!

And speaking of that, here's a brief rundown of the trip so far:

We got to Amsterdam and stayed there for three days/two nights, during which we explored the city extensively. We rode nikes for an entire day, visited the famous Red Light District, and hung out in the coffeeshops. I'll, of course, expound upon all this when I get back home and have the snaps to share... After Amsterdam, we took a train to Bonn, Germany to visit Fischer's friend Anna, who has kindly opened her home to us until Friday night. The plan from there is to take a train overnight to Milan, and then another train to Pisa, where we'll pick up our rent-a-car and begin the Italy portion of the adventure.

And trust me, it has been an adventure! Lots of tales to tell already, and we've only been in Europe for four days...

Stay tuned!


*****N*T*G*****

Never hesitate to comment!