This morning we set off to see Hamburg. We stopped in a bakery to get franzbrötchen for breakfast, a cinnamon baked good that Rachy had recommended. It was great. We took the s-bahn downtown and then did some exploring. We walked through the financial district where there was a political rally and where there was also some sort of protest against the unequal distribution of wealth brought about by capitalism. (We weren't exactly sure what they were protesting, as we couldn't read the German signs...) We walked by some historic buildings and some cathedrals/chapels with significantly different architecture than we had seen elsewhere on our treks. We made our way to Saint Nikolai, which is really nothing other than a spire. The actual church had been destroyed during the firebombing of Hamburg at the end of the second World War. It has been turned into a memorial to remember those who died in the firebombings (as well as those persecuted and killed by the Nazi regime). We went up to the top of the spire where we had an okay view of the city - it would have been better if the spire weren't surrounded by scaffolding. There is a lot of scaffolding in Europe in September, as they hold off doing construction and repairs until the end of tourist season. Next, we walked down to the harbor where we took a ferry (included in our day pass for the s-bahn) which traveled up and down the Elbe river along Hamburg. We got a nice view of the beaches and of the ports where cargo ships were being loaded and unloaded. On our return trip we could see approaching rain, which hit us pretty hard (all the passengers took cover on the lower deck). Luckily, by the time we got to our stop the rain had reduced to a dribble. Our entire day actually consisted of a constant cycle of rain, then sun, then more rain, etc. This is very common in Hamburg, as well as everywhere else we've been in the last two weeks. We walked past the Fischmarkt (Fish market) and down Reeperbahn street (the famous Red Light district in Hamburg) to a fantastic park- Planten un Blomen. It was another highly sculpted European park and it was extraordinarily beautiful. We met up with our host Rachy at a nearby s-bahn station and then went to dinner at a nice bistro. We chatted a little with Rachy over a beer in a chic German bar (only 3 beers on tap; are we really in Germany?) and then headed home.

We got up early and took a long train to Hamburg (actually 2 different trains). The second train was miserable. There were way more people than seats, so we had to stand for 3 hours surrounded by other people doing the same. We started making reservations for trains after that fiasco. We got to our CS host's house at around 8 and got to know her a little before heading out to get some food from Thai Cowboy. While eating, Rachy showed us what to do in Hamburg. We talked a bit more and then went to bed on the most legitimate fold out couch we've ever seen. Danke, IKEA!

We wanted to have a day without the ~2 hours of commuting going to and coming home from Amsterdam entails (also we felt like there wasn't much else to see in Amsterdam) so we slept in. It was fortunate since it was raining heavily. (Did we forget to mention that it rained the last two days as well, albeit briefly? Yes.) When we did finally venture outside we explored an expansive city park near the hostel that was beautifully maintained. The Europeans have a totally different attitude about parks than we do - a difference I will go into detail about in a later post. In brief, they are sculpted and meticulously manicured whereas ours usually try to imitate a "natural" landscape. Anyways, we spent a few hours in the park and the day became quite nice. It rained again in the evening, so we had dinner at the hostel again. We went to bed early because our train the next morning left early. (Sound familiar yet?)

Today we returned to Amsterdam to visit the Hermitage museum. It was really unfortunate timing because we arrived in The Netherlands literally on the day that the Van Gough museum closed for 7 months for renovations. In another week the Hermitage will have a new exhibit featuring many of Van Gough's paintings from the closed museum. So while we were in Amsterdam, those paintings were in limbo. Hopefully later in the trip we might be able to stop back to see the new exhibit. We spent most of the day in the Hermitage (though compared to the National Gallery in London and the Muses d'Orsay in Paris it was somewhat disappointing). After the museum we walked around the city a bit more before we took the train to downtown Haarlem where we explored a bit and got groceries for dinner. It was the same chain grocery store so we picked up the same Caprese pasta salad and a sun dried tomato salad. We had another laid back night at the hostel watching a Stephen Fry documentary and eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream. (Which the hostel sold.)

Today we got up early, had the hostel provided breakfast (decent) and then took the train to Amsterdam. We explored the canals, the old buildings, and the red light district. The old, sometimes crooked buildings were quite beautiful. We stopped into a cheese shop and bought half a kilogram of Dutch Gouda cheese. We munched on it as we walked around - delicious! As we headed back to the train station in the afternoon we walked by on of the side streets with window brothels. It was strange to say the least. We stopped in a grocery and picked up a delicious Caprese salad with some of the best mozzarella we've ever had. Yum! We also picked up some hummus and veggies that we had the next day for lunch. We spent most of the evening internetting.

We decided to spend our next few nights in Haarlem (The Netherlands - 15 km outside of Amsterdam) rather than the city proper in order to save some money and get some better sleep. (Taking the train into town is free since we have an unlimited eurail pass.) So we left Gent for about 4 hours of traveling. Unfortunately our first train was late so we missed a transfer and had to wait around for an hour. An hour isn't really that bad though, so we aren't complaining (that much). We made it to Haarlem but then weather was atrocious. The wind was blowing at over 30 km/h and it was raining. Hopefully the picture illustrates the situation. We had to walk about 20 minutes from the train station to the hostel (on a path that we would later find to be quite nice) in the hostile weather. We made it to the hostel, did some laundry, wrote a few blog posts and did a little planning for the next day. The hostel is pretty nice.

After a quick (25 minute) train ride we were in Gent. Gent is bigger than Brugge and we had to take a tram from the train station to our hostel. Our hostel was awesome! It was an old barge converted into a hostel, floating on the river in Gent. It is called "Eco-hostel Andromeda" and has a very ecologically conscious bent. The breakfast they serve is organic, free range, and vegetarian. The water in the toilets is grey water collected from rainwater. The beer they server in the hostel bar (remember this is Belgium - every hostel has a bar) was organic. The employee even gave us a map of vegetarian friendly restaurants in the city. Despite the dreary, rainy day, we decided to venture out to make the most of our day in Gent. We saw all of the historic buildings and sights (the city was just as beautiful as Brugge, but without so many tourists) and then made our way to a vegan buffet that was on the map we got at our hostel. We waited in the pouring rain for twenty minutes for it to open (literally). We got inside and... every single table was reserved. We were told there would be an hour and a half wait for a table; but I think the owner took pity on us, he gave us one of the reserved tables. It was absolutely AWESOME! It was most likely the most delicious buffet that either of us have ever eaten at. We felt like a million bucks after the great dinner and the ability to dry off while eating... We went home, sent some CS requests and then went to bed... or so we thought. This was our worst night in a shared room hostel so far. People were coming in and leaving at all times of the night, there was snoring, typing, some other repetitive computer noises, coughing, sniffling, and then early in the morning (before 6 am) somebody was rummaging around in a plastic bag for 10 minutes (no hyperbole) and another person was opening velcro sealed objects an unreasonable amount of times. If only we had remembered to put in our ear plugs the night before!

We slept in today. For lunch we waited to eat until a local eatery with highly recommended Belgian waffles opened. While we were trying to pass time we went to a small local bar that serves it's own beer, a highly rated beer that is only available at the bar. Both of these places were highly regarded in the Use-It map for Brugge, a map made by local young adults for young adult travelers. The bar was very well hidden - we had to walk back and forth down the street 4 times before finding it. It turned out to be hidden down a small alleyway. We entered De Garre and had a De Garre. It was definitely worth it; it was a great beer. We made our way back to the restaurant for our waffles. They were out of Belgian waffles! Fortunately they were also known for their spaghetti and I ordered that instead while Amy had pancakes (they were thin, like crepes). It was quite good. Afterwards we headed back to the Markt square to climb to the top of the belfry. (The belfries in Belgium and France are collectively a UNESCO world heritage site... how many can we see?) We waited in line for 15 minutes before seeing a sign that said that ticket sales ended in 15 minutes. We looked forward and saw that we were about halfway through the line. We waited... and waited... and when there were only 5 people in front of us, ticket sales stopped. We didn't get to go up to the top and wasted half an hour. Oh well, it was still a fun day - we wandered around town the rest of the evening and then went to bed early. We did get a delicious Belgian waffle from a street vendor. :)

We used our home base in Luxembourg to take a quick day trip to Trier, Germany on Andre's recommendation. Trier is the oldest city in Germany (16 BCE if you're curious) and is, wait for it, another UNESCO world heritage site. The city contains several remains of Roman civilization. The pictured archway, called the "porta nigra" in Latin (black door) was the entrance to the ancient city. We also visited the rubble of ancient Roman baths in the city. It was another beautiful city and fun day. We only narrowly avoided breaking our vegetarianism by eating sausages. :) Karl Marx also had a house in Trier, which we visited. Dinner was sushi, delivered to the house and paid for by our generous host Andre. It was great! We watched a movie with Andre and went to bed pretty early.