Amsterdam update

So, after staying a night in Frankfurt, we decided to head up north to Amsterdam. We took an hour and a half train to Köln, where we saw the biggest cathedral I've ever seen. The train station has a glass roof, and you can see this behemoth of intricate towers, parapets, and gargoyles rising up hundreds of feet (or, a couple less hundreds of meters) above. We enjoyed traditional Kölsch beer, and I bought this 6 Euro watch which stops working about every half hour. And holy shit, the shwarma is AMAZING. From Köln we took another train to Amsterdam, where we are staying in a huge hostel about 15min from the red light district (stories to follow). We almost got caught in a dance contest being filmed for a Dutch television show. Apparently the show also involved a shirtless dude riding around with hipster glasses and mustache courtesy of face sharpie. Yeah, I don't know; definitely a Vice Don't. The caption pretty much writes itself: "You really aren't doing Amsterdam right if you can draw legibly on your face". It's raining like crazy though, and apparently it won't let up until Wednesday. Currently we are sitting in an awesome coffee shop called Bagels and Beans enjoying some bangin coffee. The Netherlands is like a bizarro version of the US. The funny thing about Dutch is that you can pretty much understand it if you pronounce it. For example, our bus passes were "chipkaarts"; from an advertisement board: "zeker abot seks!"; and the convenience store is a "nachtkoop". Lots of people ride bikes, all of them cruiser commuter types, and they are ridden no matter the weather; an umbrella is all you need! Well, back to drying off; photographs and journal pages to follow!