Amsterdarn

Okay, I have another QWERTZ keyboard to do battle with, and 19...no 18 minutes left on the clock on the computer.

Amsterdam,  I cut my original stay in this city short by a day and decided to do an extra one in Berlin.  The 'dam wasn't really my bag, or at least not while traveling solo.  There's a lot to do in the city other than the smoking and Red Light District stuff (and while accepted, neither of which were appealing to me at all), especially when you consider how small it is, but based on what I got the feeling of, and what other people have told me, Amsterdam is for sure the type of city that you want to do with at least one other person.  Especially for taking advantage of all the Red Light District has to offer, that is, however much of the district one is willing to take.

So in one phrase of caution given to me by a local, what did I learn about the Red Light District?  Stay away from the blue lights.

The museums in town - first rate.  The Rijksmuseum, commonly labeled as one of the best museumsd in the world, was undergoing major renovations.  However, it did have a good sized section open to the public with what they labeled as their masterpieces.  The Van Gogh Museum was also fantastic. 

A museum that really knew what it was doing was the Heinekin Brewery.  It was fun, informative, and if anything the interactive computer tabletops at the bar at the end of the tour was totally worth it.

I got to all of these via bike.  Biking in Amsterdam, as you can imagine, was awesome.  After riding rust 10 minutes with them in their rush-hour bicycle traffic, I know know why the Dutch are so factastic at cyclocross.  14-year-olds to 80-year-olds handled their bikes better than I've seen many Cat 4 riders.

2 minutes.  Spell Check.  Publish.  Berlin.

...okay forget the spell check, it's in German.