Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Holland
6:40pm

We didn't have easy access to the internet in Paris, so we had to wait to post until we got to Amsterdam. We spent three cramped nights in Le Petit Louvre... and it was certainly petite. The room we shared was about the size of a walk in closet (you can imagine how well we got along during that close time together). We had a hilarious tour guide as we drove around the city, she allowed us to stop every so often for a "quicky picky"(pictures). When we ended the tour at Notre Dame we actually ran into my friend Dominic--small world! The afternoon was spent at the Musee D'Orsay and, of course, the Louvre. That night we went up the Eiffel Tower and got some great pictures and saw the beautiful Paris at night from all sides.

I have to say something for the street performers in Europe. When we were in London there was a guy with an electric guitar in the tube that played Eric Clapton and yesterday in Brussels there was a Santa look-alike who played everything from Jerry Lee Lewis to a Beatles medley. Very impressive.

We only made a lunch stop in Brussels, but we had enough time to have Belgium waffles, which were quite delectable! Then we got to our hotel just north of Amsterdam which is a four-star and very nice and comfortable. We ate at an Indonesian restaurant... and probably never will eat there again, if that's any clue (but, of course, Leigh probably ate the most of anyone in our group). Today we went on a bike tour of the Dutch countryside, which was so much fun. We checked out the wooden shoe & cheese factories, which were interesting. I'll try to get pictures up on this soon--some of the computers don't allow us to upload. We're waking up early tomorrow to stop in Koeln and will stay the night in Heidelberg, Germany. We miss all of you! Aufwiedersehen!

Tracy and I trying on wooden shoes in Amsterdam.