Still (Mostly) Behaving in Amsterdam

I'm pretty tired and my butt's pretty sore today (read below for the full story), so instead of writing a new post, I'll copy and paste some emails I sent to my momma. I apologize for the poor writing, but, you know, it was an email. Enjoy.

Thursday
Hey momma. Everything is still going great here. It was drizzly and rainy when I woke up, so after breakfast at the hostel I went to the Van Gogh museum, which was nice. Then I went back and took a nap, and when I woke up it was bright and sunny. This afternoon I stopped and had a coffee at a lovely little place that had seats right down on the canal. It was so cute. I'm going to go back there tomorrow to get a wheat roll with smoked salmon and horseradish. Sounds yummy and maybe even sort of Dutch (other than cheese, I'm not really sure what the local cuisine is here. Herring? I'm not eating that.). I haven't bought any meals yet - just eating the snacks I brought and the free breakfast at the hostel, but I'm going to splurge and actually buy dinner tonight. Ready for a good meal. I figure I can afford to buy one good meal a day and stock up on the free breakfasts for the rest.

Anyway, my legs HURT so much - I can't believe how sore they are. I thought I was in good enough shape, but my thighs are sore to the touch even. So much walking. Oh, the hostel was good last night - I'm in a 10 bed dorm, and miraculously I didn't hear a single peep. And I went to bed fairly early - only a few others were sleeping, and I was surprised and happy when I woke up at 5 a.m. and had slept through the night without waking up. Thank god for earplugs. Met a few nice people, too. Be thankful I'm only gone for six weeks - the other backpackers I've been talking to (mostly from Australia) are on trips for 8 months to a year or more and traveling multiple continents.

I'll email more tomorrow I'm sure. Hoping for good weather so I can rent a bike one of these days - better give my legs a rest until then.

Love you, Carley

Friday
Hey momsy, Thanks for the email. It was fun to read all that good news about home. And you made me VERY hungry talking about the stir fry you were going to make. I rented a bike today and biked all day long. I am exhausted (and hungry). I biked south down the Amstel river into the countryside. It looked a lot like Minnesota (other than the two windmills), but it was a really fun ride. Unfortunately it got a little cold and drizzly, and my butt got so sore, but I made it back and survived the day in one piece. Tonight I am going to organize and repack to get ready to leave tomorrow, take a shower, go get some good food somewhere (hopefully) and maybe have a drink or two at the hostel bar. I'm meeting some good people at the hostel - let's just say people come here to party.

I'll try to put some pictures up sometime soon. Maybe when I'm in Hamburg, if the family I'm staying with lets me use their computer. I'm sure they will - they've been so nice in emails and I'm excited to meet them. I've really enjoyed Amsterdam but I think I've done just about everything I need to here. Now I'm eady for some sourkraut.

Write more soon. Love you! Carley