Chapter 1, Katharina

I got to Germany on Wednesday morning. I had picked up the flu a few days before, so the trip was rough. I spent the first 5 days at Katharina's parent's house in Leipzig. The first three days I slept a lot, but still managed to go out at night, although I wasn't lasting too long. On Saturday, Heike and Jana came to Katharina's place and we had a little BBQ, like back in the old days. I did most of the cooking. Here we are eating around Katharina's kitchen table.

On Monday Katharina and I headed for Amsterdam. The drive across Germany was pleasant. We were in trouble when we got to Amsterdam; our driving directions were wrong, and we had a hell of a time finding the hotel. Neither one of us wanted to drive the car, or ask for help. When we finally made it to our room, Katharina had broken off all diplomatic ties with me. Here is the most decent picture I had of the city of Amsterdam, Holland.

I think this is the same building as the one above, but from another angle. Notice the woman walking on the left. Being that this is Amsterdam, it is highly likely that she is a pot smoking prositute.

On Monday night (and most every night) Katharina and I went out for the evening. Here we are seated in a little square in the busy city center. Full of people, bars, restaurants, etc. I stole the two glasses on the table from this place, I can show them to you, if you would like.

This is another view from the beer garden we were sitting in. The place wasn't too crowded, being a Monday night when I took this picture.

Here you can see a lot of bikes. In Amsterdam, a shit-load of people are riding bikes. The damn things are everywhere. This is one reason that neither myself nor Katharina felt comfortable driving around. The other main reason for me is the trams; I'm really not used to having little trains sharing the road with me.

One thing you simply must understand is that Amsterdam is full of canals. There are little dirty rivers running most everywhere. In this picture, Katharina and I are on a boat tour.

I am the dude on the right. In the background, some building. Probably old. These European types tear nothing down. For some reason they enjoy watching their old buildings fall apart.

Here we see Katharina in front of the central train station in Amsterdam. This was a hot busy day of sight seeing for us. Notice the look on Katharina's face if possible. Anyone who knows her well can recognize her frumpy sarcastic look. She is quite the travel companion.

These are some typical looking houses in Amsterdam along one of the canals. Notice the hooks, that is how they get their furniture in there. It comes right from Ikea, up the outside of the house with rope from the hook, and inside where it will be enjoyed by the Dutch in many funky unintentional ways.

Here is a nice shot that I took. I like how lots of houses on this street are painted different colors. It also gives you an idea of how cramped the city is. There aren't too many big front yards here. In fact, there is no space between most of the houses.

This picture was also taken during our canal tour. Please direct your attention to the house behind the bridge. I'd like to point out the window shades. These are also quite common on the houses in Amsterdam.

Our tour guide pointed out that this little red house is possibly the narrowest house in Amsterdam (although there is some current debate on this topic).

I don't like this picture I think I look fat. I bought this red shirt in Germany, it looked good in the store, but I haven't worn it since I've seen this picture.

I don't know what this thing is. I can tell you its in Amsterdam, and the picture was taken from the boat tour Katharina and I were on.

Kathrina and I went on a night tour of Amsterdam. The tour consists of seeing the drug culture, pornography, and prostitution that makes Amsterdam a highly ranked travel destination for any American male. At the end of the tour we went to the prostitution information center, where people can go to learn about the process of hooking up with a fine working lady of Amsterdam. There is always a professional lady on hand to answer questions. We had an old lady that gave us her story of 30 years in prostitution; quite moving. We are sitting in a little sample sex room.

After a few days in Amsterdam, Katharina decided that it would be fun to take the long way home, dragging me all around Holland. I was still not recovered from the previous nights festivities. We stopped in a couple of towns, they all pretty much looked the same to me.

If you hear that its a stereotype that there are lots of windmills in Holland, its for good reason. This being the end of Katharina's chapter, I'd like to say that traveling with her takes some effort, but we always have a good time. I remember the most outragious thing she said to me on the trip; it was, "Do you want your sunglasses on the way out?" That may not sound funny, but in the context of the long walk that was required to exit the nude beach we were at, it would seem outragious that I wouldn't want to wear my mirrored sunglasses.