Just returned from my trip from Europe. First kicked it off in Amsterdam, which is a beautiful city full of canals and very bike-friendly (if you like to bike). You can rent them for 9Euro for 3 hours from MacBike from the Central Train Station. My friend Sunny and I biked along an area where they have housing development which is really beautiful. The Dutch really appreciate aesthetic beauty and design in everyday life. The flowers and plants were of course, gorgeous. We took a canal tour, stopped by the Van Gogh Museum, and basically just walked around a lot. oh, we went to a concert hall that promotes contemporary music, which is right on the water. Very beautiful, yet stark building. We had dinner there one night, and I have to say..the service really sucked. The waiters basically ignored us, and when we flagged one down..they'd stop by for 2 seconds and try to pass us to someone else. It took 1/2 an hour for someone to take down our order..ridiculous.
Things to try in Amsterdam 1. Renting a bike and go around 2. If you're into that 'stuff', it's easily accessible..I personally wasn't interested 3. They all speak English, so you can get around very easily
Things not to try in Amsterdam 1. The waffles..they're dense and more like cookies than the waffles that we have in the states (they're very gross) 2. Walking around the red light district if you don't want to be bothered by men walking around with too much testosterone
Prague...We took a train from Amsterdam and went to Dortmund Germany, where we caught a 39E one-ticket on Easy Jet (and enjoyed soup & hot chocolate outside in a restaurant overlooking the runway).
Tip..when you're taking a train, if you want to go with unreserved seats, look for the placard above the seats to make sure that it's blank. That means that you can sit there. If you see a ticket, or destination on the computer screen, sit elsewhere, or you'll eventually be kicked off.
Prague was really really beautiful...gorgeous buildings, cobblestone. We stayed at the Travelor's Hostel which was right by the city centre. I swear I felt like it was haunted haha. Well, they say that Prague is one of the most haunted cities in Europe. Anyhow..we stayed on the 5th floor. I'm personally used to staying in hotels/motels, so this was a bit of different experience for me (esp the bathroom/showering situation..it was like being in the dorms..didn't like the bathroom...a little sketchy). The rooms were nice though..we had our own room. I can't remember the price offhand, but it was like $20 US dollars or so a night. Very convenient. We tried goulash yummy, and bought some things at Gourmand, a cute French place (smoked salmon on croissant..yummy!) and brought that to the Prague Castle. The walk across the Charles Bridge was amazing..and very picturesque (did I spell that right?). And trust me, you need at least half a day to look at the castle.
The main church/cathedral is of the Gothic style, with high buttresses, and it's mindboggling to imagine people actually building it. We went up the South Tower (good lord..it was round and round in circles for what seemed to be an eternity). On the way down, I counted 284 stairs..but the view from the top was amazing. You have a 360 degree view of the entire city. And man..do NOT look down if you're scared of heights.
Went to the Mucha museum (big in Art Deco, and his illustrations appear in the Wizard of Oz series) the next day and had the best sausage..with mustard..it was SOOOOO good. And of course, coffee and shopping. The bookstores there are very cool, and some stores sell prints and etchings that are really wonderful and beautiful. Such a beautiful city. Oh also watched a chamber music concert of a pianotrio. Wasn't really impressed by this group that won the Brahms competition. The violinist and cellist wore leather pants..yuck. Not pleasant on the eyes. Worst of all is that they had no tone..meaning color while they played. Absolutely not sensitive to touch (and man, the violinist would vibrate on his 4th finger and not his others) while the pianist just pounded away...as you know Europeans champion themselves on having the best musicians in the world..well, let me just tell you that we have plenty of extraordinary musicians from the States as well..(that played even better than this trio). I almost left after the 1st piece (mozart), but I figured that it would be rude..so I stayed..argh..my ears.
What to see 1. The Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge 2. Walk around everywhere and explore all the nooks and crannies 3. If you have a chance and you can take a tour of the countryside, I would do that (next time) 4. The czech food is yummy and totally affordable. Our dinners would average $7-10 for the maincourse for hugeass portions. 5. Haggle over prices for the crystal vases..it's so much fun!
Then the train ride from Amsterdam to Dresden was breathtaking. I really recommend doing this (although we had two of the most smelliest dirtiest English dudes who btw were ugly that came and sat in our car). I thought I was gonna die as they chomped on their potato chips and one of them let out a godawful fart...silent and frickin deadly! The houses in the Czech republic are soooo cute and charming and the river had the morning mist coming off of it..and they had apple and pear trees dotted everywhere.
The scenery changed a bit when crossed over into the Germany. The houses looked different, although it was still quite beautiful. We ended up at the train station in Dresden and stayed at the Ibis hotel. Lunched on some huge sausages...I'm such a fan of hot dogs, so I was completely happy, and plus they're filling and cheap! We walked around and stopped by the palace there. Basically the whole city with the exception of a few buildings were dessimated in the bombing of the city in WWII. The palace is black with soot, although they are going through a renovation process right now in preparation from some centenniel celebration next year. We walked over the Japanese Palais, but there was nothing Japanese about it. They were actually having an exhibit on 100 years of sex. The flyer had a picture of a pot with a man screwing a lady doggy style. yes, very graphic, and we were like..uh, no that's ok. For dinner, we got an amazing fruit salad at the mall (1.5 E) and sausage and spaetzle (it's like a German handmade pasta) (7.4E).
Then back to America I went..wow. Need to go explore Germany some more, it's very picturesque, and I can't really describe it so well with words. I'll let you know when I get my pics downloaded. Ciao..and back to the real world! argh | 
ok..that concludes my rant for the day. 