Amsterdam I love you!

So we're finally here. Of course this was a must stop on our trip and we planned for it to be towards the end so we don't blow all our money on the "attractions" of the city. The city is everything you think it is and then some. Liberal Europe at it's finest.

In the center of the city there is this slogan, "I AMsterdam". It's all over the place and pretty catchy. Elaina is in there somewhere it's kinda dark though.

Amsterdam has as many canals as Venice in Italy but that's not their claim to fame. What is Amsterdam famous for? I can't seem to remember. Here's a cool building. Here there is no "traditional" Dutch food so you can eat anything from Mexican, to Japanesse, to Thai. Chips are huge over here, the British ones. We couldn't get enough of them and they really hit the spot after all the coffee.
This place only sells chips, it's called Chipsy King.
They we're good and HOT!
We walked by this tattoo parlor everyday and it was always closed. How do they stay in business?
Now I remember what Amsterdam is famous for, their agriculture!
Here's a view from the front of our hotel. It's one block from the redlight district. Tons of coffee shops everywhere. We got lost almost everynight coming home and we don't know why?
Since there's no Dutch cuisine. I guess it's beer and burger time. Of course we had white beer!
I told Elaina to get these but she didn't want them, they wouldn't stay on her face.
In the redlight district and another coffee shop. Whenever you see windows with redlights, those are prostitutes and it's totally legal. These were some of the prettiest women we saw in Europe our entire tip. NO LIE.
That's me going pee. They have these through out the city. It's just a metal sheild and a drain in the ground. You pee while people are just walking by, you can see them and they can see you. No time for stage fright here. The city comes and pressure washes them each night.
The large building in the background is the main train staion. In the foreground is the water bus that'll take you to your hotel for a small fee. A cathedral across from the train station.
Pop Surrealism or Lowbrow art... Some of the type of art Elaina is into was loaded in this store/art gallery. She bought a book with works by artist Joe Ledbetter (Los Angeles artist).
My kinda of place!
Elaina really wanted to get a tattoo so she did it. It came out really nice and will forever be a souvenir of our trip. Amsterdam was the only city we were that had tattoo shops. Elaina had the itch to get another and found a small open space on her arm for a new tattoo.
This is a piece by Joe Ledbetter in the book Elaina purchased aaaaaaand this is her new tattoo. A cuddly zombie bunny. A view of one of the canals. It was a nice day this day. Here's another water bus.
This was our second favorite coffee shop. Good times!
More chips please! I don't know why they call the place mannequin piss though, Elaina seemed to like it. YUCK!!!
They were announcing everywhere that the city cleaners were on strike so the city was "less clean than normal" I guess that's a nice way of saying DIRTY AS HELL.
Another canal This was our favorite coffee shop. They had the best hot chocolate, Elaina couldn't get enough of it!
More city
This was our stupor home each night.
One last view of Amdsterdam before we leave.
We loved Amsterdam so much and we didn't want to leave. We were like kids in a candy store here but we knew we had to go back to Paris for a couple days before coming home. Little did we know that plans were about to change.



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Bern Switzerland

So now we're on our way to Bern Switzerland. Bern is about 2 hours by car from Visp so we had a nice scenic drive. I wish I would taken a picture but Rolf has a sweet Audi S6 wagon that made the trip that much better.
Maybe he was driving a little too fast because this guy showed up behind us. Luckily they we'ren't interested in us.

Along the way we stopped at this castle, Chateau Chillon. It's on it's own pennisula so it can not be over taken by land or sea. It's a museum now but we didn't go in. Elaina and I are all museumed out.




Now in Bern, Rolf wanted to take us to this shopping mall. Not to shop though, he said that the architecture had to be seen and he was right. It was totally new and fresh, especially for a shopping mall.

This is a major highway that drives underneath and out the other side of the mall. I was curious as to who mantains the tunnel? The mall owner or the city highway department? I know, I'm a nerd.

Here's the interior, it's a staggered 3 and 4 level mall. You can't walk more than 50 yards without going up or down an escaltor to another tier. This is very appealing to the eye and to the mind it makes you lose track of how far you've really walked. The old long straight malls that we have in the states are intimidating to the mind and not very inviting to walk along. This one makes you want to know, "what's next".



They even have trees inside!

Elaina likes the ceiling treatment in this store. Try and ignore my big head.

This is where you put your garbage while walking along the mall. There is a slot for every type that you may have, plastic, paper, glass, batteries, and food waste. Very clever as it also keeps trash cans out of the walking path.

Elaina and MORE chocolate


Now we're in downtown Bern walking the city, it's very chilly this day. Here is  the capital building, this is where all of Switzerland's congress sits. Cool fountain too.


Some people playing chess outside of a cafe. They don't know each other they just all jump in and create teams.

This is probably the nicest train station we've seen on our trip. It has a little shopping area and eateries. See those blue and purple lights in the background?

Bern used to have stone walls barricading the entire city during the first world war. They kept these walls in tact and now they are the structural walls of the train station. They highlight portions of the wall through the station, it's a nice historic touch to such a modern and contemporary building.

This is the Einstein House. It was closed for tours but this is where he came up with his famous formula of relativity, E = MC2.

Along the main street in Bern there are tons of these little shops that are under ground. The doors open up and you just walk down.

At the end of the street there is this HUGE clock tower, it's not only a clock, but a coo-coo-clock. Very Swiss.


Elaina couldn't control herself! I refused to buy it for her!!!

On our way to dinner over looking the river.


At one end of the bridge they have bears on display because that's what Bern means, bear. This bear must be upset, he uprooted all of his trees they planted for him.


This was the bridge we were just on.

Time for a little drink before dinner. PROST!

Elaina and Benita really got along well like I knew they would. They couldn't communicate with each other very well but they somehow found a way to make fun and laugh at Rolf and I whenever they could. They were always laughing?! Elaina is a firm believer that 'smiling' is a universal language, she and Benita used it often.

I wanted to order the sausage again but I had to resist. Elaina couldn't help herslf though.

Big beers are always welcome. No time for picture taking, must drink!

After dinner back at Rolf and Benita's place we looked at their wedding pictures which came out really nice. She made us these after dinner drinks. Fresh strawberries with a sugared rim and a grappa alcohol made by Benita's father with grapes from Rolf's vineyard! Elaina and I need to learn how they do it. They make everything themselves and they do it WELL!

The next morning they had another great spread for us. The food is just sitting there because I'm still in the bathroom getting ready. Rolf was worried we weren't going to make our trian because we were leaving Switzerland this morning. Sorry Rolf!

We made our train on time with a little jogging and heavy breathing. Rolf and Benita were so good to us we can't wait to come back and see their new place once it is built in a few years. Here they are bidding us farewel.

Robot really liked them too!

This was the last time we saw Rolf and Benita, they ran along side the train as we took off, how sweet! We'll miss you guys!!!

Next stop, AMSTERDAM!!!