I spent my few days in Amsterdam just biking around and exploring. When it came to the nightlife I took it on with Donny, a substitute teacher from California I met in my hostel. For those who don’t know – Amsterdam has quite the nightlife.

6/7 This was the Friday of the world famous cheese festival in Alkmaar. I also had the pleasure of seeing my good friend Henk, who resides in the city. He showed me around the town of Alkmaar, through his gallery in the city, and then showed me the nearby beach in Egmond. We grabbed a bite to eat by the ocean and caught up on each others lives. That night I spent in Alkmaar.

Alkmaar Cheese Festival

Alkmaar with myself (Left), Henk (Middle), and Claudio (Right)

6/8 After saying goodbye to Henk (and being shown to where I could get freshly made Stroopwafels in Alkmaar) I made my way back to Amsterdam. I grabbed my bike and toured the Van Gogh Museum followed by the House of Bols. Both were awesome. The Van Gogh museum traced Van Gogh’s life through his artwork and was highly supplemented by the audio tour. The House of Bols explored the senses involved in enjoying alcohol and the history of Genever.

Later in the night I met up Corinne, Maria, and Theadros who I was connected to by a friend for a BBQ. They were a bright and driven group and it was a pleasure getting to know all of them.

BBQ with Theadros (Left), Maria (Middle), and Corinne (Right)

The rest of my time in Amsterdam went by as a blur. I managed to see the Anne Frank House, eat Indonesian food, and spent a day with Theadros learning about his expertise in coffee. Corinne was beyond hospitable and let me stay in her place. I also pretty much lived off of Stroopwafels, going through a pack a day. For those who don’t know, Wikipedia defines a Stroopwafel as “a waffle made from two thin layers of baked batter with a caramel-like syrup filling in the middle.”

In Prague I was met by Matt Jayson, my future roommate in San Francisco. Prague is a beautiful city, but after two days of seeing the sites (and a bar crawl) we decided for something more spontaneous. We’ve managed to secure ourselves a BMW 3 series convertible in Munich in order to create an impromptu Euro road-trip…