Last morning in Amsterdam

The staff at my hostel were friendly and the guy who checked me in enthusiastically recommended tons of stuff for me to see, drawing all over a map of the city. Unfortunately the place itself wasn't good at all, and I'm really hoping the next place will be better. The street outside was very noisy until very late and from very early in the morning. My room was right next to the 24hr reception, and every noise from it could be heard through the ill-fitting door. There was only 1 shower and 1 toilet on my floor, and there was no sink in the loo so I was constantly being disturbed by people using the sink in the room. One good thing about the hostel was that it has a resident cat as well, called Simba. Jill, the lady at Bar Beeren, said it was common for places to have cats because of the large mouse problem they have there.

Simba!

Amsterdam is flooded with British and American people. You can bet your bottom dollar that most won't have bothered learning any Dutch phrases, but I like to think that I'm different from your average tourist. I still didn't avoid feeling embarrassed though, as most people didn't even bother to entertain my feeble attempts and just talked to me in fluent English. Even Jill didn't bother with her customers, and just talked loudly to everyone in English like a true Brit. I've always experienced the same in Germany, although I know a hell of a lot more German and will persevere with my conversations. Probably.

I'm currently on the train to Cologne. I left the hostel at half 7 this morning, the same time as one of my roommates was getting in from last night, and got the train at just after 8. The thing I've noticed about the Dutch countryside from both the air and land is how organised it is compared to the English landscape, like a perspective-driven concept drawing in fine pen of some extra terrestrial landscape by Moebius or Ralph McQuarrie. I'm not talking rubbish, look them up!

The ticket inspector has just been past, which was the first time I've been able to know for sure whether my InterRail pass is valid or not. Onward bound, I suppose.