Location

No, not everyone in Holland has pot.

The last month has been pretty fast paced and internet has been expensive so I haven''t had the time (or money) to sit down and write something substantial about my travels until now.

Since my last email I have been to Munich, Interlarken, Milan, Bologna, Venice, Florence, Paris and now I am in Amsterdam. The Eurail pass has been pretty handy, its meant I (usually) haven''t had to line up to buy a ticket, I just rock up and jump on the train. It''s been a great way to see the countryside too.

Munich was a great town, having only seen Berlin in Germany it was good to contrast the capital with Baveria. The beers are much bigger in the south! My first stop was the Hofbrauhaus for a good 12 hours of beer drinking. Its Munich''s largest and most well known beer hall and also the place an odd little man named Adolf Hitler cut his teeth as a public speaker. The second day in Munich was spent mostly in bed (for reason see previous days activity) and then on a Third Reich walking tour of the city. There is a lot of Nazi history in this town, most of it escaped bombing by the allies while the rest of Munich was levelled.

Passing through Switzerland I stopped in Interlarken for two days and did some ice climbing on a clacier. This involved hiking up a clacier, strapping spikes to your feet and being lowered down a sheer cliff of ice then having to climb back up using the spiked shoes and little hammers. It was fun but very hard on the muscles.

Getting back to Italy the first thing I did was get a coffee. Best coffee in the world and you can just walk into any bar and get it, you dont''t have to be in the know about where to go and where not to go. Northern Italy was pretty much buildings, art galleries and museums. The best of which was probably in Maranello where in the Ferrari Gallery you can see Michael Schumacher''s 2001 championship car on display and pretty soon might have the 2003.

Paris was stunning. Some of the best art galleries I''ve ever been to and such an amazing collection of work. The streets are wide and everywhere you turn there is some old building kept so beautifully it could have been built yesterday. I''m going to have to head back to see some more art. One night Sal and I went to see a show at the Moulin Rouge, top stuff! I''m not huge on the dancing show thing but this was really great, very expensive though.

Now I''m in Amsterdam, strangely I haven''t been into a ''coffee shop'', seen prostitutes in windows or seen anyone wearing wooden shoes. The city is pretty to walk around, so many small shops squeezed next to each other. Most buildings here lean fowards as if they are going to fall out into the street. This, they say, is done on purpose so where you haul furniture up into apartments via the front window they don''t get knocked on the wall. This seems to make sense but why are some leaning sideways on walls which have no windows as well?

Hope the weather back in oz is warmer than here. Go the Wallabies.

Cheers, Pete