Next stop for us came along the Rhine. Pretty tedious train ride to St. Goar from Brugges, so we were happy to make it and ready for a taste of the famed Rieslings from the region. Had some great weinershnitzel that night along with a nice bottle of Riesling that Will and I took care of pretty easily. We did our best to learn about the different types and the steps taken to decipher a bottle. Generally speaking, we went for the drier style and dabbled with those slightly sweeter. The next day we did a lil sightseeing at the Burg Rheinfels, one of the more in-tact castles in the region. Pretty cool to think about guys in armor carrying immense swords and others with their bow and arrows at the same place hundreds of years prior. From there, we went into a little wine shop and had a "wine tasting." The owner of the store gave us the tasting and is also a winemaker in the area. First , he gave us a taste of peach brandy, possibly the best liquor i've ever had. Then, for whatever reason, let is try his award winning ice wine. It is a dessert wine, meant to be savored. He told us it takes 60 lbs. of grapes, which are harvested at night when they are frozen, to make a single bottle of wine. If the whole winemaking process is not finished in a timely fashion, the whole crop is wasted. Well, it was delicious. We then tasted all of their brandies, i'd say 10 or more. Flavors ranged from a Christmas potpourri to raspberry to creme. We grabbed a bottle of his trocken (dry) riesling and a good sized bottle of the peach brandy to avoid to many consecutive hours without at least a little buzz. Got to love the all day Euro buzz. Have a beer or two at lunch, then another couple more with dinner, then a fewmore to cap off the night. We hopped on the last boat to Bacharach, one leisurely hour on the Rhine, after some more beer and bratwurst.

We continued our buzz with another beer in route and enjoyed the vineyard speckled mountains and imposing castles. We were rewarded when we got to Bacharach with a 20 minute uphill hike to our hostel, or should I say castle. Well it was both, Burg Stalheck. We had time for a quick bite in the oldest building in town before we had to be back at the hostel. First and only time we had a curfew, ridiculous. The second time we hiked up to our hostel was a bit more challenging after another bottle of vino, this time from Bacharach. Unfortunately, Bacharach was a really cool city, a little more so than St. Goar, but the life of a vagabond entails constantly picking up and moving on. It made it a little easier to know that we were headed the Swiss Alps. And we still had our peach brandy in case we came across any Sasquatch.

8-23

So, I will do my best to find my way back through the smoke-filled coffeeshops of amsterdam and intimate brugges bars to update my sparce, but very well respected friends. Ahhhhhh, where to begin. Fucking Amsterdam, so unique, so amazing. Will's dad hooked us up with a nice hotel room for our 3 nights in amsterdam. Not only did we live like kings, but we felt like them too. Able to do what we wanted, when we pleased, our day normally started around 11 am or so. We'd head across the canal to this little dutch pastry shop, order a choco roenkoek and espresso and map out our itinerary. Surprisingly, a certain cloudiness lingers in my memories, but we did manage to have an educational experience at the van gogh museum.

What struck me about Amsterdam, is its peaceful and seemingly nonexistent dual nature. We stayed in a part of the city slightly out of the norm. At this location, we were able to see an aspect of life in "normal" amsterdam. Parents walking with their children, elderly people making their routine strolls through town, and the working locals. To these people, I visited on just another monday, in just another week in August. For me however, this was a "wow, I can't believe I'm actually here doing this experience." Anyway, what I love about amsterdam is that there are two sides to it. I spent a lot of my time in the areas where coffeshops flow like the salmon of capistrano, but was happy to get to see the amsterdam that we hear little of.

I have so much more to say about amsterdam, but my time on the computer is limited. Our next stop was in Brugges in Belgium. This city was everything that I expected it to be. A tiny medieval town known for its reknowned chocolate, beer and lace. First night we get there, we eat a nice meal in our hostel (best ribs ive ever had) then proceed to go to one of the greatest bars ever. 300-400 different belgian beers, great ambiance-sick. Everywhere we went, we drank amazing beer and incorporated as much chocolate as possible along the way. A typical day in brugges: waffle with chocolate sauce for breakfast, chocolates from one of the many chocolate stores in town as a snack, beer, a lil dinner (word of advice, don't order the toast cannibal. this guy that came out with us one night did and was presented with canned ground meat on toast, oh yeah, it was raw), then multiple beers. these arent bud lights, no, far from it. I'm talking 9.5 % westmaller trappist, 8% chimay triple, 8.5% bruges tripple. A meal in a beer basically. After a night of drinking, we'd head down to the center square and buy some famous frijtes and mayo to cap of the night and then have some chocolate when we got back to the room. A fairytale town with some of the nicest people, best beer, and best chocolate in the world. I feel as though im a better person after having been here. Maybe I haven't improved who I am as a person, but just being exposed to all Brugges had to offer makes me better than i was before. I dont care if it doesnt make sense.

8-18 Whew! i made it in one piece with all my baggage. pretty crazy how one minute one can be drinking premium napa valley merlot and eating foie graux in the company of one´s family and within hours start a 29 hour trip half way across the globe to a place where everything, yes everything is foreign. from the pull flush toilet to the language, to the waiters wearing black wife beaters, to the intense and intimidating nature of such a bustling metropolis. After about an hour of R & R upon arriving at the hotel toledano, will and i walked la rambla. the weather felt like a perfect socal night and atmosphere was electric. we window shopped for tapas and settled on a little place off the main pathway. Turned out that it was a pizza place, but a few cold brews and pizza satisfied both of us. we will have plenty of time to enjoy tapas. well we are off to begin our next adventure. we are taking a flight to amsterdam, which will start a 12 day journey eventually culminating in switzerland. Along the way we will go to brugge in belgium (think beer chocolate and waffles), the rhine in germany (think riesling, beer, and castles), and then off to switzerland (think more chocolate, snow capped alps, and peaceful, diplomatic civilians carrying pocketknives). well i need to go, ill send out an email shortly, until then, write me back.

8/14

The Calm Before the Storm

In less than 48 hours I will be on a plane to Madrid for an undetermined amount of time. The actuality of this event has really hit home within the past day or so. Although I have satisfied the necessities (what else do you need other than a passport and a ticket?), the small loose ends continue to elude my productivity. Even now, I'm making my first entry only to further procrastinate. Procrastination is not new to me, I honed my skills in college and like to think of myself as quite an efficient procrastinator. I procrastinate to the point of panic, then am able to pull myself together and get down to business. I suspect that this will be the case once again, I will call all those that I need to call, track down all pertinent contact info from those that I plan to stay in touch with, will clean up the kitchen after a night of good ol' Flegal (and friends) debauchery, call my credit card companies and alert them of my departure, get some form of exercise in, and then start the long competitive process of packing, pitting my favorite t-shirts against each other while keeping in mind their versatility, style, and "what does this shirt say about me?" characteristics. Ultimately, everything will work out, as it normally does but until then, I think I'll go watch some tv. It's not lost on me the amount to which I will miss American television. How could you not love an industry that glorifies teenagers that live in mansions on the beach, talentless glory-seekers, and stupid human tricks. I am scared about what might happen to me without my nightly dose of ESPN. I have always considered the glue that holds my life together. I fear that it will be like removing the moon from our solar system. The ocean will go crazy, their will be no ebb and flow as monstrous tides devour the coasts and everything else in its pathway.