And so the journey begins....

I arrived in Rotterdam, after having a bit of trouble trying to find somewhere to buy a ticket for the tram and getting nowhere fast with the a local shop keep, I decided to take the metro instead. With all the time stuffing around with the ticket buying and metro line, would have been quicker to walk there as it so happens. Oh well you live and learn. I got to the hostel were it is a themed hostel, every room has a different theme. Well I was in the Board Room. It was basically a large room painted in dark greens and with heritage type of wall paper in the centre of the room was a table with one huge wing backed chair and then other smaller chairs around it, I guess the wing back chair was for the chairman of the room? That evening I met a whole bunch of Aussies, a Candian and a couple of local girls. We spent the night chatting and drinking. The next day a few of us headed out to see the sites of Rotterdam. Well there isn't that much to see. We checked out the post-modern appartments. They were quite roomy for a square box. There were local markets going on as well, we had a good giggle at the porn stall, it was in amoungst the brick and brack old grannies were selling and various other stalls. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out and playing pool. That night our room took over the lounge room down stairs in the dungeon. It ended up that most of us were going to Amsterdam in the next few days so we planned on meeting up there later. The next day I headed off to Den Haag. This place is a really cool little town. Great buildings, heaps of art and cafes. Checked out Esher's Museum and his "4D" drawings. And another place that had a panoramic of the city back in the good old days. It was a 360 degree painting from standing on the sand dune and as you turned around it was like you were there standing on the dune itself looking around. They had put in sand dunes and and other bits and peices like old fishing nets, a deck chair, etc up to the painting and piped in sea sounds. It was pretty cool. From this town I headed to Amsterdam were I caught up with the people I met in Rotterdam. Once getting to Amsterdam my first port of call was to find a replacement phone charger, I accidentally left mine in Brussels and the replacement one that I had bought there had blown up in Den Haag and the phone was just about dead. I was unable to get a charger for my phone, no one in the Netherlands stock Sharp phones. It will just have to wait till I get to Germany. Any way I rolled up to the hostel that I had booked myself into. They told me the room wasn't ready but you are welcome to leave the bag in the room. I headed up the stained stairs along the coridor with the piles of sheets and rubbish to my room. Where on what is to be mine bed an ashtray overflowing with cigerette butts, beer cans everywhere and 5 guys passed out. One sat up stared at me. I asked him if he had a good night...he continued staring with glaced over eyes, I ditched the bag on the ground and headed out hoping that I would find my bag still there once I returned. What do you really expect from a hostel right next to the red light district. I caught up with my friends that afternoon and we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city. By about 1am I headed back the hostel to crash out for the evening. When I walked into my room it was like a fairy god mother had been. The place was immaculate!!!! I had to wonder if I had come back to the same the room. But there lying on the floor, where I had left it, was my bag. The next couple of days were spent catching up with my friends, checking out the sites and doing a "free" walking tour of the city (free as long as you don't tip) It was worth going, but 3 nights is too long there. I am now going back to Germany and hopefully a phone charger.