ketchup 2.0

Well back at it again we apologize for the long delay in the blog but here we go. Prague was good, I say good and not great because before getting there it had been very over hyped. With Krakow being as amazing as it was it made Prague appear just a little less exciting. It happened again we took our first night train, which was a very good experience, and upon arriving at the hostel around 9am they said we couldn't check in until noon, so we locked up our bags and headed out on the town early morning. It was the most touristy thing to do but we ended up going to The Simpsons movie to help pass the time. By noon we were quite tired so we checked in and had a nap. We woke up went grocery shopping and picked up our new beverage of choice, vodka and oj. After cooking dinner a bunch of people from the hostel went out but for some reason didn't invite us, no skin off our teeth. We headed out for a night on the town but again were quite dissapointed by the over hyped nightlife. The one big club they had was a tourist trap, no locals and long lines, not even worth it. So we walked around went to a few bars and called it a night. The following day was better, we did some sightseeing and stumbled across a rare gem, when we were in Poland the Bourne Ultimatum was scheduled to come out that in a couple weeks but in Prague it came out that day, so naturally we had to see it. That night was much better we met some girls and some guys in the hostel and we went to a nightclub that has a bar a club and a topless bar in it. Believe it or not we stayed away from the topless bar, not because the tv's above the bar in the club protion were televising it, and stayed in the club. Regardless it was great and the sun was up when we left. The next day one of our new friends wanted to see the new Bourne installment so we went with him again, and then we ended up at the same night club that night, another great time though, it all depends on the people and lucky us managed to meet some cool people once again, or is it lucky them? On our last full day there we showed around two girls we met and we're not ashamed to say went to the Bourne Ultimatum for a third time in three days, the girls came along. That night we celebrated our last night in Prague with our wonderful concoction of vodka and oj, what a wonderful discovery. All in all Prague was fun but didn't hold a candle to Krakow, the next destination was another very hyped city, Amsterdam. Upon arriving in Amsterdam we made our way to stay in an apartment which was made availble by friends of Adrian's family, Katinka and Albin. It was very nice to not live like a backpacker for a week and a bit and just relax in our own little place. Amsterdam is a crazy city and we experienced some of it but we also decided against experiencing all of it. We went to the Ajax stadium and did the full tour, another stadium crossed off the list, and we went to the Anne Frank house, the Heineken Brewery, and the Red Light District but only during the day. Amsterdam was a beautiful city with the miles of canals and bike paths which remind you that your definitly in Holland. We spent a about a week there but didn't party much at all it was more of a down time for us to relax and get our bearings. The one night we went out we met up with our friend Carly deGoode and brothers and cousins. We had Albin take us to a more local Dutch bar where we had some beers and drinks, by the end of our time there we had taught the bartenders what a Gladiator and a Dr. Pepper drinks were, we found it strange that we knew about drinks and they had no idea, really spreading that Canadian knowledge of alcohol i guess. We spent one night with Katinka and Albin and had a nice home cooked meal and began oraganizing our trip out of the city. After spending so long in Amsterdam amongst the hustle and bustle we decided to head east to the De Hoegue Veluwe National park. We had heard good things from Katinka and Albin and it was a good chance to save some money and camp. The train trip was only one hour but you would have had no idea that Amsterdam was so close. We caught a bus from Ede to Otterlo and entered the park from there. 7 euros per day in the park but you got the use of a white bicycle to explore the entire park. After finding out where the camp site was we realized we had a 9km bike ride through the park with our packs on. Let's just say it was fun. The next few days were great as we spent our days biking through 26 km of paved and gravel trails, making our way through forests, tall grass plains, sandy dunes and moores. Truely spectacular. A major attraction at that time of year was the red deer in the park as it was the rucking season. In a few key locations throughout the park there were secluded areas to view wildlife. Normally the areas were empty and nothing was to be seen. Luckily enough for us one evening we were biking through the park and decided to pull in to one of the view points. To our surprise a large crowd was gathered and we got to witness a large group of deer in a field. There was one male red deer who was rucking, trying to mate with one of the females and making crazy noises. I suppose trying to intimidate them. Then all of a sudden 4 other males come of of the bush and attempt to join in,with no luck. All we know is that we were very lucky to witness these animals in the wild. The rest of our time in the park we searched for strange looking mushrooms and caught some amazing photos of a wide range of them. I know it doesnt sound so exciting but it helped pass the time as we strolled through the park. After a few nights we decided we had enough ham and cheese sandwiches and camping so we packed up our things and took off for Rotterdam to see Adrian's Oma. We trained to Rotterdam and booked into a hostel for a couple nights. Again we took it easy in Rotterdam. Upon arriving at Adrian's Oma's place in Vlaardingen we had some lunch and some dutch cakes and Adrian tried his best to speak Dutch to his Oma and Mike tried his best too, at one point he ven fell asleep, what a guest! Adrian hadn't seen her in a few years so it was a absolutely wonderful visit although as we left we are sure she was crying but we did our best not to look back. Back we went to Rotterdam. The city with little to offer after you have been everywhere esle. As we were slightly unimpreesed we moved south out of Holland and into Belgium. We planned on doing some more camping as it was easier on our budgets so we decided on heading to Namur. The last major outpost before the Ardennes. We arrived not knowing that it was the weekend of a large music festival. In need of groceries we hit up the local tourist information, being a Sunday we were told the only open store was on the opposite side of town. All we had to do was walk all the way down the main street, lucky us as we had our large bags and a crowd of 50,000 to navigate through. This turned out to be the start of a very long day before ever reaching the campsite a mear 6km outside of town. To make a long story short we walked too much, took one too many buses, got lost, found our way, got lost again and then had to walk up a long steep hill to the campsite. We set up camp got drunk and moved on in the morning to Bastogne, the site of WW2's most deadly battle. It was kind of surreal to be in such a place. Obviously it had been completely dimolished in the war and rebuilt but it still had this feeling about it. Tanks were positioned around town as little reminders as was the memorial to Patton and Maculiff. The most impressive site in Bastogne was the Bastogne Historical center, a museum and the memorial to all the American troops who fought in the area. It was easily one the largest memorials and one of the best museums. It housed many uniforms from both sides of the war and many weapons and artifacts. Very informative and made you realize the sacrifices soldiers made for everyone. All in all in the neighbourhood of 75000 soldiers were dead in the area and countless others injured. After soaking up the history in Bastogne we made a push for luxembourg and the small town of Eshe sur sure, the home of Luxembourgs oldest castle. Esch sur Sure a town of only 320 people had the best campsite we have come across on the trip to this point. We really only spent a night there but we were able to see the oldest castle in Luembourg while there, and hike up some nice scenic trails. Esch was a quaint little stop over before moving on to the capital Luxembourg city. The city was small compared to some we've seen but it was quite beautiful. It still maintained a good amount of nature and the city has a nice cohesion of old and new. We visited these casements built by the Spanish to defend the ld town if necessary. There were numerous little tunnels mostly marked but some that dissappeared into the darkness that we didn't venture down. Luxembourg is a very wealthy city and you can tell by the amount of construction going on all the time with numerous cranes painting the skyline. The city was a nice place to say we've been because not a lot of backpackers tend to make it there. So after our stint in Luxembourg we are heading back to Paris to stay with Gilbert again for a few days and visit with Mike's parents while they are here. So to date we've been to 12 coutries and countless towns and cities, with a few weeks left we hope to make the best of it!