Refreshing mtn air...finally!

24 hours after locking my door at the Co-op, I arrived in Chur, Switzerland. Whew! I knew I had a 5 hour layover in Amsterdam and figured I would have enough time to see some the city in daylight. Last time I was there was at night and I wandered the red light district for four hours. I don't talk about that time.... All I saw that time around was nightlife related. In fact, the picture posted is the only picture of me in Amsterdam since both times I traveled there alone. Can you see my blood-shot eyes from the long trip? This time I had the chance to see actual monuments and historical sites. But, I didn't have anything planned as I landed and it turns out it is easy to get lost when all the streets looks similar and curve back to point A. You can't even judge location by the canals because they are everywhere. So my attempts to find the Anne Frank House brought me past little alleyways, many canals, cool shops, lots of marajuana smoke, buildings with crooked windows and doors from 1640, and the market. Never did find the house. You know, I am okay with that because it meant that I could see all those other cool things. Besides less than 3 hours is never enough in a big city. Next time. Oh, and not a single flake of snow anywhere to be seen. The countryside was still green!

The difference in Passport control in Europe is kinda funny. In Amsterdam the border control people were just chatting away and glanced at my Passport. In Germany there wasn't a single person by Passkontrolle and you just walk through the green gate if you have nothing to declare. But on the train crossing the border to Switzerland, the police stared me down, took my passport, looked my luggage up and down, started asking questions and flipping through my Passport. Maybe they never saw a tourist that wasn't petrified of them.

Anyway, I made it here and the mountains are pretty and snow-covered. More pictures of that later.