Timing. It's all in the timing

Hi there! I didn't think it had been five days since I last signed on. Part of that is because the last time I signed on to the blog, I spent the time on the other blog. But get this, for the first time I'm in a hostel with. . .TA-DAH! Free Internet!!! Sadly I'm only here for one night but I'll try to catch up before someone else wants to use the computer. So Friday was my arrival day in Bruge and I think I covered that. Saturday I did the town starting with a visit to the Post Office and the a walk up up up up up up the Belfry, all 366 steps. I see a trend developing here. Anyone know how many steps up the Eiffle Tower? Then there were the tours-the town hall and adjacent cathedral, the Groeing Museum and that name is spelled wrong. I now have a very fond impression of The Primitives and someone has asked to use the computer so I will go now and come back later...

Ok, I'm back and I was admiring The Primitives. Actually, some of the paintings reminded of the style of the art work in MAD magazine! I also visited a hospital museum and The Church of Our Lady because inside was one of the few Michaelangelo's works outside of Italy. I know that because of all the research I did before going to the church which amount to seeing that particular fact printed on at least 37 different pieces of tourist propaganda scattered throughout the town.

If anyone (besides my biggest bro') has seen the movie "In Brugges. . .", do you remember the scene on a bridge over the canal and there is dog in a window. The dog is still there and still hangs out that window.

The hostel at Brugge was fair. I'd've love to stay and see more of the city but I was not sad to leave the hostel. Part of the reason may have been that I felt a cold coming on. I've been taking what measures I can to keep it at bay without having access to my normal remedies-Nyquil, Hawaiian Punch, Chicken Soup and sleep. I couldn't have asked for a better place to suppress a cold than the hostel at Haarlem, The Nederlands! It was quiet, warm and comfy. I arrived on Sunday too late to find any kind of drug store (no 7-11 type places) so I just had a nice dinner at the hostel, hot tea with honey and lemon and went to bed. I didn't feel too bad on Monday but wanted to play it safe so I only did a short uninspired walking tour of Haarlem itself. I did the best I could at getting the necessary cold meds. Even though it was all over the counter stuff, it's all behind the counter and you have to know what you want to be able to ask for it. There was just enough of a language barrier that I couldn't get everything I wanted especially since they simply would not sell me aspirin if they were going to sell me anything else. I made do and figured I'd just go elsewhere to get the aspirin.

The next day the cold still hadn't taken a solid hold so I chanced a quick visit to Amsterdam. I'll tell you now, I did not give this city it's due. I went to the visitor center first and picked up a city map. The map lists 52 museums and sites. Some of the sites are generic tourist sites like Madam Tussaud's and the Amsterdam Dungeon. I say generic because of the few major iconic cities I have had the pleasure of visiting they've each got a Madam Tussaud's and Dungeon. If you ratchet up the culture and redeeming social value and Amsterdam offers the Film Museum and the Theatre Museum. Take it up bit more (a lot more) and you've got the Van Gogh Museum and The Rembrandt House. Looking at the historical importance of Amsterdam, there's the Anne Frank House and the Joods (Jewish) Historical Museum. I didn't go to any of them. I also did not go to the Bible Museum, the Sex Museum, the Erotic Museum, the Hash, Marijuana Hemp Museum, The Heineken Experience or the Torture Museum either! I did ride a canal boat, though. :-/
OK, so I blew it as far as Amsterdam is concerned. All the more reason to come back, eh? Well, I was and still am pushing this cold back because if this turns into the kind of cough I usually get at the end of a cold, it actually could end this adventure. So today was a good kind of day to help with the rest aspect of treating a cold. I was all day on trains. Haarlem to Amsterdam to Frankfurt to Nuremburg. Good connections the whole way. Arrived in Nuremburg in time for a nice Chicken Curry dinner-good for clearing the sinuses. A hot shower, finish up this log and it's time for bed. I've made some more notes than are here now and I'll include them at some point. So as the farmer said "That'll do, Pig" (What movie?)