hup holland hup!*

hallelujah! we're here! after a long night of traveling with little sleeping involved, we're now trolling the streets of amsterdam, looking at the lovely canals and little alleys and cafes, leaping out of the way of omnipresent bikers and careening motorists, and sampling authentic dutch indian cuisine. also trying to find an internet cafe that doesn't require you to smoke up while you check your email. some highlights so far:
**shortly after taking off from dulles we saw two rainbows (or one rainbow twice?) above DC. it seemed like a good omen.
**our hotel is on a houseboat which is totally unlike what i had imagined. there are tons of these squat little constructions on every canal, some of which look like boats and others like trailers plopped into the water. some have roof gardens complete with hammocks and bike parking. ours looks vaguely boatlike and is pretty cozy inside. when we arrived they had just finished cleaning our room from a recent flood but they were still working on the water and electricity for the whole boat. we immediately lay down on the bed for a nap and were surprised when a hotel employee and then a repair person began to let themselves into our room. they were very nice when we told them to go away.
**there seem to be many fish take away shops we haven't quite figured out. when we went out in search of a snack we both had very low blood sugar, so we're trying to evaluate our options for the rest of our time here.

our plans for the next two days include the van gogh museum and rijksmuseum, the anne frank house, a peek at the red light district, and checking out all the parks and interesting neighborhoods.

and, of course, the world cup starts tomorrow, featuring germany vs. costa rica and poland vs. ecuador. we plan to plant ourselves in a cafe near our hotelboat and join the locals in cheering loudly.

*(go holland go--on orange signs everywhere)