May the cards lead the way

At the hotel lobby we had found lots of small cards (like business cards) each offering discount to a different sight of Amsterdam. We ended up with about 10 cards and decided to have a look on each offer.
After a disillusioning breakfast our steps lead us to the famous Albert Cuyp Market with the weather changing from bright sun to snow every 10 minutes. They mostly have shoes and food among other junk. Still had a good time and awarded ourselves with our first Dutch fries. Yay.
Stopped by a pharmacy to buy as much painkillers as we could since they're so cheap here. The guy behind the counter was really funny. Almost like the guy from "Two And A Half Men". Maybe not exactly as crazy, haha.
As we slowly drifted into the city center roughly steering to our next destination we eventually came upon Rembrandt plein (place) which lined with cafés and bars. Had a break with a cappuccino sitting outside in the sun letting it's rays warm our faces like most of the other tourists and realized that none of us ever had a coffee in a café with all chairs facing in the same direction.
When the clouds took over again we hit the road and stopped by a very small shop crammed with all kinds of guitars of every age and every country. There was hardly space for us so we had a look, turned around and left. Would really be worth to go there some time again and try all those babies and have a chat with the owner.
Criss-crossing through town we stopped by De Bierkoning to browse through 1100 different kinds of beer and the self claimed best pancake house in Amsterdam. I don't know if it's really the best, but it's pretty damn good! The staff was pretty relaxed despite all the fuzz and the food outstanding.

Did a canal tour, had the best dinner at my beloved Malaysian restaurant, got us some space cakes afterwards and were back at the hotel around 10 pm spending the rest of the night there having a good time.

Amsterdam reloaded

Went to Amsterdam again for the easter weekend with two friends. Last time was more than one year ago in December. I still remember much of the city's layout so that I don't really need a map.
Started off with the earliest flight possible and some delay due to the necessity of de-icing the plane.
Weather wasn't much better in Amsterdam so far but still bearable. Had some nice breakfast first. Pancake with bacon and cheese which looked more like a pizza, haha. Had a nice stroll around the city and after leaving our luggage at the hotel headed over to Anne Frank museum only to see the masses of people queueing. The museum staff was giving out umbrellas and chocolate eastereggs to the people but we still couldn't get ourselves to join those unfortunes.

Instead we went to the Heineken gift store and settled onto very comfy seats that just engulfed us in somekind of chillout lounge. Before we were beyond the point of ever getting up again, we took turns in trying to beat a virtual goalkeeper by shooting a very real football at him. Apart from that the shop was pretty lame. Might be something if you're really into Heineken.

The Rembrandt museum was next. It's basically the house where he lived with as much of his or similar stuff as possible. The audioguide didn't tell much about Rembrandt himself so I would say it's not really worth the 12,50 Eur but they have a lot of his etchings which are just outstanding and easily the best part of the whole exhibition.
Slowly walked back to the hotel afterwards with the sun breaking through the clouds once in a while and had a super-sized chocolate covered waffle on the way.

Hung out at the hotel then relaxing and naping. It's not the best hotel I've ever been to. The beds are basically two stacked very soft mattresses. Since soft+soft eq supersoft I pulled one off and put it onto the very floor. That's at least a little better.
Headed off to find a nice place for some food and ended up at a terrible sports bar with a pathetic little burger and expensive beer. Shit. Well, that's the danger of going out in the middle of the tourist party quarter.
Later went to "Bourbon Street" a really nice Blues/Jazz pub to see a German band that was actually pretty nice. But since drinks where again awfully expensive (4.50 for half a pint of cider) and we were really tired we just went back to the hotel to have a good night's sleep.

Gear Testing On The Road

Actually my idea was pretty good: I wanted to take advantage of three days off and go for a hike near Berlin on a trail called "66-Seen-Weg". Since everything but my clothes is new I thought I give it a go before I take it all with me to Ireland in three weeks.

It may be the end of March but northern and eastern Germany are still in winter's tight grip with temperatures barely above zero during the day and snow everywhere. Still I packed all my gear into my backpack as if I was going to Ireland right now and took the S-Bahn to Straußberg.
Apart from a pair of pants I don't have any gear for a hike in winter. So I just put on everything I have and hoped it would serve.

First field test: GPS device. Got off the train and started the device. I had uploaded the maps and tracks before, but had trouble getting a connection to the satelites. Changed the satelite setting and bam! It didn't show my position in the US anymore. Now I was in Petershagen according to the device. Huh? I was so pretty damn sure, that I was in Straußberg. I mean I just got off the train!
To tell a long story short: it took me half an hour of walking around "Straußberg" to realize that my GPS device was right! I went back to the train station and had a look at the map there. Shit. There were actually three stations labeled "Straußberg".
Alright. I was almost 10km south of were I wanted to start and missed a lake already. Hm. Decided to go north anyway walk halfway around Herrensee and then back on the other side on the waymarked trail and stay from that point on.

The sky was ladden with heavy grey clouds and still the crunching snow, the frozen lake, the quiet, the peace and the solitude... it was just amazing.

Herrensee

Herrensee

After finishing the round trip I entered the nature reserve "Lange Dammwiesen". What was a snowy path with a few footsprints before turned now into ankle deep snow and I was the one who left the first footprints. The going was quite strenuous especially with my heavy backpack.
The path went along a train track and after 15 mins took a right turn into the woods. Still I was all alone. Saw two people on cross country skis in the distance but they vanished quickly.

Eventually the path wound along wide meadows which looked so beautifully with sparse black trees on the white ground and rolling low hills in he background. Still being all alone with the scenery it was almost magical!

I passed by Kleiner Stienitzsee and Stienitzsee with the latter one being quite large and finally arrived at Rüdersdorf after plowing through the snow for six hours. As the non-visible sun was setting it was getting remarkably colder so I decided against camping since my sleeping bag is not made for such low temperatures. Need to test my tent, sleeping bag and the gas stove another time.
Walked half an hour to the bus station and was lucky to get a bus to the nearest S-Bahn and within an hour I was home.

Although the weather upset my plans to hike for two days and to test all my gear for Ireland, it was still a very nice walk. My backpack is big enough for all I need, my new boots stood their ground even in snow and I know now how to use my gps device.
Brandenburg is beautiful in winter although working my way through the snow with the backpack and all was very exhausting and my knees really hurt that evening. Still I feel ready for Ireland!