Benelux and a long journey to Wien...

I got to Brugges and could not find a couch and soon discovered that the hostels were booked because of a music festival! Ah! I had to find a hotel, pretty cheap for a hotel, but more than a hostel would have been. I walked down to the festival to see if I could hear the music from outside (too expensive to go in) and wandered down a street which ran right into the park and you could hear Regina Spektor loud and clear. Even more wonderful, I met some awesome Bruggians who were hanging out there too and they showed me around Brugge and gave me a place to sleep the next night! I even got to drive one of their scooters around the parking lot - so exciting.

Sad to leave Brugges, but off to Amsterdam!

Thank the heavenly orbs for Hillary Firestone, she is amazing. She found me an apartment to stay in while I was there and a bike to use, showed me where the grocery was, invited me to watch the World Cup finals, told me where to take dance classes, brought me along to see a dress rehearsal for a JuliDans performance, had me over for dinner, gave me advice on what to do with my life, and more. I had a lovely time taking class, biking through Vondelpark, seeing crazy fans in orange everywhere, going to the Julidans dance party, basically pretending like I lived there for four days.

The powers that be of the rail system apparently did not want me to get to Vienna. It seems I chose to leave on the first day of vacation for everyone in the world, but finally I caught a break in Venice with an awesome ticket person who found me a night train leaving at 1:30 am and so I made it!

IMPULSTANZ begins.