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I arrived in Amsterdam on Friday the 16th, and it was so incredibly cold and windy. Amsterdam Centraal train station is very beautiful and historic looking on the outside, and on the inside it's pretty modern and you even have to scan your ticket to get out of the station. Caught an Uber to my airbnb then proceeded to The Burbs (Amstelveen). My apartment was a studio inside the home of an older couple. Really cute little place all to myself at the very top of the house, almost like an attic apartment. The couple was so sweet, every morning they left breakfast outside my door and included a nice note the first morning, along with a little sheet asking me to confirm what I wanted for the next couple of days. They even provided me with a bus pass to use during my stay. It wasn't free, but whatever balance I did not use would be refunded to me at the end of my stay. The next day (Saturday), I bundled up for the below freezing weather and headed to the bus stop...

Checked out of my Paris apartment on March 14 (so long, freaky elevator!), though it was a great apartment overall, and I will probably stay there again one day.  After trying unsuccessfully to find a Geocache in Paris (Google it if you don't know what it is), I caught an Uber to the train station to catch the Thalys to Brussels Midi. Very comfy trains and only about 1.5 hours to Brussels.  When I checked into my Brussels apartment, I was amazed at the gorgeous view from my bedroom...wow!  Caught it again around sunrise the next morning. View did not suck. After getting settled, I had a lovely dinner of beef cheeks and frites with some Belgian beer and chatted with a guy from DC. Turned in for the night, but wasn't able to sleep due to street noise...drunks singing, fighting and just being obnoxious. Because of this, I could never stay at this particular apartment again. There's also a crazy steep stairway, which apparently is very common in Europe. ...

On Monday March 12th, I decided to cook myself a nice little breakfast using eggs I had purchased at the local grocery store. They were by far the best eggs I've ever eaten in my life. Clearly not GMO'd like so many things in the US and very fresh. I was supposed to do a half day tour with a small group at the Louvre, unfortunately I got the time wrong and arrived too late to join the group, so I ended up walking around the Louvre by myself. It actually ended up ok because I get bored easily and couldn't handle more than a couple of hours in a museum anyway. Wanted to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and a few other famous works and was able to do that. At one point there was a silent protest of the Louvre's support of a fossil fuel company called Total. They were laying on the floor in front of a large painting and had media there to take pictures and get the word out. I also helped them by spreading the word on Twitter. Not sure what, if anything...