We traveled from Prague to Berlin on Canada Day. I am reallz glad I went back to Prague as it is a really amazing and beatiful city.<\p>

One thing Robert and I keep commenting on, is everywhere we go, the trasit systems are just so much better then anything we have in Canada it is laughable. We have generally been getting transit passes to move around cities. In Berlin, the metro is huge and reminds me of London.<\p>

Today we went to the Jewish meusum in Berlin which was interesting, more for the feelings about being at a Jewish meusum in Germany then for the content. The content was very good, don't get me wrong, but it was similar to things I had seen before. It was still well worth it.<\p>

From there we went up to Checkpoint Charlie, one of the former crossings from West to East Berlin. We walked over to where there is still a section of the Berlin wall standing. We may go back here tomorrow to go into the meusum as we did not go in today.<\p>

We wrapped up our adventure by heading out to a royal castle. It was a very impressive sight and was worth the trip across town. There were no pictures allowed but we got a couple of postcards.<\p>

Tomorrow I want to go to a shul or two, and I'm not sure what else. I have a bit of a cold so I can't go all day, but I need to keep moving. On the 4th we are off to Amsterdam, and I fly home from there on the 6th. I will try for one more update while still traveling, but as there is not much time left and we only have 1 full day in Amdsterdam, I can't promise I'll be able to fit it in.<\p>

So, I'm a bit behind in my posts as I've made it home. Amsterdam is another amazing city. I just really like how the city looks, and the way it feels when walking around. Out of the two cities on this trip that I went to on my first trip (Prague being the other), I'm happy I ended up back in both of them again.

We were only in Amsterdam for an evening and then a full day, not much time at all. We got into our room and then went out again almost right away for a quick look around and some food. We ended up staying not too far from where I stayed last time so I recognized a couple of places right away which was nice.

We walked into a coffee shop then I remembered going into last time but it had completely changed. Last time there were bills (money) from around the world tacked to the ceiling with messages on them that people had writting ('Hello!' and things like that). I think Amsterdam has put in some kind of smoking bylaw as a number of places we were in had separate enclosed rooms for smoking (I was not complaining).

That evening we went for a walk in the Red Light District so that Robert could see what it was like. Apparently it is now smaller then when I was there last time, the city forced part of it to be shut down. I thought it seemed a bit different but at the same time it was very similar. Girls sitting in the windows, if you stop or look back they motion or call you trying to get you to come inside. We stayed out.

The next day Robert and I split up as he wanted to see some museums that I had been to. I pretty much just walked around the city soaking it up. Most stores were closed as it was a Sunday. I went into one diamond studio where they had a bit of a diamond exhibit which was cool. I did a bit of shopping, took some pictures, and tried not to use my baby toes when walking as I somehow got small blisters on both of them. It was a relaxing day and a good way to end the trip.

After meeting up with Robert we went for all you can eat ribs (4 racks each, we took it easy) before relaxing in the evening. The next morning the alarm went off at 4am so that I could get to the airport and Robert went off to Brussels for a couple of hours before heading back into Germany to a friend's house for a day or two to rest.

As I said, I am not back home and still a bit jet lagged. Yesterday I was up for 23 hours and my body it still not quite sure what time it is. I took today off work, but am back in the office tomorrow.

I had a quick look at my pictures and I don't think I did as good a job this time as my first trip. There are still a couple of nice ones I will get printed and maybe post a couple online. I will try to do a couple of more posts over the next day or two, in order to fill in a bit more detail here and there.