There are two kinds of human thought.

1 Those that handle the physical that does exist

2 Those that handle the non-physical that is fiction that doesn't exist

"time runs independently of everything else."
Not connected to anything real, "time" is only a word of our language and "t" only a mathematical symbol in physics. Time is non physical. Time does not exist in reality.

Consider that for a minute, or for an eternity, or for a trombone honk...and imagine me wandering the streets in Berlin. Soaking up the sun, wearing purple sunglasses, relishing in a recent pool victory over Natalia...

Berlin! Street art! ...it's no Valparaiso but it's up there as far as the European cities I've seen are concerned : )

Natalia in the big bench park : )

Oh, the Oberbaumbrücke!! Tied for first on the favorite places in Berlin list. It's the rock paper scissors bridge (as Natalia and I call it), and this is the moon rising behind it, on my momma's birthday : ) Basically, the second we discovered this we turned it into a drinking game (cause you can drink everywhere on the streets in Berlin and we pretty much always have a Berliner or two on us:) My hand is the right hand and Natalia's is on the left. She named her hand Donna Summers and I never asked.

I also just notice now that Natalia is beating me in this photo...I should have planned better....maybe not beat her so bad in pool...

And, I guess this provides a nice opportunity to mention my other favorite place in Berlin...

The most pleasing way to end the day is watching dancing at Monbijoupark at the river. They play different kinds of music every night. We haven't actually made it ON the dancefloor but buying a bottle of wine at the kiosk down the street and sitting on the stairs to watch is the way to go! Musicians play up by the steps to the church (we heard the uke, guitar, and a violin all in one night!) and there's also an open air theater right there that if you walk through the park you can see the backstage : ) (i have a photo but it is not cooperating right now so you'll have to wait!)

Ok...travel up down forward back...

Before I left for South America Mickey and I kind of talked about him coming to visit me in Berlin. He bought a ticket to Amsterdam, so close, yet so far, came and got me in Berlin, and dragged me all the way out to the Netherlands...it was fabulous : )

So, on the way we stopped in Bremen: An adorable little old town on a river, made known by a tale of a donkey, cat, dog, and a chicken; the musicians of Bremen. (This is still a whisper of memory for me...feel free to refresh my mind!) We befriended a crew of locals over beer and a smoke in the park and spent most of the few days in Bremen running around with them : )

Rotterdam: Medium sized city with all the same general outlook as Amsterdam...perfect. I think one of my favorite nights with Mickey was here, drinking delicious, cold, frothy, crisp, REAL, beer from the tap on wicker chairs with our feet on the railing overlooking a beautiful canal by moonlight with windmills in the background. Mmmm yes. Mickey kept talking about all the spiders all over the place...

*worth noting* this is where I started to believe I was rich! I hopped on the draft train in a big way and tried so many amazing beers I had never heard of(!) all with fancy glasses...the new favorite: La Chouffe, Belgium (the one with the adorable little gnome on it : )

Texel!: Uh, this was my pick...let's just say I got to put my feet in the ocean and that made it all worthwhile...Texel is one of three islands in northern Netherlands. We took a train to a bus to a ferry to a bus to our hostel which ended up being family vacation central!!! Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaah! We were the ONLY people our age...and it rained the entire time : ) We found the local bar and made some new friends, all of which were surprised that two Americans had made it to the island. Turns out Texel is pretty much THE Dutch vacation spot...'nuf said, back to the mainland : )

Amsterdam: awesome, touristy, awesome, beautiful, we slept on a boat, awesome, pretty rainy, whatever, awesome, yes. Amsterdam was great. We pretty much wandered around admiring the houseboats and the lovely array of pretty colored bikes : ) (If-when I live on a boat I will say that it was Amsterdam that made the decision : ) We chose our museums very carefully (yet pretty spontaneously) and skipped all of the main attractions...we hit up the FOAM photo museum and the NEMO science center. Van Gogh will have to patiently wait for the next time around...