Hamburg

So this is cool: I met a Swedish girl at my hostel in Hamburg last night (who might be reading this, in which case, Hi, Hanna) and a couple of guys from Virginia started talking to us later. One had his own construction business, and he was telling us all about how he dodges paying taxes by keeping a significant percentage of his business in cash. His justification was, "It's OK because only about 30 percent is in cash, so that means I pay taxes on 70 percent of the money I make." We were telling Hanna how many small businesses fail in the first year because it's nearly impossible to compete when the rest of the market is crooked. The guy (who had a rented BMW outside, three houses and way too much money for his own good) inadvertently converted Hanna.

In Sweden's next election, she said, she's voting Socialist.

I don't have too much else to write because it's still early in the day and I've only been to St. Nikolai Church (a church that was bombed during WWII, so all that's left standing is this huge tower, the crypt and some walls surrounding an empty space) and Rathaus (the place where the German government operates). Unfortunately, Rathaus isn't doing another tour till Saturday, and I'll be in Berlin by then, so all I could do was wander around the lobby a little.

I'll leave off by mentioning my last night in Amsterdam, which was pretty sweet. I went to a coffeeshop that was less touristy and more low-key, and ended up talking to a couple of Dutch guys all night. I'm pretty sure that at least 50 percent of everything that came out of this kid Casper's mouth was a lie, but it was still fun.

Now I'm headed to Deichtorhallen. I don't remember what it is though -- all I know is it's next on my list where I write down directions to each place I want to go. I think it may be a contemporary art museum...