Huh huh ... drugs are cool

So we flew into Amsterdam and had less than 24 hours, but rest assured, it was quite the adventure.  We hopped off our plane, onto a bus, and headed immediately to one of Amsterdam's famed coffee houses.  Yeah, one of those.  It's kinda crazy the duality in that while is technically illegal, the laws thereof are famously not enforced.  Even so, there are small technicalities such as that while patrons can freely smoke in the coffee houses, the menus must be somewhat concealed--either kept behind the bar or covered by colored glass and only revealed by a light upon the touch of a button.

Anyhow, after our aforementioned excursion, we walked around the city a bit and headed to a bar in time for the first cup match of the day--Germany v. Argentina.  The bar had fervent supporters for both sides, and it made for a great watching experience.  We were excited to see Germany win, largely because it means it is possible that we will get to see the host country play in the 3rd place match which we will be attending.

The second match was not nearly as exciting, however it was once again great to watch soccer in a place where people actually care about the sport.  The Italians got plenty rowdy for the game, and practically closed down the street with their singing and dancing after their victory.

Then it was a standard night of bar-hopping out and about with a British couple we met randomly on the street and to bed for a couple hours before our 7am train ride to France in time for the Brazil v. Paris match.