Week 19 of David Foranand Fintan Gillespie'sadventure
Ending the Baltic and Scandinavian detour, we entered western Europe on a ferry from Denmark to northern Germany, before heading south to Hamburg. With the Germans having just won their semi-final in Euro 2008, the entire city went completely bonkers, with masses of fans and cars piling into the streets. We had the task of finding somewhere to sleep in the middle of the madness before getting involved with the celebrations in Hamburg's infamous Reeperbahm district.
Leaving this lovely city, it was a five-hour drive to Amsterdam, one of the most liberal and eccentric cities in Europe. Exploring the city's tree-lined canals, bicycle- crammed streets and crooked buildings, it was easy to absorb the laid-back atmosphere. We spent a day visiting the Van Gogh museum and also visited the red-light district and found out the embarrassing way that an Amsterdam coffee shop is no normal latte haunt.
We left Amsterdam and hit the road south for our final mainland European stop of Paris. We had all visited here before but each visit continues to blow your mind as you walk through the boulevards and witness the grandeur of its squares and buildings. The Hummer wasn't built with Parisian alleyways in mind and we had a few tight squeezes as we revisited the usual tourist haunts of the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysées.
After a two-day cultural overload, we headed towards Calais to take the Channel tunnel to England where next week we will travel to Liverpool before catching the ferry home from Holyhead to end this epic seven-month adventure.