Two days ago I was in Heidelberg, visiting my friend Kemal. Great fun to catch up with him, as he’s just started a PhD at the (old, famous, prestigious, impressive) university there. We talked about geeky computery things like Random Forests.

I’m the one without muscles.

It’s a nice town. It’s got a castle and stuff. (My friend Brian informs me that I’ve been saying that about pretty much every town.)

The castle is nicer than most. It’s old and crumbley and has the world’s biggest wine barrel. There’s also a hill called Heiligenberg next to the city. We hiked a bit through a Random Forest and saw an old Nazi amphitheater and a ruined monastery.

Now I’m in the Netherlands. Brian (sometimes known as “Beej”) arrived yesterday and we’ve been palling around Amsterdam, along with Guido and Joyce, who I met in India. Guido and Joyce have been super friendly and welcoming hosts, and it’s great to see Beej again too.

Me, Beej, and Guido, paddleboatmen extraordinaire

Not a ton to tell. Went to the Van Gogh museum, saw the Boom Chicago improv troupe (their main show was meh but their late all-improv show was spot on), paddled around canals, watched the Dutch lose a lot at football. Soccer. You know.

All’s well! Having a good time in the Netherlands. I like this place.