In fact I did not start in Amsterdam but in Almere which is 10 miles south-east of Amsterdam. I guess on the grand scale of things (100.000 miles) 10 miles do not make a lot of difference.
My first 'target' was East Germany's Berlin and 'the Wall', followed by Prague (Czech republic), which was evacuated due to massive flooding by the time I got there. Via Budapest, capital of Hungary, I entered Romania where I visited Dracula and followed the Donau to the Black sea. Through Bulgaria I finally entered Turkey where the city of Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople and Byzantine, is divided by 'the Bosphorus' into Europe and Asia.
I left Holland with rain and three day's later got stuck for several day's due to flooding. Not the best beginning of a journey, but at least it did not snow.
