Awake to Amsterdam, Sleep in London

10-13-2008

I woke up this morning at 5:00am in a room of 30 bunk beds with about 40 random people of all genders sound asleep around me. This is the life of hostel living. It' s not luxurious, but it sure is cheap, and truthfully, it's all anyone needs. 

Wherever you find a hostel, you will find an amazing city with lots to see, do, and fun to have. So why would you waste your money on a place you are going to spend 8 hours in max? These youth hostels have it down. A locker to put your stuff in, and a bed to pass out on. Simple. Granted, you have to hope the others in your room aren't (1) Drunk and obnoxious (2) Heavy snorers (3) or serial killers...meh, you get what you pay for. 

I made my way in the lonely darkness of the red light district towards Grand Central Station to catch a train to Schipol Airport.  This was the first time I have seen the city absolutely dead. No red lights, no shouting bars, no half naked women, just me, the cobblestone streets, and the canals... oh, and a persistent bum who kept yelling at me for change even after I was a block away. I guess those guys never sleep.

I got to work around noon. Finished what I needed to do and made my way home. 

For the first time today, I took a good look at the tube tracks  at the Willesden Junction tube station and discovered why one should never jump onto them...

A Sunday in Amsterdam and I Missed Church

10-12-2008

Once again I have to praise Sandeman's New Europe Tours. We took a three hour walking tour today with a lovely, intelligent guide who showed us a bit of the history of this fabulous city.

The original headquarters of the Dutch East India Company. Which I've come to discover is the world's first international conglomerate corporation. They began the evil...

World famous fries from the Vleminckx. They are world renown for the sauces that their fries get smothered in. Mike and I tried the war sauce: mayo, onions,  and peanut sauce. Amazing.

Hidden chapels where

Catholic's worshiped during their persecution. 

And of course, the narrowest house in Amsterdam (note the red brick).

We also took some time out in Dam Square to see some street performers. I wish I could say good street performers but they really weren't. Mostly living statues that weren't really all that still. However, there was one performer worth of note. 

She was from Canada, or at least she claimed to be. If I were from Canada, I would have walked up to her three minutes into her show and punched her in the face for giving my country a bad name. But thankfully, I'm not from Canada, so I just laughed.

Sporting a red track suit with the word "Canada" plastered all over it, a Canada visor, and a pair of glasses that belonged to the early 80's, she told jokes that were not funny, juggled tricks that were not hard, and every time she didn't get the audience response she desired, looked at the audience and gave out an annoying "Come on!" My friend Chad claims this all was part of her comic genius, but I beg to differ.

An Amsterdam Saturday

10-11-2008

Amsterdam. It's an experience. It was a very chill day, but a good day with some great friends.

Red lights anytime of day.

Playing chess in the Amnesia coffee shop. 

Febo, a chain of giant vending machines.

A tiny car with a tiny dog, worthy of a pic. 

Amsterdam Belatedly Begins

10-10-2008

I've been putting off writing this post for a while because this day sucked. 

Last night I got to hang out with opera stars... and have quite a few drinks with them. It was free, what was I supposed to do, only have 8 glasses of wine instead of the 9 that I had? Actually, in retrospect that's exactly what I should have done....

I woke up Friday morning at 7:30am, having slept right through my alarm. My flight left at 6am. It's a solid hour and a half journey to Luton airport. So I ended up spending quite a bit of time in that airport and have come to loathe the place. 

But let's look at this glass as half full, shall we. In my time at the airport, I wrote my entire final paper that was due for the end of the continental tour. Plus I bought an amazing book which I'm in the middle of now called The Whole Truth by David Baldacci (I found this link when looking for the previous link, worth a click and a scroll) It's an international terror-thriller about the rise of a second Cold War. 

Eventually I made it to Amsterdam the beautiful city of canals and cobble roads. I found a cheap hotel right in the middle of the red light district (probably why it was so cheap), and galavanted around Amsterdam. I was supposed to meet some buddies here, but I was 8 hours late and they obviously weren't in there hostel room. So meeting up with them would have to wait till tomorrow. 

I soaked in the red lights and later in the night, I made it to the Paradiso. This club had four separate rooms, each catering to a different dancing crowd: hip-hop, disco-ish, chill, and the basement indie scene, where I spent most of my time. The headlining DJ in this basement scene was one of the Junior Boys, a favorite sound of mine.