That's the first thing that happens when you miss your train to Paris.
I'm lucky the last 2 days have been awesome. It helps counter things a bit.
Let's start from when I left off yesterday.
I actually typed my previous blog from the lobby of my Amsterdam hostel while I was waiting for the hosts to replace the sheets on the bed I was supposed to have. I eventually gave up waiting when the Colorado duo - Alex and Kaitlyn - showed up downstairs. I tossed my stuff in the room and we took off. Destination: FOAM. The photography museum! Rain was starting to fall as we walked out the door, so we opted to walk instead of ride bikes. I had a good idea of where it was, anyways, so I volunteered to lead the way. Twenty minutes, no problem.
Two hours later, we arrived at FOAM. It really is a twenty minute walk, I swear. It just takes longer when you get lost along the way, stop every ten meters for photos and investigate every coffee shop along the way (searching for space cake, of course)!
The museum itself was impressive. But I don't think you'd care if you're not a photographer, so I'll leave out my ooohs and aaahs. Suffice to say there is some amazing stuff in photo museums.
After FOAM, the next best place was the Van Gogh museum. This time, we made the walk in much better time, stopping only once to eat our space cake under a tree in the park. While avoiding more rain. We continued on to the musuem to find a very upsetting, very HUGE line. Typical. Next stop, AlbertHeijn (the grocery) and hostel. I left Alex and Kate to nap while I went to Amsterdam Central to book a train to Paris (yes, the one I missed) and rent a bike.
So, I hopped on the tram. Everything was perfectly fine and dandy until I reached central. There was a four hour wait for the ticket window. Take a number. Wait. Wait. Wait some more. An hour and a half into my queue, I decided to go get a bike. As I stood up, I quickly found out that the space cake had kicked in. Two hours later than expected. Bike rental was going to be a blast! I walked down the block and into the bike shop five minutes before they closed. Turns out the guy who was helping me knew a lot about Kansas. If only I were sober enough to care. I somehow managed to learn the incredibly complex locking mechanism (or so it seemed at the time) and got my bike. Back to waiting. After finally making it to the ticket window, I was told that the train from Amsterdam to Paris was booked out, so I opted for a stop in Brussles followed by a HiSpeed train to Paris.
And, hours after I had left the hostel, I began the bike ride back. Thank God I was de- stoned by that time, because I took the wrong street back. Have you ever looked at a map of Amsterdam? THERE IS NO METHOD. I ended up in Leidsplein, the shopping district I had eaten at two nights ago, and eventually found my way back to the hostel.
To turn right around and head back downtown. This time it was much more entertaining, we were headed to the Red Light District. I took a few photos, which you can see via my photo link. It was everything you'd expect, with more dildos than you can ever imagine. I even got yelled at by a girl for having my camera pointed the wrong direction! We headed back to the hostel again and met some other American travlers in the lobby. This called for a celebration! A celebration like wandering to our curch stoop and smoking some more. I'm not sure how anybody in Amsterdam gets anything done. After our smoke, I went back to the hostel and passed out.
Or so Dutch.
My last day and a half in Amsterdam have been incredible. When I last left off, I was sitting in Museumplein, I believe. Shortly after I finished writing, I took a trip to the Dutch fashion block just East of the park. After perusing the street and deciding that I didn't have near enough money to even go in any of the stores, I went to find dinner. That odd looking piece of pie in my photo album is what I ate. Spinach and mozzarella, topped with a tomato wedge. Believe it or not, it was delicious. Then it started to rain. I made my way back to Hotel Jenson (where I am staying) just as the downpour started. By that time it was 9 o'clock or so and when I walked in to my dorm EVERYBODY was there.
I was very lucky with roomies, I think. Two were from New York, two more from Colorado. We were hoping to go out, but by 11 o'clock the rain had still not stopped. To the liquor store! Which was closed. We tossed around the idea of going to the Red Light District, but the ride was too long in the rain. In the end, the Coloradans (?) and I decided to wander around the streets and smoke. (Yes, THAT kind of smoke. When in Amsterdam...) As we began to wander, the rain slowed to a pleasant drizzle. We took a seat on a nifty porch to go through our first, and found a coffee shop for the second. By the time the "coffeeshop" closed at one in the morning, hunger was a serious issue. I had not yet been to Bulldog's (the local dealing store) or Vondelpark so we decided to walk that direction to find food. At two, we came up to a very busy little place across from the Hard Rock Amsterdam that had the most delicious fries I've ever eaten. Though, in hindsight that could've been the effects and hunger. We took an hour and a half wandering back to the hotel, and I passed out at four. It was a wonderful night!
I woke up at nine the following morning to go find another hostel. When I had booked Hotel Janson, the booking site had listed Sunday night as full. I found out that morning that it wasn't. My second hostel, Euphemia Hotel was only a kilometer or two away, so it wasn't so bad. I showed up at half past ten to find out that my room was not yet ready, and there was no place to do my laundry, so I was forced to walk around the block to do wash my clothes in a laundromat while they readied my room. On the plus side, that hostel had in room Wi-Fi, so I was able to say hi to mom and dad for a while. Then I slept.
Only for about an hour, though. Sunday was a busy day. I had one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had. There is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING that can compare to being in the capital city of a nation participating in the World Cup Final. Five huge screens had been set up by Nike in Museumplein, an area the size of a football field. Now that you can visualize that, add 200,000 people dressed in nothing but oranje (orange). The atmosphere was almost overwhelming, I've never seen anything like it in the U.S. Honestly, I don't think I will. Not having anything orange to wear, I picked up a giant Holland soccer flag for ten Euro and tied it about like a cape. I had to look official on my way to find beer. The major grocery, AlbertHein, was luckily right beside the park, so I stopped in to pick up a six pack of Heineken. Which, by the way, Is cheaper than water. How awesome is that?
I walked around the park by myself taking photos (to be posted as soon as I can) for a while and picked up two free orange shirts. ING was tossings shirts that said "oranje oud spanje" or something like that and Heineken was giving away shirts that said "Bertje!" Bertje was more my size, so I threw it on and went back to my hotel to drop off my camera. I came back and hour later to twice as many people as before. The crowd was so dense that you could hardly move!
I planted myself in a spot and some Dutch girl yelled "BERTJE!" at me. So of course I shouted back at the top of my lungs, still having no idea what it meant. I think she sensed it and asked me (there were a lot of tourists in the city) and was kind enough to explain the play on words. I ended up spending the rest of the day with she and her friends and watching the match with them. A better option, I think, than with other Americans.
Watching the match was a very unique experience. I don't think that I've ever felt so much like somebody else, or so much a part of something else. The Dutch go CRAZY for their soccer. Van Gogh has a quote, "Orange is the color of insanity," which was perfectly fitting for the situation. Nike even made an awesome Dutch commercial about it. Make sure you click the link. There was so much tension in the air, the crowd was silent for most of the match, eyes glued to the screens. Only taking breaks when the match stopped.
I think the most profound part of the day was the loss. When you walk out of a Chiefs loss, everyone is sad, but the rest of the state and country doesn't really care. EVERYBODY was bummed after Spain's goal. They knew it was the end. There was even a fight right in front of me in the crowd because of it. I don't even normally support Holland and I was upset. I didn't feel like going out after that (nor did anyone else), so I said goodbye to my Dutch friends and went back to my hostel to pass out.
All in all, I think that it was one of the best experiences I've ever had, or ever will have. It will be tough to find something that can compare. It will be something I'll remember forever. Check another few off under "Abso-freaking-lutely Amazing."
Hello from Museumplein! It is currently around 5:30pm here. Here being a wold famous park in Southwest Amsterdam, Netherlands! It is host to the well known Iamsterdam sign and is surrounded by several museums and the fashion block.
I apologize for being so slow to finally update my blog. Internet access is just about everywhere (I'm actually using Amsterdam free-city-wifi in the park), but that is only in major cities. Staying with Anouk, I had to rely on her house for internet, but by the time we arrived home, I was usually too exhausted to even think about writing anything. I'll work on that, I think it will be better from now on.
Anyways.
I arrived in Amsterdam this morning at a quarter after nine my time, which is somewhere around one or two in the morning for most of you reading this. I took the night train from Baden, Switzerland, another city near Zurich. The best moment of this trip so far was when I stepped on that train. It's a rush when you actually make your first train by yourself. I was rushing up and down the platform trying to make sure it was the right one. When I finally found my seat, I asked my seat partner, in broken German, if he spoke English. He replied with a slow "ne-in" and frowned and turned forward. About that time he laughed with a "JUST KIDDING!" Turns out he was and American from Oregon. And the two people behind us were from Chicago. What are the chances? The remainder train ride itself was fairly pleasant, I chatted with the people around me for a few hours and slept the remainder of the twelve hour ride.
I awoke about half and hour from Amsterdam Central Station. After getting off the the train fretting for a couple hours - while wandering the city - about where I was going to stay, I sat down at a lovely little bakery shop and booked two separate hostels for the 4 days I'm going to be here. The World Cup is tomorrow and Holland happens to be playing! I'm stoked that I'll get to experience some real futbol fanaticism, let alone being in country for a team playing in the final! I made my way to the first hostel, about ten minute's walk from the park I'm in now and discovered that they have no wireless internet. Great. As long as I have it in the park.
That's about all for today, as I haven't done much but wander the city. I'll post some photos from my exploration of Amsterdam when I get the chance, probably tomorrow, and will sit down to write about my first four days in Switzerland, which you've probably already seen via my photo albums. (If you haven't, there's a link at the top of my blog.)
Doei! (That's Dutch for goodbye!)
Forget about good.Good is a known quantity.
Good is what we all agree on.
Growth is not necessarily good.
Growth is an exploration of unlit resources that may or may not yield to our research.
As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.
- Bruce Mau
This is the second point in Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. It's probably my second favorite quote of all time. Tonight, it was written on written on the wall of my room...that's important.
As often as this subject is on my mind, it's almost appalling that I've not yet written about it here.
I'm often torn in the struggle for balance in my life. Twenty-One years is not enough time to determine which pieces of your life will level the scale. But then, is forty? Is sixty? I don't think that I'll ever come to a conclusion.
Recent changes in American government and business models stress me out. Apple computer is in the middle of a movement to control the software which can run on their hardware, even moreso than the AppleOS/Macintosh insanity (which only allows an Apple OS to run on a Mac machine). I normally wouldn't care, but the problem is that the business model is booming. People are still buying iTouches and iPads with the knowledge that they cannot open their property, nor can they put any software on it without the corporate supervision that is the App Store. This claims to be an ease of use method, but I'm concerned and almost scared of where this is leading. As people begin to accept the fact that they have no control over what they want to do with their new toys, I feel that they are essentially giving up their freedom. It all goes back to freedom and saftey. Would you rather have a super stable and clean machine, or would you like to tinker and take innovation to a new level?
It's early in the morning, I'm exhausted and in a rather bad mood. Sorry for the senseless rambling.
Anyways, what I'm getting at is that our population (and maybe the world?) is beginning to give up freedom for safety and feigned free will. The founding fathers of America would be disappointed. I know I am. I don't feel like there are enough people that feel like me to affect this shift. It's dangerous. As if we could organize something anyways. My generation is rather pathetic when it comes to those things. The generation in power now has a rather solid grip on things though. Change against their will is almost impossible. The cost of an impact now is a fine, a brand and a prison sentence that will always follow you. Maybe if we weren't so civilized we could bring about a revolution the old-school way. "If you do not do what we want, we'll kill you." American revolution style! When the Brits tried to control our colonists, they were told to lay down their arms or be killed. Unfortunately, I don't want to kill anybody. Our populace is fragmented, too. So much that I think it would be impossible to reign in. We'd be fighting amongst each other more than we would be fighting for our cause. (That's a Noam Chomsky idea, by the way.)
I'm in bad mood due to a fight with the parents tonight. That's what got me on this whole track. The reality of my situation is that I've given up much of the freedom I might otherwise have for financial ease. I'm not okay with it at all. In fact, I can't stand it. I was told tonight that they raised me to be a Free Thinker. They did a damn good job and I'm glad. It makes for a solid line of separation between them and myself, though, which I don't like. I don't feel like I can talk about my ideas when I'm here. Hell would break loose. It makes it hard to get very close with my parents, which in turn makes me sad. They're great people. They did a great job raising me, according to lots of people. I think so myself. But will this always be a source of irreconcilable differences?
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