Amsterdam, Netherlands #2

Hey so I'm still in Amsterdam. It's my last night here and I'm kinda ready to go. The hostel I got stuck with ended up not being that great. They don't have a kitchen and a social area in general. So I haven't really had a chance to meet anyone too interesting. My room is about a 20 person room and a few of the dudes have some chronic snoring issues that are keeping people in that room up at night. Especially this one guy. I feel bad for the people sleeping right next to him because I always see them sleeping in until late the next day. I've been trying to stay pretty positive though. I've taken this time to just relax. Sleep in, plan some stuff, and do the slower paced things that can be relaxing on vacation.

As soon as I got in I did some internet stuff and then I went to just get a beer. As I was grabbing a seat and old Dutch couple asked if they could join me and I said sure. The husband ended up being a professor at a University in The Netherlands and he had given speeches at Stanford and Berkeley so we compared the education systems and culture of the U.S. and Europe. He bought me my beer and some cheese. Then a Canadian dude named Greg in his 30's joined us. He had just been in Belgium and gave me some good advice on things to look for in Belgium. On Saturday I just walked through the Eastern part of Centraal Amsterdam and then beyond. I got as far away from right downtown as I could. I sat by a big canal and read my book for a while. I had a cannabis lollipop that I bought at a street market and sat in a park on the southern part of town and finished my book. I also got a pretty damn good sandwich for cheap and just enjoyed some time outside in the sun.

Then today I woke up early and ate some "space cake" then went on a 7 1/2 hour trek through the Western and other Southern parts of the town. there was a lot more happening over there. First I walked into a church that was having a massive book fair inside it. I almost bought another book but I have plenty with me. The church was gorgeous and most of the books were in Dutch. Then I walked and found a giant ass cheese shop with hundreds of different kinds of cheese. I got some bread and cheese. As I was walking to find a place to sit a 500 person rollerblade parade just cruised past me with some techno blaring. I later stumbled onto the 5 block long Sunday market/fair of the Westerpark district in Amsterdam. I walked some more and found Vondelpark, the park for all the locals. It was packed with people but clearly all people from Amsterdam. I sat by the tame river next to a tree. On the otherside there were other people doing the same. There was also a BBQ with Arostifarian guys playing hacky sack with a soccer ball. Some old white dudes clearly just walked up and decided to join in and they were all just hanging out and having a good time. I sat and read the first two chapters of Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" while drinking a beer. I found an all you can eat vegetarian falafel place that Pat and I found in Barcelona last year and I went to town there for about half an hour.

It's been rather quiet in Amsterdam for me, which I wouldn't have expected, but I've been able to chill out. I'm ready to go on to Belgium and with this other stuff that I've been booking. It sounds like I'm gonna have some more fun stuff to do ahead. It's definitely been good for me to not go get hammered for a few days and much less spendy. It has made me appreciate the process of meeting interesting people while traveling more and it's made me realize how I like to book things for traveling moreso as well. It's also made me appreciate the things that I have back in the States more and it's been kind of good to be reminded of them.

No serious regrets though. Amsterdam is a gorgeous place. The canals here are everywhere but it's really the first Midevil town that I've ever been too. It has a sort of cold dark feel that I'm not that down with but the biking culture is amazing. Any college town that reps there bike culture doesn't have shit on Amsterdam. There are certain streets where you never see any cars but just bikes and the occasional moped. The people riding bikes are all riding cruisers and have on normal clothes. They're just people getting errands done. I've been here 3 days and I can already distinguish the difference between the sounds of bikes, mopeds, small cars, trucks, public buses and trams in a split second without even having to turn my head. You have to look for all of these at once from different directions when you are crossing major streets.

Well I'm off to bed soon. It's been a long tiring day and I want to get up and get moving early tomorrow. Later.