Amsterdam
The Netherlands on September 17, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Got a room for two nights here and paid a silly amount. The prices aren't bad, if your normal currency is the euro. The dollar blows.
Been watching the news here, I'm gone a little more than a week and everything goes to hell more so than usual. Bail outs for the loss.
Once my room was secure I went in search of Anne Frank's hiding place. It's location is a bit more publicized now.
On the way there I passed a bar, "absinthe the real thing sold here," so I spent a good 2-3 minutes contemplating hitting that up then going to Anne Frank's but then I decided I wanted to sleep tonight.
Which was for the best because it's really moving going through and there's stairs that are more like a ladder.
They have laundry service here so I just bought a tshirt to wear with my bathing suit tomorrow while they ship my stuff off.
Amsterdam is a pretty city, everywhere I've gone has been nice. Canals and rivers make cities immediately more interesting.
Blurry picture is of a bike park I passed. Easily a few thousand bikes on and around a three floored park.
So ton of people on bikes naturally. There was a car commercial where they have people moving around like they are in a car but you can't see the car. It feels a bit like that.
Tomorrow no idea what I'm gonna do. With a souvenir tshirt, bathing suit, and sneakers without socks I can't exactly make an impression.
I'm gonna shop around see if I can buy a small bottle of absinthe, assuming it doesn't need refrigeration. I want to get Cuban cigars whilst I'm abroad but I can pick those up the day I leave for home.
In Belgium traffic stops for pedestrians you can walk into heavy traffic and they stop. They stop before you're even in the road. Everywhere else it's scary in the road. Watched a woman miss being hit by a truck by inches. And an old lady almost knocked down by a bicyclists, but she was tough and straight slapped the man.
Was watching BBC and this guy in Italy tells a woman, "muchas gracias." Fail.
To everyone that's sent me feedback, grazie!