Skanking it Up

Although the Dutch nights were high on excitement and all round tomfoolery (and never ask me to navigate again Jolan ~ a potential two minute drunken bikeride home turned into an hour long lost drunken quest to find where we we even locked the bikes ~ "For sure it's this way!"), hands down our most memorable after-dark excursion was the night an Australian friend of ours took us to one of the coffeeshops, enjoyed a j and then proceeded to the Red Light District. Now, this place is pretty trippy to begin with and so to go there high was beyond trippy. Stressing the beyond trippy part here. We would never have been able to do so had we not had Aussie Jason (who was going to school there); Amsterdam is so easy to get lost in (it honestly all looks the same! it wasn't my fault Jolan!) and this was not the type of neighbourhood you want to stop and peruse a map on the corner. Especially while high. So we got the grand tour from a Sydnian (?), walking down narrow alleys glowing with red neon lights where literally every metre there was a new window, a new girl enticing the guys. Weird weird weird, a factory of whores, one after another, all lined up for the taking. They'd open their window for the odd dirty old man, chatting him up (or more....) for some cash. Most of the tourists just gawked wide eyed and laughing and it was just as fun to watch their reactions to this warped Disneyland as it was to watch the poor girls. We walked down the more touristy alleys and then some of the more sketchy streets (again, we had a guide and I've been known to kick ass). You could tell you were in the skechier parts as the pros got uglier and uglier, some of them guaranteed men without a doubt, some of them borderline either or. That whole part of Amsterdam was skechy all around and we got there only after midnight which meant all the dirties started crawling out of the woodwork. Every street you chose you'd get offered ecstasy or crack or heroin. (I just said no). This one cracked-out druggie followed us for 3 blocks begging for some cash, and the guy could've turned violent at any time. As I said, we wouldn't have done all this without a guide and I'd give a heads up to those of you interested in seeing the boobs and thighs of Amsterdam. Some buddies of ours got a knife pulled on them. Fuuuuuuuuck.

Honestly though, if you're in Amsterdam hands down you have to see it, and not during daylight hours. Just go with minimal money (unless you're gonna spend it ~ you dawg!) and don't look like a tourist. Which is pretty impossible.

Sunflowers and The Secret Annex......

We really just mucked around Amsterdam a lot, the markets are definitely worth checking out, especially Waterlooplein, but really the only 2 big touristy things we did there were the Van Gogh museum and Anne Frank's house. Van Gogh was really cool but the museum only had one floor of his work and it was packed. Interesting nonetheless, we saw (for those of you familiar with him) The Bedroom, Irises, Sunflowers, Crows in a Cornfield, The Potato Eaters, and his self portraits to name some of the more well famous ones. (My favourite, Starry Night is privately owned. D'oh!) No matter, it was brilliant to just be able to see his original brushstrokes and one of his original frames (which he painted as well). Anne Frank's house was surreal and my favourite of the two, having always been interested in war literature. Again, it was crowded which took away from the experience but they did a good enough job in presenting it. An interview with her childhood friend told of how, after her sister died in their concentration camp, Anne thought she had no one left in the world and subsequently died 2 days later. This friend felt that if she had known her father was still alive, Anne would have held on and lived. Which means her diary would never have been published. The diary itself was the highlight of the whole house/museum, written all those years ago in another world that's hard to believe ever existed.

Got Grolsch?

Back to Toronto, back to work, back to reality. Oh how cruel it all seems! Returned last Friday after an unforgettable 2 1/2 weeks abroad and now there's nothing left for me to do but stare at my smirking suitcase, reminding me how for a while it was all I had but now it's just a big pile of clothes and crap on my bedroom floor. The unjustice of it all! Alas, my whining ends there and I'll rehash some tales of the exploits and the adventures and yes, the hash.

First off, some of you have been inquiring about this boyfriend of mine, does he actually exist and is his name a typo? Yes, true is true, my boy is Jolan, a guy who never ceases to amaze me with his talents and quests for adventure and intrique. An urban explorer as our pal Leah describes him, he's born and bred in Toronto, something I've kinda accepted but constantly mock him for. With good cause. He's finishing off university with History and English at U of T, a point that fascinates me since I was originally was once gonna go down that same road. His 3 volume biography set aside, all you guys need to know is he's amazing at literally everything he does (sports, fixing stuff, entertaining kids, exploring, cooking, hanging around, being a bf, growing sideburns) and looks after me like I don't deserve. And I look after him too. And I'm not kidding about his sideburns.

I digress however, back to Amsterdam, the start of my journey and our homebase throughout the 17 days while I was there. As mentioned earlier, his cousin has a flat in the downtown district that she lent to us while she's away in Africa, such a lucky break for us obviously 'cause it meant we could cook our own meals and boarding was free. Our expenses cut in half right there! And the place was a mansion. Crazy futuristic, like you opened what you thought looked like a cupboard and it turned out to be the fridge. We felt like royalty with our cupboard fridges.

Amsterdam is all about bikes, that's the way to get around, don't even bother walking. Bikers have their own lanes and traffic lights and if you can imagine it, there's whole parking lots for bikes, capacity at least 1000 and always packed. As a biker from Toronto, it was brilliant. The sound of car horns replaced by bike bells. Still a bustling place though, although after a while we realized how much the city is a Mecca for foreigners looking to get high. And laid. Huge night scene there, half a pint costing a euro or so, Grolsch and Heineken galore. And obviously the "coffeeshops" ~ every hour is happy hour ;) You'd walk in, buy your stuff (or just bring your own) and just chill. And chill and chill. Drink some chocomel (this crazy potent Dutch chocolate milk) and then chill some more. We actually didn't frequent many coffeeshops, seeing that it was just as cool to smoke up along the canals and watch the water and not be inundated by sometimes crap music.

Which reminds me! While we were there, this crazy Dutch rap song was sweeping the nation, called "Watskeburt," with a refrain as annoyingly catchy as some stupid annoyingly catchy song (none come to mind at the moment). The title is basically the equivalent of "Whaaaaazzzaaap!" and you'd hear it playing everywhere; we'd walk down the street sometimes and hear teens greet each other with "watskeburt!" The best part is the crazy accompanying video, really good for a giggle, especially since the Dutch MTV station (The Box!) kept playing it over and over. And over. A recommended download for those seeking a thrill, two thumbs up fine holiday fun.

Anywho, the weather was overall not too peachy while in Amsterdam: sweaters and coats and rain gear. Bloody rained every day, if only for half an hour. Hmph. Paris was much nicer, more on those crazy French and Amsterdamers in blogs to follow.......

The Latest Addition

Welcome to the loop Ken....... ;)

Last Days

Two days left 'til I return on Friday then I promise to update! Life's been too fast and the days too short for me to adequately give Holland and France their due justice so I figured a series of travel logs when I return will be in the cards. Until then boys and gals I'm living it large and happy in Amsterdam, tonight will be a drive by the Red Light District, perhaps to give them a tip or to two.......... ;)

Hollandaise Sauce

The timer's ticking down on the number of minutes I have left on the net but here's a little European flavor for all you back in Canada and abroad. Amsterdam is absolutely incredible, we're having such a good time with it all going by so fast! Jolan has a lot of family here in Holland, and we lucked out and have been given the use of his cousin's downtown flat while she's away in Malawi! Bloody terrific! Everyday we go to the market and get all our fresh groceries from the market down the street, so much money saved seeing that eating outs is ridiculously expensive. We spend a lot of time just biking around and getting lost and getting found and just taking it all in, especially the food and alcohol! Amsterdam hosts the best drunken debauchery around, without a doubt. And oh my, the "coffeeshops"! Plenty of tales originate within those walls with a fraction being remembered the next day...... ;) More to come in a bit, we're off to Paris tomorrow for three nights then back here for one more week. Promise to write more soon but for now I must return to the indulgences of European life.......
Lots of Love to all, daag for now,
Ames