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.......
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.......
posted by messh68 @ 3:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home