Amsterdam

I left Leiden on Sunday and headed to Amsterdam. My time with Meike was great and relaxing. It was so much fun to see her again and see how well she is doing in Holland. Plus I had a private room, so it was nice to have a quiet place to sleep.

Amsterdam is definitely an interesting place. My hostel, like most of the others I have seen, is in the heart of the Red Light district which makes it a very central and interesting place to stay. The Dutch really are ok with almost anything. Even as I was first walking to my hostel in the bitter snow with my full pack, women in their clear glass windows stood trying to get me to take a second look.

The first day I was in Amsterdam it was snowing uncontrollably. So by the time I had finished my day of walking around, I was soaked to the bone. Definitely the first big snow I have seen on this trip.

I really am not a fan of drugs. The thought of putting some strange substance into my body hoping it will relax me or do something else to me doesn't sound like much fun. I would rather just have a coffee in a coffee shop, but in Amsterdam you can have whatever intoxicating substance you want at a coffee shop. Ecstasy, thousands of kinds of marijuana, whatever you can think of (except for the top killers like heroine and meth). It makes me wonder what all of these people are trying to get away from, what it is in their lives they need to dilute with drugs. You don't start taking things like this because you are totally pleased with the way your life is. You are trying to numb something in your mind and it makes me feel a little weird to be surrounded by it so much.

I am definitely picking up on the foreign energy that is Amsterdam (well, at least the Red Light district). I have, however, found other things to do while I am here. So far I have been to the Anne Frank house, and seen the annex where she, her family, and four other Jews hid from the Nazis. You also get to see the original diary of Anne Frank. It is quite a powerful place. I also went to the Van Gogh museum and saw the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings and sketches in the world. Awe inspiring!

Amsterdam has been fun, and would probably been a lot more fun had I been willing to partake in some of its more elicit activities, but that is the choice I have made. I definitely won't be sad to leave, unlike some of the other places I have been.

Monday
Things are going well here. Tried to go on the free Amsterdam walking tour today, but I don't think it actually happened because I met several people trying to do the same tour without any success. I met a guy named Rob from NYC and we ended up walking around a bit before heading to the "Torture Museum" (envision a glorified Torture Museum at Medieval times). At the museum, Rob and I met a girl from Chicago, Emily. The three of us ended up exploring the museum together and poking fun at the elaborate torture contraptions. At the museum I discovered that Emily was a Production Manager/lighting designer for a dance company that was touring in Holland so it was fun to "talk work" a bit with a fellow lighting designer.

After the museum, we all walked around a little bit seeing the national opera house and a small market. There were actually some really fun things on sale at the market like a crying teddy bear that played the drum. It was so sad, yet so cute. I had been expecting lots of "smoking" paraphernalia but was surprised by its lack at the market.

I think I am heading to Cologne tomorrow on the recommendation of some girls I met earlier today. It is really close to Dusseldorf and apparently a little more metropolitan, so easier to get back to London from.