i don't really feel like blogging about amsterdam because i'm on my way back to portland...and my mind is all fixed on just getting stoked to get home. but i'll sum it up
i booked my roundtrip ticket to India last autumn for free with frequent flier miles and noticed my return trip had a layover in Amsterdam. so i decided to turn a few hours into 5 days. i had absolutely no idea that my arrival into amsterdam on April 30th happens to fall on the epic yearly Queen's Day celebration.
I had zero sleep on an overnight 11 hours of flying because one day before my flight from delhi i slipped and fell...bouncing the entire length of a marble staircase on my tailbone. so with a super painful arse i was fidgety as hell for my flight...thank god for aisle seats.
anyway, without any sleep i felt like a true warrior...because i raged it hard for Queen's Day. You cannot be in amsterdam on Queen's Day and not rage it hard. you really have no choice. the entire city is going ape shit. every street is closed to all traffic but pedestrians. Everyone is wearing orange, and of course i had the perfect little ensemble to slip into to fake my dutch nationalistic flair...i even had orange shoes on. i wasn't sure where to go...i just noticed that all streets were filled with orange people walking en masse somewhere. so i didn't ask any questions, i just went out my hostel door and walked with them to see where they were all going. but you see, that's just the point...they aren't going anywhere. it isn't about getting somewhere. it's most deff about the journey. that's the entire idea is to just walk...and all along the way is every kind of party of every kind of genre you can imagine. it was rad.
this was a pretty cool way to kick off my 5 day stay in amsterdam because i got a pretty thorough tour of the city...the problem is that i didn't remember how to get back to any place that i discovered along the way.
i took a tour of the city and then took my own personal tour of the red light district, several times. i find prostitution a very fascinating industry. and it is a no bullshit exposition of it in the red light district. all shapes, colors and sizes on display dancing or bored chillin behind a glowing red window pane. i sorta wondered at one point if it is weird that i walked around looking at each and every prostitute, but then i reminded myself that every other of the hundreds of people walking around were doing the same exact thing. the only difference between me and the men is that i limited myself to only window shopping.
the tourist attraction parts of amsterdam got pretty stale pretty quickly. i spent one day hangin with my Dutch friend Wouter who i befriended last year in Rishikesh and he showed me some super sweet spots that were well off the tourist trail. and he suggested some areas for me to explore in my remaining days in the city. so my final day in amsterdam i wandered into an area that is off the tourist maps and happened coincidentally to enter the vintage designer boutique and art gallery section of amsterdam. just when i thought i was getting bored and 5 days was way more than enough to spend in that city i had hit the jackpot. i nearly cried with joy. Tears both for the discovery and also for breaking my budget as i found two dutch designer skirts that fit me like a glove, and dammit, the boutique accepted credit cards. oh well... I also found an outdoor market that only takes place once a week that specializes in selling rolls of fabric. when i saw that, i paused and looked up the sky and was like "are you kidding me???" So many gifts waiting everywhere...it's just a matter of being open and receiving them.
anyway, i feel like i'm doing a slack job writing this blog.
but i'm in the home stretch to get to portland now.
i'm sooo looking forward to reconnecting with friends, going out for coffee and dancing to my favorite music.
can you imagine? i just spent 4 months without hearing my favorite music (other than what i play on my little travel speakers).
dude. i cannot wait to go bust it
ahhhh
see y'all soon
oh yeah, and here are all my pics from amsterdam!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meredith415/sets/72157617545992552/
