i AMsterdam

(this is going to be a huge post. so i will try to be better about breaking it into reasonable-ish paragraphs.)

how i spent a day in amsterdam:

after my rocking dance club night at the hague, i was going to amsterdam saturday morning. i was supposed to meet up with O and S (another guy from the class) at 9:00 at the den haag centraal station. i woke up and got ready, walked down to the bus stop. only to see that the sunday bus schedule is ridiculous. i was running late by about 10 minutes anyway, but now i would have to wait until the next bus, which wasn't for another 15 minutes. by the time i get to centraal station is it now 9:30. i suspect that O and S figured i'd slept in or forgotten or passed out in a gutter and went on to amsterdam without me. turns out that they thoughtfully left a note for me with the guy in the information booth. a bunch of us (O and S included) were going to see a comedy show and had a designated meeting spot at 6 pm. so i figured i could catch up then. turns out that O forgot my cell phone number at home or lost the paper i wrote it on and so couldn't call to see where i was. not that that would have helped much, since i think i had like 2 euro left on my prepaid SIM card. anyway. i hop on board the train to amsterdam and settle in with my book ("snow" by orhan pamuk).

i get to amsterdam's centraal station which is quite a hub, in and of itself, but yet remarkably easy to navigate. there was much to see right around the station, so i took off in the right, then wrong, then right again direction and found myself at my first point of historical significance (as a transplanted new york resident): schrierstoren or the "tower of tears" > this is where women waved goodbye to their sailors (& hello to STDs upon their return). the tower was erected in 1482. more interestingly (at least to me) is that this is the spot that henry hudson set sail from in 1609 on his ship "half moon", which brought him to new york harbour. neat.

my next stop was the erotic museum. i'm not sure what i thought i would see there of note, but i expected it to be more like the museum of sex in new york, which i have not been to, but does seem to have interesting, curated exhibitions. the erotic museum is a pass. i didn't think much of it and apart from a few interesting depictions of sex in far history, there wasn't much to see. if you've seen man, woman body parts before, don't bother.

the next place i wandered to was the he hua temple, opened by queen beatrix on 15.09.00 - a buddhist temple, actually the largest buddhist temple in europe built in the chinese style. it's located in the heart of chinatown. chinatown is amazingly clean, did not smell offensive & did not appear to be overrun by rats. wowza. but the people still walk supppppppper sloooooooow (regardless of nationality). and without discrimination as to nationality, i am supppppppper annoyed by them. equal opportunity, that's me.

near by is the red light district -- it sort of melds into the chinatown area. the red light district is nothing much in the daylight. tacky stores, and bored prostitutes engaging in personal hygience in front of their windows. the dutch have (comparatively) a bizarre attitude about their personal space, as in they rarely ever draw their curtains, so prostitutes and non-prostitutes alike permit passers-by to gaze into their homes. not only do they not mind, but i get the feeling that they're offended if you don't peep in. thing is, they aren't doing anything even half-way interesting. and besides, i'm more inclined to peep into a window where the people aren't expecting it, awaiting it or hoping for it. very strange. anyway, it is very very very easy to walk by the windows and frankly really not give a sh*t. my focus was just on not getting lost and having to consult my map 20 times on the same street. again, irritatingly, it's like walking in times square in the sense that at all times of day or night, annoying groups will be ambling around with their heads in the air and common sense discarded wherever they boarded the plane.

side note/random observation: it seems like phil collins still has a thriving career in the netherlands. shudder.

so after re-caffeination & restroom break, i headed off to the most exciting place i wanted to visit. the nationaal brilmuseum. a museum about eyeglasses!!! check it out on the web: www.brilmuseumamsterdam.nl. just a very cool place with interesting, vintage glasses. i pored over the displays & took lots of pictures, which i will bore you with later.

i had lunch in amsterdam at an indonesian restaurant. the best indonesian food outside indonesia can be found in the netherlands. the food at this place was really good, really filling & pleasantly inexpensive.

ok, moving along. i went to see a few of the sights - old church, new church, jewish museum, portugese jewish synagogue, etc. i'd write about these things, but i feel like once you've seen a few old-castley-palace-y-basilica-ish places, you've got the basic sense of the thing. so i don't have much to say. for once. be thankful. really.

well i did want to go to anne frank house. i walked over to it. but jeez louise. the entire state of maine was there waiting in line. eeeep. i stuck around for a while, wondering if there was some way to go in with a press pass or something, but it was all very proper. so i didn't go in. and then the other people from the course who were in amsterdam told me it was a "must-do". well, they probably thought that about new/old/churchy/stone/really old building/palace/castle/church too. so yeah. anyway, i saw a play about anne frank in new york and anne frank was played by natalie portman (before she was a big famous hollywood vegan). and i think i'm covered. next time.

i found out that a festival called streetlab was taking place in the jordaan area, in an old gas factory that has been converted into a venue / cultural space. it's actually a very cool looking building, multi-use. so it was a trudge to get out there though. & of course i walked. because i walked every single place in amsterdam. streetlab was basically an urban/street culture show, if you can call it that. officially, it was called a street fashion and street art festival. with a theme around bikes. a bunch of artists had been given free rein to design their ideal bike. some of them were really amazing. one bike had a tape deck in it, so that you could see the tape playing in the center of the bike (such as where the bike chain would circle around - at the widest part). the best part (and i took loads of pictures of this bike) was that the tape playing in the bike was from a bollywood movie, and of course i knew all the words. it was a song called "dulhania dulhania". other bikes were very cool too - incorporating all sorts of stuffed animals and cool design, etc. by the time i got to the festival, there were two main things going on: a sneaker design show (artists from all over had been asked to design their dream shoe). some of the sneakers were unbelievably complex & beautiful. again, i went crazy with the camera. there was also a dutch/english rap group there, and people were dancing. but the sneakers really were amazing. after the sneaker show, i went into the area showing the street art & fashion. there was also a music show & fashion show in the same area. i wandered around and looked at the clothes, painting, prints, music, etc. however the best part of this area was that i got a haircut for 10 euros!

when i told my roommates about my 10 euro haircut, they asked me if i had let some man standing on the street cut my hair. not so. inside the fashion space, there were 4 professional hairdressers who work with a particular line of hair products. they were offering haircuts to anyone who wanted one for 10 euro and you received one of their products (whichever one they used on your hair) free. so really it was a 5 euro haircut. anyway. how could i resist. i didn't get much of my hair cut, since i am on the growing it out kick. but i had to do it. it was just too glamfance to walk away from. i waited and waited and finally it was my turn. i step up and my hairstylist is a very charming & attractive man named vasco. vasco's mother is dutch, his father is portugese & he hails from south netherlands. vasco looks like he might be in his late late 30s or early early 40s. vasco is 58 years old. he looks better than i did when i was 21. unbelievable. and he's very sweet. and nice. vasco has three kids, his eldest is 21. when i told him i am 31, he nearly toppled over and said that i look like i'm 25. see, charmant! & i also found out that his son is single! so vasco and i had a pleasant chat about our respective lives, and i walk away with a super glam haircut. for a day. because the next time i showered, my hair went back to lying lifeless on my head. anyway.

by the time i got out of the hair cut & away from streetlab, it was getting late. i had already long missed the comedy show that one of my hague class mates had organized. and vasco told me that streetlab was having a big dj dance party that evening, and that i should come. [i think he felt bad for me since i told him i was traveling alone.] but i had also found out about an indie rock show at this cool venue called "de nieuwe anita" with doors opening at 8 pm - netherlands bands, apple kim, the heights & some djs afterwards. apple kim & the heights were pretty good. the cover was 6 euros, and drinks were around 4.50 euros (for a mojito). nieuwe anita is a smallish, cosy venue - the band plays in the basement, which you can watch from above. look in through the top floor, or watch from downstairs. the front part of the place is like a regular bar with tables & then the backroom/downstairs is a venue. i found a prime spot to watch the bands. the music was really good, and the people were friendly. the bands seemed to play there alot - there was something cake-shop-y about it. just a small, friendly venue with good drinks. the front door/entrance is pretty hilarious, though. the place is single-handedly run by an older man (there is a bartender, but the "door" is run by the man). the front door is always locked, and you have to be buzzed in. but since he deals with the door and takes cover, he won't open the door until he's dealt with everyone in the line waiting to pay cover and get a stamp. instead of having an extra employee in the place, you have to wait outside until he lets you in. and he won't let anyone else open the door for you either. so when i buzzed, he was busy and no one answered. the signage was in dutch, so i couldn't read what the procedure was. i was going to leave, but then this guy sitting outside waiting for a friend told me that i'd get buzzed in after a minute or two. i'm glad i got in. yay!

after the show, i really had to get to centraal station to get back to the hague. i was really hoping that there would be late trains. i probably should have checked the schedule, but that would be so organized. and normal. why not wait to see if you have to stay at the train station overnight instead. i walked back and made a second circuit through the red light district. things were really buzzing now. but oh man. was it ever annoying. british accents will never sound good again. i feel like i've already made that comment, but i'm confusing what i write on this site and what i think / tell people in real time. that can't be good. i'm already confused enough without adding another layer of "reality" into the mix. anyway, americans get such a bad rap, but in amsterdam it's really the brits you have to hate. and anyone who has ever sat on a karaoke pedal bus really should be shot. but anyway. as a final note on the red light district, sex has never looked so uninspired. at least if you ask me.

i hopped the train back to the hague. the car i was sitting in totally smelled like pot. big time. it seemed like the perfect end to a day in am'dam.