October 26th, 2007 - To Amsterdam

All Things Amsterdam

Avoiding the German railroad strike on the local train service, I decided to walk the half hour to the train station this morning. To make things fun and interesting, the workers delayed departure for an extra half hour, which didn’t really bother much of anyone at the station because we simply waited in the comfort of the rail cabs.

The seven, actually now eight, hour trip was uneventful as rolling hills gave way to pancake flat plains. Exiting the Amsterdam main train station, there was little doubt of where we had stopped. We were now safely in the land of bicycles and giants. Hundreds of bikes waited for their owner’s return train, back to the city center.



The city is laid out like half a dart board, with the concentric rings representing canals and the sectioning wires as roads. So each large block is met with the intersection of canal, bridges, and roads on either side of the canal.



Katina, the Australian woman from Luzern, mentioned a small park that would “trip out” the local stoners and I just happened to walk past it. Larger than life lizards and iguanas populate the grass and ledges. This was impressive and I hadn’t even touched the stuff.



The last remaining leaves of fall were hanging to the branches along the canals. With bikes, bridges, and canal this seemed like a prototypical Amsterdam Autumn moment.



Anyone who’s seen the movie “Pulp Fiction” knows about Amsterdam, fries, and mayonnaise. It didn’t take much prodding to get me to try this local snack, but instead of mayo, red chili sauce and ketchup sounded like a better mix.



The owner was a man with magnetic and contagious personality, standing next to his stone-faced cashier.



He "should be" happy, as the line was a consistent thirty people deep.



On the walk back to the hostel I caught a movie named “Control”, (about the lead single of the group Joy Division), dinner of an Amsterdam Pancake, and this picture of a traditional bridge.



Feeling lame about returning to the room at 10:30pm on a Friday, I was surprised to find half my roommates already in bed. We were all beat from train rides and ready to get a full night’s sleep to explore the city in the morning.