Amsterdam

Hey Everybody

Somehow I tricked a French computer into typing with an American keyboard... so, the letters aren't right on the keyboard i'm currently using... just my luck...

Right now, after a very long day of travelling, I am in Strasbourg... a small French city on the border with Germany... apparently I can ride a bicycle over the border... Crazy...

Enough about that... This post is to discuss Amsterdam...

Amsterdam is chaos.

Let me repeat that...

Amsterdam is CHAOS.

A city where roads appear out of nowhere, a city where people can drive on any form of transportation available (car, bike, moped, tram, smartcar, truck... etc), a city where there is literally no street signs, and hey! if you are at a intersection and want to change your decision on which way to turn, JUST BACK UP AND SWITCH DIRECTIONS.

Oh yeah... marijuana is totally legal. As is prostitution.

I'm not going to lie and state that I sat in my hostel all three nights. I figured the best way to experience the city was to join the community of revelers who seemed to never let the night end.

The first thing I did once I arrived was go to Wok and Roll, basically a chinese noodles place where you pay for different toppings.

The first person I spoke to can be a catalyst for my adventures in Amsterdam. He was/is a professional graffiti artist from Brisbane, Australia. He apparently is known world wide as a train yard artist. In other words, he breaks into the train yard at night with other artists and they tag the trains with their symbol. It's highly illegal, and if he gets caught, he'll technically fall under a terrorism charge from breaking and entering a train yard.

On another note, he showed me some pics of his tag (basically his symbol), it was orange and blue, and really awesome.

He recommended that I went to this specific bar that was known to have good music and good grafitti all around. To be perfectly honest, I Spent most of my time at that bar.

The first night was great too. I ended up meeting these three guys from Turkey who were all around 20ish. We discussed how law is different in the US compared to law in Turkey. The class system is still in place in Turkey, and they made it seem that the poor were in a totally different class then them. It was kind of disturbing how they talked about the people below them, but it was also incredibly interesting to find out about a social system totally different then anything I was used to.

As the night went on, we ended up hanging out in Dam Square, a really beautiful plaza that is in the heart of the city. We made tentative plans to see each other the following night, but, like most things in Amsterdam... it never materialized.

The second morning I decided to be active and rent a bicycle. A friend of mine told me that there were fields and farms that surronded the city, and that it was no more then a 15 minute bike ride.

Boy, either he was the fastest bike rider of all time, or he is full of shit.

I ended up getting really lost. If you've ever been to Amsterdam, you know that the streets all look the same and they are all spelt: "AArdkjngdfsjn"... I ended up in some seedy industrial zone, and after realizing that I was looking at signs pointing back to Amsterdam I realized I was totally lost. My bike also decided that whenever I turned, the seat would turn. Thus, I'm riding around lost in Amsterdam on crazy streets with a broken bike... I rented the bike for 24 hours, i returned it within 5...

That day I met Raj and Alberto. Raj was from London and was taking a short vacation to Amsterdam. He is an economist who is full of great ideas for businesses. Alberto was a student between his undergrad and Graduate studies who was living in Amsterdam for a few months. The three of us randomly met at a bar.

I spent the afternoon with them, and then the three of us seperated. We talked about politics, striking, and other matters of business. We had a grand time.

The following day, I stayed in my hostel mostly, simply because I was pretty worn out from the night before. Alberto had introduced me to friends of his who I ended up running into at another bar. We got drinks, discussed music and hung out.

I did end up finding an awesome bar named "Doors"... at one point they were playing Dub Side of the Moon by Easy Star All Stars... it's basically a dub version of Dark side of the Moon.... I was in heaven

some thoughts:

One of the most international cities in the world. THere is a huge international population. I met residents from Italy, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, and Austrailia.

It seems that most countries today have some type of upper middle class. Even Turkey, a country based on class, there is the wealthy and then an upper middle class. It seemed that the majority of tourists who were there came from either upper middle class or a richer class.

After a few days, Amsterdam really takes a toll on one's body. The constant partying gets you tired really quickly, one needs to sleep alot.

That's it for now...

Love all of you,
Zac