 |
Amsterdam |
|
Mike & Lisa in front of a canal
| |
Amsterdam |
|
Mike & Lisa in front of a canal
Well, this weekend (Feb 11-13 2000) we went to Amsterdam, which is in the Netherlands (Holland). This is probably one of the stranger places I've ever been. It almost reminds me of New Orleans, but the crowd here generally isn't as rowdy (However, the REALLY drunken/high people are more rowdy than those in "Nahlins"). Anyway, I'll get to the crazy stuff later since I want to start from the beginning.
We drove from Copenhagen to Amsterdam, which is about an 8 hour journey (including the hour long ferry ride). Well, there was not a major snowstorm (the weather was actually pleasant and dry), so we made pretty good time. I again have to praise those crazy Germans for their Autobahn. My God, those people love driving fast. We did between 140 and 170 km/hr for most of the trip and were still regularly passed. These people know how to drive! We think the highway speed limit in Holland is 110 (but weren't exactly sure: why would we waste our time figuring out such trivial info before driving into a country?), which is the same as Denmark. We still managed about 130, though. Supposedly there are cameras that take your car's picture if you're speeding and send you the ticket in the mail, in which case I may have a few nice little price additions to my trip mailed to me in the coming weeks.
Anyway, we ended up leaving Copenhagen around 1:30 PM and made it to our hotel (Radisson SAS - airport) at around 9:30 PM. We decided to have a quick drink at the hotel bar since no one felt like making the 30 minute train ride into town. I decided to try the Heineken on draft (which the bartender told us was "much better than that crap you get in the green bottles in the States." He was correct. The beer turned out to be very good, indeed, and one beer quickly turned into four or five, and we went to our rooms feeling pretty happy sometime after midnight.
On Saturday, we got up, had breakfast, and caught the free shuttle to the airport. From there we hopped on the train (after getting some Guilders = Dutch money) and made it to the city center. Again, I was immediately struck by the architecture, which is just so freakin' old and neat. The many clock towers, spires, and domes that rise everywhere you look just give everything such a cool look. Then add in the many canals that wind through the city and you've got a very scenic town.
Our first stop was the Anne Frank House, which has been turned into a museum. For those that don't know (I didn't know the whole story), Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl (early teens) whose family went into hiding after the Germans invaded the Netherlands, and her diaries were put together into a book by her father (he survived the death camps, but the rest of his family, including Anne, did not). They hid in a couple of rooms above the warehouse where Otto (the father) had worked and had people bringing them food and such. Again, the atrocities that the Germans committed against the Jews simply because of their religion amazes me. What could possibly instill such hatred of a people for what seems to me to be such a trivial matter? Anyway, it was a very interesting and heavy place.
After leaving, we needed something a little lighter, so we decided to grab lunch and a beer or two at the Hard Rock Cafe. I sampled the Vors beer here, which was also quite good. With lunch out of the way and our spirits a little higher, we embarked on a canal tour on one of the many tourist boats that cruise around town giving spectacular views of the city. If I go back to Amsterdam, I would definitely go in the summer next time as I'm sure the canals would be even more beautiful with the trees and flowers that line the canals in bloom.
Ok, enough with the history and other crap and on to the fun stuff. Our next stop was a little coffeeshop where they actually don't serve coffee (at least none that I saw). There was a drink menu (we had a few more Heinekens -- go figure) and also a Cannabis menu. In other words, it's pretty much a bar that also sells marijuana. All of the "coffeeshops" in Amsterdam specialize in pot, but not all sell beer (seemed strange to me as most people I know who do both do both at the same time). Anyway, "cafes" do not sell pot, nor do they allow people to smoke it there, but coffeeshops do. Go figure. Anyway, you can pretty much get a buzz just by walking by one of these places.
Another lesson was learned in this part of town: "Dutch men will piss anywhere!" This was actually a quote I had read in one of the tourist guides, and I can attest to the fact that it is true. There were guys pissing right into the canal. Keep in mind there were other folks walking around right on the other side of the canal and his goods were exposed for all to see. Anyway, in addition to the women behind windows are tons of sex shops with various merchandise such as videos, mags, whips, leather clothing, and just about every type of sex-toy you can imagine. Crazy!
As you can see, Amsterdam is a very free and open town. We went in and "bought" this cute little blonde girl for an hour (tongue ring, very talented), called it a night, and made our way back to the hotel. Oh yeah, Lisa got her ass grabbed at one point (I had ducked into a coffeeshop to check it out or I'd probably be in jail) on the street as well. There's nothing quite like being groped in a foreign town. I wanted to go to the "Banana Bar," which is supposedly VERY entertaining (naked women with... you guessed it... Bananas!). The girls apparently do very erotic things that I'll leave to your imagination. Naturally, there was a huge line to get into the place and I'm not sure they allow women in (who don't work there, that is), so we didn't try to get in. Now THAT would have made for an interesting story. Maybe next time.
Sunday started with the same shuttle and train ride into town. We had breakfast at a little cafe (not coffeshop) where they had typical Euro breakfast (croissant crap), but I had an apple turnover type thing which is as close as I came to Dutch Apple Pie. It wasn't bad. We then went to the Rijks Museum, where they have tons of paintings and sculptures. They have Rembrandt's "Nightwatch." This painting is so incredible. I really think it changed my life. The colors, the texture, the... aww, fuck, who am I kidding? It was a really old painting by some dead guy. Big freakin' deal. I really don't get the fascination with this art crap. Some of the paintings are good and all, but get off it already. The trip wasn't a total loss as they had some ancient war stuff, which was ok.
We then slowly made our way back through town, got back on the train, caught the shuttle to the hotel, and got in the car for the long trip back. We made a little better time on the way home. Another lesson was learned here. You see, kilometers per hour just seems like some arbitrary number when you're driving on the Autobahn. There was one point where we didn't go under 170 for about two hours. Well, I can tell you that a VW station wagon (that's what the company rented for me: yipee!) is not made for this type of driving. 170 km/hr converts to 105 mph. Yeah, the engine must have been running too hot since the fluid light came on: there was practically no oil left in that poor car. Fortunately, we put in a quart and slowed down to a mere 140 km/hr (which is only 87 mph) and made it back safely.
I'm not really sure how I'll every be able to drive like a normal person in the States again. It's just so nice to be able to get somewhere that quickly. The really scary part is that we were getting passed at that speed. Wow! I have to say that it makes the trip go so much faster since you have to totally concentrate on the road at that speed. There is no changing the radio. There is no looking at scenery. You have to have every ounce of concentration on the road, and it makes the trip just fly by. I have more respect for NASCAR drivers now (but it's still not a sport).
Well, that's my story. Hope you've enjoyed reading it half as much as I enjoyed living it!
Here are the rest of the pictures from our trip:
Go Back to The Safko Main Page
| © 2000 Savington Enterprises | ||
 |
EMAIL US! |
|
| mssafko@yahoo.com | lsafko@yahoo.com | |
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}