so, there we were: trapped in an amsterdam rail station. no clue where we were going and what we would be doing. for mellissa and catherine, the worry was where they would be sleeping and how and when they would be getting back to paris. for me, i was just hoping i would have enough cell phone battery life left to get a hold of matt so that i could meet up with him in amsterdam. no sleep, a long bus ride, and a confusing country equal not the best of times, but we made the most of it. mellissa was craving meat for some reason, but the bk in the station didn't open up for another few hours. we finally discovered how to purchase tickets and were able to get on a train towards amsterdam central. once we got there, we began to wander around the city that is amsterdam. we had no purpose, but that was nice. my back was just killing me from the heavy backpack that had partnered my travels for the entire trip.
the first thing i noticed of amsterdam was the insane amount of bicycles that populated anywhere a lock could be hitched up. seriously. i think there are three bikes to every one person in amsterdam. it was crazy. and i thought mpls biked a lot. it's not nothing on the netherlands.
so, for the first part of our day in amsterdam, we basically walked around... for hours. we did find a tiny little shop that had free internet if you purchased a drink, i finally got some early grey tea, which i had been craving for quite a many days. (i'm hooked, no joke). it was weird to access facebook and twitter and gmail again. i had an inclination to check the sports pages from the stribe, but i knew that i would probably be on for hours if i went down that path. my excitement for the twins knows no bounds.
^ canal life
^ a fucking mall. seriously. (they had €299 true religion basic joeys)
^ look familiar, NE bulldog patrons?
^ amsterdam, and the livings easy
so while we walked around exploring 'dam, all i could think about is how i could kill 8 hours until matt got in from work. eventually, i settled in at the grasshopper and had a few overpriced pints of grolsch. finally, time rolled around and he arrived and my trip to the netherlands really began. we hit up a few bars around amsterdam, then proceeded to train it back to den haag or more exactly the beach-side district of scheveningen. we got some amazing turkish pizzas and just relaxed back at his apartment. now, i am all for this, because after being basically on foot for four days, i was ready to go somewhere where i didn't have to "check-out" the next day or worry about some punk kid trying to mess with my backpack. i was in an actual home. such a difference.
now, matt lives in amazing place. it is about three blocks from the beach in just a very lovely part of den haag. the place is huge and i was able to make my own food, watch some tv and use the internet. also, he has an extra phone, so i was equipped with an iphone for the length of my stay in the netherlands. that, my friends, was probably the most amazing thing. the next day, matt and i just sort of hung around the apartment for most of the morning and afternoon, seeing as it was raining out at the time (and we had hit it pretty hard the night before and matt had to "work from home that day). this is the day i was introduced to espresso. i have never been a coffee fan, and well, i was not quite sure what espresso was. matt gave me a crash course: it is a shot of basically six cups of coffee. well, after two of those, you are feeling quite wired for the rest of the day. i could see drinking espresso. but i would still take a cup of earl grey any day.
we then went (after the hangovers sufficed) into the heart of den haag to do a little sight-seeing. this is where my first experience with gyros occurred. i, being one of the pickiest eaters on the planet, had never taken the time to try a pita gyro. don't ask me why, because i have had plenty of chances (seeing as i lived three blocks from santana's for almost two years). but, i loved it. gyro meat is awesome and well, for only 5 euros, it was a bargain. next, we went to check out an irish pub that matt goes to quite often. there, we met a group called the legal aliens, a collection of people who live in den haag but are transplants from other countries. they let us sit with them (or me for that matter, seeing as i was under-qualified, matt had no problem) and we joined a pub quiz with them. during the quiz, our group won three free beers, which was amazing. included in the group was a girl who was born in crystal, mn! what are the odds? everyone was extremely friendly and we ended up actually winning the damn pub quiz, which gave us a round of fantastic beer for the entire group. all in all, it was a great day and evening. with all that beer, well, matt and i were feeling quite "on it" so-to-speak. free beer is anyone's friend, trust me. it is nice that the public transportation in den haag goes everywhere, and matt and i took quite good advantage of that.
the next day i spent lying around while matt was off at work. the weather outside was a bit rainy and windy. and matt has cable. so... let's just say it was nice to be able to not have to do anything or be anywhere. a relaxing day in the middle of the trip is well needed. that evening, matt and i went next door to a truly dutch pub. there is a no smoking law in effect in the netherlands where you are not able to smoke in bars, much like the rest of the world it seems. well, here, they smoke. basically because no one but the local dutch go to this tiny pub. matt said that the first few times he came in, the bar basically stopped and turned to look at him. it was pretty sweet though. something you would find up north in minnesota. that tiny, small-town bar, where only the locals go and only the locals are accepted. but they poured us a few 1/2 pints, which i enjoyed thoroughly. next, we went to this little take-a-way place down the road. they have these deep-fried brie cheese pockets. basically, crack in cheese form. amazing. i'm surprised the 'sconis haven't discovered this yet. but brie may be out of their league (just kidding to all my wisconsin friends). we also got these deep-fried... balls of goodness. i had no clue what they were, but they were tasty. i guess some traditional netherlands snack or something. plus, the guy working the shop was really cool. he chatted us up for a while as he and matt talked all things haag. that evening, since we decided we needed at least one night of taking it easy, we turned on a movie and just hung out. the movie, she's out of my league, was pretty damn good, actually. i'm not usually one for romantic comedies, but this one actually had some "comedy" to it, which can be lacking in films of the same genre.
thursday in den haag, my last full day and night. this day, i actually got out and explored a bit more than i had in the previous days. the beach is always my favourite part of any city, especially if it is on the sea. it was a crazily windy day in the netherlands this day and, well, walking down the beach felt as if you could get blown over at any moment and end up somewhere in scandinavia. there were a lot of people out on the water, surprisingly, wind surfing, kite surfing, and regular surfing, i believe. that was probably the most interesting thing to see out there. just hoards of people racing towards the mighty north sea. it was no calm day, either, which is what must make it much more exciting. the sea is an amazing thing. i am always in awe of it every time i am in its presence. that evening, erickson and i ate some pizza and drank some more rum, which was a common occurrence in my time in the hague. we then decided to head out to a few bars around town. the first bar was quite dead, but after we decided to go to the local casino. i have never been one to frequent casinos (basically because i never have money to gamble in the first place) but this was a pretty interesting place. well, i have really only ever been to casinos in the states (mainly minnesota and wisconsin). they had a lot of games that i had never heard of, and erickson was ready to put down a few bills and see what happened. roulette is a very interesting game. i think if you really sat there long enough you could make some money, but then again, everything is really based upon luck. we weren't that lucky that night, but i didn't have any money to gamble with so that didn't help. all in all, it was a good end to a pretty great stay in the netherlands.
^ scheveningen pier
^ scheveningen coastline
^ wind-surfer
^ the lone surfer
^ the street where i stayed (i really don't think anyone actually can read dutch)
^ chinatown: den haag
the next day, i had to group all of my shit together and get ready for my departure flight from amsterdam to london. the next stop on my trip being dublin, but seeing as i booked the second half before the first half, i had quite the round-a-bout way getting to dublin. after i got all of my stuff packed and organized, i headed to the heart of den haag for one last bout at sight-seeing. i managed to find the gyro place again and got in a tasting of one of my new favourite foods. then, onto the train towards amsterdam airport, which is where the next part of my trip will begin - in the next post.
*this once was an island*
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