And now, PARIS!

Man o man, where did I leave of? So, Amsterdam was amazing. It's pretty much winning the "Anamica's favourite European City" contest. My last full day by the Amstel was QUEEN'S DAY! Which means everyone has the day off and wears orange. Holly, Tomek and I got all dolled up then rode our bikes into town. The parks were packed full of people selling their old junk, pitching weird games and eating junky junky food. The weather could not have been more perfect. As Holly said, "Queen Beatrix has ordained it so." In that case, a big thank you to the queen for being so very awesome. The rest of the day was spent riding around Amsterdam, listening to music and drinking wine. After a dinner of yummy falafel, we ended the night at a familiar bar and having some drinks by the bonfire. Home and in bed by midnight, not a shabby night. The next morning Holly and Tomek saw me off at the bus station. Holly even bought me a sandwich and some juice to enjoy on the bus ride to Paris. It feels good to be taken care of. The bus ride was supposed to take eight hours, but it ended up being nine and a half. Iman had promised to meet me at the bus station but since I don't have a phone in Europe to warn her about the delay, she headed back home to charge her dead cell phone and fret a little about how she would find her friend. Eventually, I figured out how to use a French pay phone and I told her I would meet her at her local subway station. Two seconds into sitting on the subway three drunk Parisians harass me. Seriously? I got up and walked away, but it didn't give me much of a good impression of the city. I've heard too many stories about the men in this town acting less then gentlemen-like. Fortunately, I found Iman and we talked far past her bedtime. We woke up this morning and she took me to some of the most beautiful sites ever. There was Sacre-Coeur, Notre Dame, the Pantheon, the Latin Quarter and some other places of importance with French names I can't remember. Also, I had the best pan au chocolat I've had in my life. Oh, and a ridiculously delicious falafel sandwich that was stuffed with grilled aubergine, cole slaw with tahini and beets. Why is life so good? Iman had to got to work at five and she sent me home to the apartment. I got in to the building just fine, but I then proceeded to try to open the wrong apartment door. When I thought the key didn't work, I sat on the steps outside the apartment for nearly two hours, pouting. I would have gone outside and seen some sites, but it was raining pretty hard. Finally, a nice man came up to the landing and asked me what I was doing. "Well, I have a key, but it's just not working." "This is my apartment." "What?! Where do the three girls live?" "Downstairs, on the fifth floor." Oh. Anyway, more adventures tomorrow. Today's mission: Read some Sartre. Extra points if you do it at a coffee shop.

The Saturday Before Queensday

Seriously, why is the formatting on Blogger not working? I miss paragraphs. The past couple of days have been spent riding around Amsterdam on my bike. On Wednesday, I toured the city, got lost, found my way back and had dinner with Holly and Tomek. I did end up in the Red Light District while lost, something I'm sure you've been wanting to ask since I got to Amsterdam. It was quite surprising as I didn't realize the mannequin in the window was actually a human being. I jumped back at this, looked around, saw more women in windows and realized I was nowhere near where I needed to go. Yesterday I went to the Van Gogh Museum. Of course, it was amazing! Unfortunately, it is a major tourist spot so i had the combined woes of paying too much to get in, fighting through crowds and doing my best to ignore American tourists reading plaques out loud to their friends. Eventually, I got hungry and had to cut my tour shory. I did get to observe some of his best works, learn a little more about the man and see some pieces from other prevelant artists during his time. That's what I love about museums dedicated to a single artist- you really get to see the progression of the person not just in terms of their artwork but also in terms of their personal development. I had the same realization in the Picasso Museum when I was in Barcelona. You really become connected to these people, realizing you have common experience across temporal and geographical boundaries. Holly and I decided to go out yesterday night and check out the Queen's Day Carnival in the city center. We rode a ferris wheel and I was able to take some amazing shots of Amsterdam from above. It really is a beautiful city. Later on, we explored more of the city, then came home before going out with Thomek to grab a drink at a bar in a warehouse district. I'm not sure why, but there was a bonfire and a very drunk Dutchman kept yelling something to the crowd and adding objects to the fire. I came home smelling like sausage. Today the three of us went out for pannekeoken. Mine had apples, liqeur, walnuts and cinnamon. Holly got one with goat cheese, pinenuts, spinach and pumpkin seeds. Thomek got strawberries and sour cream. I'm telling you all this to make you extremely envious. We went to the house boat museum after that, then worked out way past the hoardes in Centrum to get back to the apartment. I am exhausted. Luckily, we're having a quiet evening at home. Holly is making soup out of herbs she foraged in a city park. Cannot wait to taste it. Until next time! Today's Mission: Forage some food!

Amsterdam- The Storm

My second day in Amsterdam seemed a little low-key but it was actually quite and adventure upon reflection. Holly went off to work at nine in the morning and while she was out her boyfriend, Tomek, tried to set me up with one of their spare bikes. Of course, I was too small for the darn thing. The public transportation here is superb, but a bike is really the best way around Amsterdam. So, when Holly came back from work, she put me on the bake of her cruiser and pedalled me to the bike rental shop. We arrived just before the shop closed and secured a smaller bike for me to use during my stay hereEasy enough, you may think, but the Dutch use large, steel fram cruisers. These are much different from my beauty of a road bike, Gitchee, back at home. The wide set of handle bars took some getting used to, as well as balancing the hulky body of the bike. It was like switching from a gazelle to a hippopotamus. On top of that, renting a bike with a hand brakes was 20 euros more so I opted for a bike with foot brakes. Let me make it very clear: I have never ridden a bicycle with foot brakes. This is key to the plot. Holly and I hopped on our bikes and she took me around the city center. Queen's day is Monday, and the celebration is full dorce with carnival rides. We decided to head over to the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, the largest public library in Europe. Holly was unaware of this last fact, to her it was just her library. Some people are so lucky. At this point I had been doing pretty well on the bike, but then the bike started sloping downhill. The traffic light had turned red and I started back-pedalling to stop the bike. But the bike wasn't stopping. As I desperately back pedalled, I rolled into on-coming bike traffic, swearing at the top of my lungs and identifying myself as the typical American tourist. After finally jumping of the bike, I look back to see a laughing Holly and I walk the bike across the street in shame. The rest of the ride, fortunately, had no downhill portions. We arrived at the Bibliotheek an parked our bikes in an underground bike garage, complete with soft elevator music playing in the background. Once in the library, we enjoyed an exhibition of illustrations from politically-charged magazin Gorilla. It's funny how American politics seem to be a part of the daily life of other countries. Yet, I could never have told you who Wilder was before coming here. The top floor of the library is a full service cafe. Holly and I enjoyed freshly made juice and talked fo about an hour, in the midst of voices from around the world. I love that European feel. No matter where you go, there's always someone visiting from somewhere else. Leaving the library, Holly and I were starving. We hopped on our bikes in search of cheap food, only to be met by a downpoor. We road home like that and I was soaking wet by the time we got back to the apartment. The rest of the night was spent making dinner, eating popcorn, and watching another chapter of Planet Earth. Today I'm taking the bike out to see the sights. Talk to you soon. Today's mission: Find an NGO you support and find out what you can do to help them.

Amsterdam- Day 1

Hey! Another update! Lucky you! Forgive the formatting- Blogger is going through some unexpected changes. Yes, so I'm in Amsterdam, visiting a friend from my semester in the Amazon. Holly is a lovely lady, and you should really get to know her. Here's the story from the last few nights: Carmela and I were in Berlin for about a week. She is still in Germany, doing her German thing. We stayed at a hostel for most of it, with two nights on a couch from couchsurfing. The couchsurfing experience there was sub-par, so we decided to stay near the center of the city in the aforementioned hostel. During the week ther I saw the Fernsehturm tower, Rathaus, the Berlin Dom, Zoo Berlin, the World Clock, the Congress Building and, obviously, the Berlin Wall (from several angles!). Berlin is a nice city, but my love affair with it quickly ended when I realized it was basically Minneapolis with a LOT more hipsters. Everytime I walked into a bar I felt like I was underdressed or something. Also, what's with all the Brazilian influence? Next time I'm going to Hamburg. Our last night in Berlin Carmela and I went on a pub crawl. This was a bad idea, since my flight to the Netherlands was at seven in the morning. There were six of us on the crawl and we had a Berliner as a guide. The other participants included three Brits and an Australian. We played ping-pong, went to an absinther bar and ended the night at a club. I didn't feel much like drinking and ended up spending the entire night talking to this awesome girl from London. She has a law degree, but apparently has been harassed at each job she's had for being from a working-class family. Woah, I didn't realize such blatant classism could still exist in a western country. I got back to the hostel at 2AM, packed, checked emails and then waited until 4AM for the trains to start running. It took two hours to get to Schonefeld Airport and when I did, it was packed. One things needs to be clear: I despise EasyJet. I slept on the plane a bit, but I was pretty much a zombie when I met Holly. I haven't seen her in two years and I was a bit nervous that we had nothing to talk about. On the contrary, despite not having slept for 24 hours I talked to her until I passed out aroun noon. I also got to meet her boyfriend, who, guess what, is a Master's Student in Evolution and Ecology at the University of Amsterdam! So there was much more talking after I woke up yesterday at 5PM, followed by a delicious, home-cooked dinner and then popcorn and Planet Earth before bed. I've only been here for a day and it's already been so lovely I might not leave. We're gonna get me a bike, and then I'll explore the city. No worries, Holly has a dedicated internet connection, so I'll be able to report back on my Dutch adventures with more frequency. Awwww yeaaaaah. Today's mission: Learn more about bees.

Berlin

Hopefully this post works... Lack of updates was caused by my iPhone being stolen in Barcelona. We were there for about four nights. Crazy city, they love to party. I became much sicker there and finally had to go to a doctor once we flew into Berlin. Started a regime of antibiotics and I feel much better. I don't have much time, as I am paying by the minute. Belrin is awesome, my kind of town. All my favorite music plays everywhere. The people are laid-back yet orderly, which doesn't make much sense. Everyone rides bikes, the food is amazing, and healthcare is cheap. Yes, I could live here. What I love the most is the random conversations you can have with people. Simply sitting at a cafe, we were handed a baby to play with and were taught all about Lebanese politics. Amazing, right? The people are just so cool here. And I cannot get over how diverse this city is. I'm off to Amsterdam on Tuesday morning.