Day 1 Part 2
8:00pm
Got dinner at a tapas bar. I think nowitmustbe a near-universal thing for tapas bars to not bother to have beer kegs and taps. After all, bottles are good enough for wine. Why not beer?
Ate serrano ham & manchego, plus souvlaki skewers (1 lamb & green pepper, 1 chicken & bacon) with rice that turned out to be a paella of sorts -- it was yellow rice and had mussels and calamari rings. The menus are all in Dutch but I get what "manchegokaas" and "lamsouvlaki" mean. Cognates are great!
The rain came again, 3 or so times, while I was eating at a sidewalk table, but I had the driest spot under the awning so I stayed outdoors.
Had a double cappuccino on the way to dinner but it still may be a struggletostay awake until late tonight. Saw the exterior of the Rijksmuseum; beautiful building, and also the location of the giant "I amsterdam" letters.
My big toes hurt. I anticipate finding blisters on them when I remove my socks. Will needto change the dressing on my finger tomorrow after a shower. Need to ask around about cheap international phone plans, and just buck up and buy one of the "vouchers" to get WiFi here. Can't find a local Starbucks here.
This is the first journal update to be staged on paper. Conserving my laptop battery a bit. Don't know how to charge the camera if not through powered USB.
Bikes rule the road here, and the demarcations between sidewalk, bike lane, road, and tram line are extremely blurred. I keep wandering into the brick bike lanes because they look like the sidewalk and adjoin the road. Bicyclists usually _have_ bells but you're lucky if you get "pardon" in a raised voiceto alert you that you, as a pedestrian, are about to unwittingly cause a collision.
They get away with a lot of shit here that would get American moral guardians' panties in a knot. To my right is a poster promoting the "Ultimate Pub Crawl" and my free guide and map picked up here at the hostel proudly advertises the Red Light District group tour, ostensibly so people traveling alone and get a tour and a look-see safely.
9:45pm
Met Brendan from Toronto at the hostel bar. We discussed city planning and he recommended that I rent a bike during the day. Played Wii bowling with the bar staff. Bought a WiFi access card: €10 for 5 hours.
12:00am
More beer, more bowling, this time with German youth who barely spoke Enjglish at all. Typing up day's journal, time for bed about now.
Got dinner at a tapas bar. I think nowitmustbe a near-universal thing for tapas bars to not bother to have beer kegs and taps. After all, bottles are good enough for wine. Why not beer?
Ate serrano ham & manchego, plus souvlaki skewers (1 lamb & green pepper, 1 chicken & bacon) with rice that turned out to be a paella of sorts -- it was yellow rice and had mussels and calamari rings. The menus are all in Dutch but I get what "manchegokaas" and "lamsouvlaki" mean. Cognates are great!
The rain came again, 3 or so times, while I was eating at a sidewalk table, but I had the driest spot under the awning so I stayed outdoors.
Had a double cappuccino on the way to dinner but it still may be a struggletostay awake until late tonight. Saw the exterior of the Rijksmuseum; beautiful building, and also the location of the giant "I amsterdam" letters.
My big toes hurt. I anticipate finding blisters on them when I remove my socks. Will needto change the dressing on my finger tomorrow after a shower. Need to ask around about cheap international phone plans, and just buck up and buy one of the "vouchers" to get WiFi here. Can't find a local Starbucks here.
This is the first journal update to be staged on paper. Conserving my laptop battery a bit. Don't know how to charge the camera if not through powered USB.
Bikes rule the road here, and the demarcations between sidewalk, bike lane, road, and tram line are extremely blurred. I keep wandering into the brick bike lanes because they look like the sidewalk and adjoin the road. Bicyclists usually _have_ bells but you're lucky if you get "pardon" in a raised voiceto alert you that you, as a pedestrian, are about to unwittingly cause a collision.
They get away with a lot of shit here that would get American moral guardians' panties in a knot. To my right is a poster promoting the "Ultimate Pub Crawl" and my free guide and map picked up here at the hostel proudly advertises the Red Light District group tour, ostensibly so people traveling alone and get a tour and a look-see safely.
9:45pm
Met Brendan from Toronto at the hostel bar. We discussed city planning and he recommended that I rent a bike during the day. Played Wii bowling with the bar staff. Bought a WiFi access card: €10 for 5 hours.
12:00am
More beer, more bowling, this time with German youth who barely spoke Enjglish at all. Typing up day's journal, time for bed about now.