amsterdam
One thing I absolutely love about the location of Leiden is its proximity to Amsterdam:
Random Intro--
Zak hears his alarm blasting some Daft Punk song and groggily mashes keys to shut it off--it's just too early to be listening to crappy cell phone music. as if there's ever some time for that
It's 9:00am and I'm meeting Therese and Maria at 10:00am, so obviously SNOOZE, and two minutes later it's apparently 10:15 and I've missed breakfast with them. Maybe if I hadn't been up til 4 last night talking on the computer I might've woken up as Julie Andrews, gently pulling the covers to the side and belting out that the hills are alive with the sound of music, but I chose sleep over that. And then like I was indeed in a movie, I get a text from Therese saying that she and Maria were outside my window. They had come to my place to resurrect me from the sleeping dead--I shouted that I felt so loved! Because I did.
After eating at the delicious Dutch chain Bagels & Beans, I was invited to go to Amsterdam with them. Casually. As if going to Amsterdam was like going to see a movie or going to the mall. Sometimes people make fun of me for marveling at these wonderful conveniences, but really, come on. Someone agree with me.
We took the train from Leiden to Amsterdam (about 30 minutes) and spent about 5 hours walking around, little bit of shopping and sightseeing, and basically discovering all parts of the city without a map. You see all kinds of people there: travelers, tourists, druggies, hippies, native citizens. And not to mention other common things: giant trams on tracks that go throughout the streets that only give a warning of a friendly little ding-ding bell and the sound of electricity snapping through the wires. Not only must you make sure to avoid being trampled by a tram, but also you must dodge the bikes--usually it's obvious where you shouldn't be walking, but somehow people always manage to inspire furious bell-ringing from bikes or trams by being in the way. All of it reminded me of New York City, except all the buildings were from the 16th century and no taller than three stories high. With less cars. Not so many homeless people begging for money. Very clean. So basically it was nothing like New York City but it had the feel that there more visitors there than natives, which is a great energizing feeling.
Something interesting I noticed about Amsterdam was that despite the fact that there are so many people from so many different countries living in and visiting the city, you'd think they'd do business in English, however every time I was asked if I needed help or even at the cash register, it was always in Dutch. I'm glad they're keeping their language and well and not letting English overtake them, even though they all speak it so well.
I finally got to see the Red Light District too, as this was now my third time in Amsterdam and I still hadn't been there. The Dutch call it "De Wallen" ('the walls') and in fact, you simple walk down these narrow alleys and every 10 feet or so, there are 3-4 windows where some hot girl (ok, some weren't so hot) would look at you lustily and motion for you to "come inside" while some held dildos that they softly rapped against the glass. My modesty got the best of me and I couldn't even look at them, I felt so...exposed! FOR them! Like a marquee at Times Square, the thought kept running through my mind "Nice boobs...those were some nice boobs...excellent boobs...nice legs..." Two more blocks of those thoughts and I'd have felt straight.
Oh and I bought pants.
Random Intro--
Zak hears his alarm blasting some Daft Punk song and groggily mashes keys to shut it off--it's just too early to be listening to crappy cell phone music. as if there's ever some time for that
It's 9:00am and I'm meeting Therese and Maria at 10:00am, so obviously SNOOZE, and two minutes later it's apparently 10:15 and I've missed breakfast with them. Maybe if I hadn't been up til 4 last night talking on the computer I might've woken up as Julie Andrews, gently pulling the covers to the side and belting out that the hills are alive with the sound of music, but I chose sleep over that. And then like I was indeed in a movie, I get a text from Therese saying that she and Maria were outside my window. They had come to my place to resurrect me from the sleeping dead--I shouted that I felt so loved! Because I did.
After eating at the delicious Dutch chain Bagels & Beans, I was invited to go to Amsterdam with them. Casually. As if going to Amsterdam was like going to see a movie or going to the mall. Sometimes people make fun of me for marveling at these wonderful conveniences, but really, come on. Someone agree with me.
We took the train from Leiden to Amsterdam (about 30 minutes) and spent about 5 hours walking around, little bit of shopping and sightseeing, and basically discovering all parts of the city without a map. You see all kinds of people there: travelers, tourists, druggies, hippies, native citizens. And not to mention other common things: giant trams on tracks that go throughout the streets that only give a warning of a friendly little ding-ding bell and the sound of electricity snapping through the wires. Not only must you make sure to avoid being trampled by a tram, but also you must dodge the bikes--usually it's obvious where you shouldn't be walking, but somehow people always manage to inspire furious bell-ringing from bikes or trams by being in the way. All of it reminded me of New York City, except all the buildings were from the 16th century and no taller than three stories high. With less cars. Not so many homeless people begging for money. Very clean. So basically it was nothing like New York City but it had the feel that there more visitors there than natives, which is a great energizing feeling.
Something interesting I noticed about Amsterdam was that despite the fact that there are so many people from so many different countries living in and visiting the city, you'd think they'd do business in English, however every time I was asked if I needed help or even at the cash register, it was always in Dutch. I'm glad they're keeping their language and well and not letting English overtake them, even though they all speak it so well.
I finally got to see the Red Light District too, as this was now my third time in Amsterdam and I still hadn't been there. The Dutch call it "De Wallen" ('the walls') and in fact, you simple walk down these narrow alleys and every 10 feet or so, there are 3-4 windows where some hot girl (ok, some weren't so hot) would look at you lustily and motion for you to "come inside" while some held dildos that they softly rapped against the glass. My modesty got the best of me and I couldn't even look at them, I felt so...exposed! FOR them! Like a marquee at Times Square, the thought kept running through my mind "Nice boobs...those were some nice boobs...excellent boobs...nice legs..." Two more blocks of those thoughts and I'd have felt straight.
Oh and I bought pants.