Catching up - Amsterdam I: July 6-10

Where to start where to start...

D: YES!!! the art is amazing! YES YES!!! the fries with mayo are unreal!!! YES YES YES!!! they have coffee shops with marijuana, and NO we did not know that before we got there!

People of the Dutch persuasion where so kind and extremely outgoing.

B: Yeah, there are wooden shoes in the Netherlands, but they're bigger than you think.

B: Also, I love mayo. But people over in Holland, they really love mayo. And fries. And they come in a cone. There are also additional flavor options like curry, red pepper and BBQ.

Q: What do they call a Whopper in Amsterdam?

A: We don't know. We didn't go to Burger King.
(For Pulp Fiction fans--we didn't go to McDonald's either, so can't report on the "royale with cheese")

Deni and I did a fair amount of research on the trip and the details of traveling before we left the USA. Six months of research paled in comparison to what we learned in the first six hours.

B: One thing we learned is not to ask foreigners for directions. If you're in Amsterdam, make sure you're at least asking a Dutch person where things are. We found that out the hard way.

D: This is actually one thing Bill learned. The very first set of directions he asked for, it was from an Italian couple. they where looking for pizza...we where looking for Rembrandt. Always pay attention to the language peope are speaking. Not eveyone speaks Mexican, like in Texas.

B: That said, we've been asked for help in places like Rome and Greece. Either people think we look local, which I doubt, or they'e just desperate for a friendly face when they're lost and unable to communicate.

Another thing we believed after "research" is that we should bring a few pairs of clothes that you can wash and wear over and over again. That sounds great in comparison, but at one point Deni and I had the revelation that not only did we look like we just walked out of REI, but that I bore a striking resemblance to Rick Steves -- a gifted traveler to be sure, but definitely kind of dorky -- and REI is expensive, making you look a lot more like a tourist than the skantily clad women and men of the red light district. (We just wish we had brought jeans...)

Of course, when you think of Amsterdam you think of the bikes. Everyone bikes in the city and there are paths everywhere. They're a lot of fun. I really liked the bell. People really move when they hear you ringing.

D: I remember one night, riding really late in the red light district. Bikes and their traffic bells are like New York and txai cabs and ther horns. You know they are there and you do not always have to hear them. I remember one guy getting really mad at us for ringing our bell as we came down the alley. (B: It was 3 a.m., but in our defense it was the red light district.) He yelled "dammit, we hear your damn bell, shut up already!" We rode to end the of the alley....then we rang it really loud and we peddled as fast as our fat asses could peddle. I mean...come on buddy!

B: Hmm, what else to say? How about a little middle-American love from our Dutch brethren? I know what you've heard about foreigners hating Americans, but we can promise that such statements are a little overboard. They do have a lot of respect for Americana.

We liked the frog on this sign.

In addition to the fries we ate very well in Amsterdam. We had dim sum twice and Thai once. Our B&B was very nice and it only rained a bit. Our place was pretty close to the red light district, but not actually inside it. The thing you notice about Amsterdam is that there aren't a whole lot of women there--let's say the boy/girl ration isn't all that great. Maybe we just say that because we were in mainly tourist-frequented places, but it's not somewhere to pick up normal chicks that you don't have to pay for hourly. English dudes pop over from London for less than $100 for bachelor parties and stuff like that. We saw a vanload of them asleep outside our window one morning. We were a little wore out after four nights in Amsterdam, but as we found out, when it comes to crazyness, it's no Pamplona.

Dim sum: