Hot 'Dam!
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Amsterdam for almost two weeks now. It’s even harder to believe that it wasn’t until about the fourth day I was here that I saw a used condom in the streets. I mean, seriously, I thought the streets of the Red-Light District would have been paved with used condoms. What gives?
Speaking of the Red-Light District, I’ve been trying various ways of walking to campus, and one way goes right through there. I guess I assumed that the whole prostitutes-in-the-windows thing was limited to the evenings, but boy was I wrong. Anytime is prostitute-time in Amsterdam. And as you might imagine, there is a pretty significant disparity between a seductive lady of night on Saturday evening, and a scary Wednesday morning whore. It’s a certain je ne sais quoi.
Speaking of the French language, today I booked airfare to go to Paris next weekend. My sister’s best friend from college lives there, and she said it would be cool if I crashed with her and her family. She had a baby not too long ago, so she asked me if I wouldn’t mind being woken up around 7 am by a crying baby. I told her that it would be fine, since I usually cry loudly in my bed around 6:30 am (thanks, folks, I’ll be here all week!). Anyways, I figured since I was in Europe, I had to take advantage of the cheaper travel, and why not go to Paris? It is, after all, “The City of 1000 Suns.” Wait, that’s not right. I think Paris is “The Show Me State.” Yeah, that’s definitely it.
Speaking of “yeah, that’s definitely it” (wait, what?), you were probably thinking that the greatest hits of Sugar Ray were lost to the annals of time. Nah, son. Sugar Ray is alive and well, and I know this because the other day my roommate was loudly singing “I just wanna fly.” Like, really singing it and trying hard to get the notes right and stuff. He knew I could hear him too. But he’s a really nice guy, so I’m not going to rip on him for it. Actually, he lost his key, and apparently the housing people decided that making a new key would be too difficult so they just gave him a different apartment. So, now I have a double all to myself, which has its pluses and minuses. Mostly pluses, though.
One quick note, which I forgot to share last time: The housing company gave us sheets, and the design on them is cardboard. So, they gave us cheap, stiff sheets and made them look like cardboard. That’s a sense of irony that I can appreciate.
Just a couple of pictures this time:
This is a view from one of the exits of the University.
I like this old clock tower. Also, you may notice a pigeon flying right at my camera. It makes the picture look kind of ominous, I think.
Here are some pictures from Dam Square in the center of the city. I didn’t know what this building was until I looked it up on Google a second ago. It’s the Amsterdam Royal Palace, but the royal family doesn’t live there anymore. The Palace is currently used for state functions.
Yup, that’s Darth Vader. Apparently, the Dutch Royal Family was hosting several state officials from the Empire on this day.
This is a memorial statue in Dam Square. It memorializes all the penises which have fallen in this great country. God, what an asshole I am.
Thank God somebody finally has the guts to stand up to the oppressive Dutch government. And to do so in English, for some reason. Actually, in a way it makes sense – when the government has de-criminalized marijuana and prostitution, what else do you demand of them? “Legalize wee- oh wait… prostitution should be allow- shit… umm… no government at all, I guess?”
The other day, I went with some people to the Van Gogh Museum (I know, it might shock some people that there are things to do in Amsterdam other than smoke pot). This is the Rijksmuseum, which I’d like to go to before I leave:
The Rijksmuseum looks like a castle, while the Van Gogh Museum looks kind of like a Holiday Inn:
You can’t take pictures in the museum, but if you ever go to Amsterdam, I highly recommend going to the Van Gogh Museum. I’m not particularly sophisticated when it comes to art, but one of the guys in the group I went with was gay AND he used to manage an art gallery. So, he explained stuff to me.
But seriously, it was amazing to first look at the paintings close up and see the individual thick globs of oil paint he used, and then step back and see the image that those globs create. Apparently, Van Gogh produced close to 2,000 pieces (mostly paintings but also some drawings) in a career that only spanned ten years. I did the math (because I have that kind of time), and that’s about three or four pieces every week. And I can’t imagine how much time went into each painting. It’s no wonder he went insane – how could you not?
Ralph (that’s the art dude) said that between three of the most famous paintings at the Museum – Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers, Self-portrait as an Artist, and Irises – he estimated their collective worth to be around a quarter of a billion dollars. And that was only three of the paintings there! It makes you wonder how many of the paintings were found in somebody’s attic or just hanging in their grandma’s bathroom. Instant millionaires.
Well, that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with a symbolic photo of waiting for the tram:
Speaking of the Red-Light District, I’ve been trying various ways of walking to campus, and one way goes right through there. I guess I assumed that the whole prostitutes-in-the-windows thing was limited to the evenings, but boy was I wrong. Anytime is prostitute-time in Amsterdam. And as you might imagine, there is a pretty significant disparity between a seductive lady of night on Saturday evening, and a scary Wednesday morning whore. It’s a certain je ne sais quoi.
Speaking of the French language, today I booked airfare to go to Paris next weekend. My sister’s best friend from college lives there, and she said it would be cool if I crashed with her and her family. She had a baby not too long ago, so she asked me if I wouldn’t mind being woken up around 7 am by a crying baby. I told her that it would be fine, since I usually cry loudly in my bed around 6:30 am (thanks, folks, I’ll be here all week!). Anyways, I figured since I was in Europe, I had to take advantage of the cheaper travel, and why not go to Paris? It is, after all, “The City of 1000 Suns.” Wait, that’s not right. I think Paris is “The Show Me State.” Yeah, that’s definitely it.
Speaking of “yeah, that’s definitely it” (wait, what?), you were probably thinking that the greatest hits of Sugar Ray were lost to the annals of time. Nah, son. Sugar Ray is alive and well, and I know this because the other day my roommate was loudly singing “I just wanna fly.” Like, really singing it and trying hard to get the notes right and stuff. He knew I could hear him too. But he’s a really nice guy, so I’m not going to rip on him for it. Actually, he lost his key, and apparently the housing people decided that making a new key would be too difficult so they just gave him a different apartment. So, now I have a double all to myself, which has its pluses and minuses. Mostly pluses, though.
One quick note, which I forgot to share last time: The housing company gave us sheets, and the design on them is cardboard. So, they gave us cheap, stiff sheets and made them look like cardboard. That’s a sense of irony that I can appreciate.
Just a couple of pictures this time:
This is a view from one of the exits of the University.
I like this old clock tower. Also, you may notice a pigeon flying right at my camera. It makes the picture look kind of ominous, I think.
Here are some pictures from Dam Square in the center of the city. I didn’t know what this building was until I looked it up on Google a second ago. It’s the Amsterdam Royal Palace, but the royal family doesn’t live there anymore. The Palace is currently used for state functions.
Yup, that’s Darth Vader. Apparently, the Dutch Royal Family was hosting several state officials from the Empire on this day.
This is a memorial statue in Dam Square. It memorializes all the penises which have fallen in this great country. God, what an asshole I am.
Thank God somebody finally has the guts to stand up to the oppressive Dutch government. And to do so in English, for some reason. Actually, in a way it makes sense – when the government has de-criminalized marijuana and prostitution, what else do you demand of them? “Legalize wee- oh wait… prostitution should be allow- shit… umm… no government at all, I guess?”The other day, I went with some people to the Van Gogh Museum (I know, it might shock some people that there are things to do in Amsterdam other than smoke pot). This is the Rijksmuseum, which I’d like to go to before I leave:
The Rijksmuseum looks like a castle, while the Van Gogh Museum looks kind of like a Holiday Inn:
You can’t take pictures in the museum, but if you ever go to Amsterdam, I highly recommend going to the Van Gogh Museum. I’m not particularly sophisticated when it comes to art, but one of the guys in the group I went with was gay AND he used to manage an art gallery. So, he explained stuff to me.But seriously, it was amazing to first look at the paintings close up and see the individual thick globs of oil paint he used, and then step back and see the image that those globs create. Apparently, Van Gogh produced close to 2,000 pieces (mostly paintings but also some drawings) in a career that only spanned ten years. I did the math (because I have that kind of time), and that’s about three or four pieces every week. And I can’t imagine how much time went into each painting. It’s no wonder he went insane – how could you not?
Ralph (that’s the art dude) said that between three of the most famous paintings at the Museum – Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers, Self-portrait as an Artist, and Irises – he estimated their collective worth to be around a quarter of a billion dollars. And that was only three of the paintings there! It makes you wonder how many of the paintings were found in somebody’s attic or just hanging in their grandma’s bathroom. Instant millionaires.
Well, that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with a symbolic photo of waiting for the tram:
posted by Phil at
8:02 PM
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