Amsterdam

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We arrived in Amsterdam by train just after noon on Friday 26 September.

After we arrived at the train station we made our way to the Meeting Point Youth Hostel, located right in the heart of The Red Light District. Although we climbed four flights of stairs, we reached our 8 bunk room overlooking Centraal Station to the right and the surrounding street and canal to the left.

Amsterdam was around 17 degrees C (62 degrees F) and sunny; a great late September afternoon. We quickly unpacked and got right to wandering around.


Amsterdam was bustling on this warm Friday afternoon; foot traffic (including the barrage of bicycles and cars) was heavy. I was surprised to discover that, in the Red Light District at least, there are roughly 2 coffee shops for every 3 businesses. All of them proudly display their catchy names out front on hand-painted, colorful signs in hopes of luring in more-than-willing tourists. The wacky coffee shop names, it is important to point out, are supposed to present an theme/vibe, whether determinate or not, that is meant to entice. For instance, some names that come to mind are: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.

We slowly made our way to the Van Gough Museum, which was nice, but kind of pricey (and no Starry Night!) and then rested in the grass beneath the glorious sunshine for a while. Rachel and I made a video that is a fake news story covering a slant/mirage/public art piece that ascends a corner section of the park upwards to a triangular, acute angle creating this seemingly floating piece of park. (The video will be added soon).

After some relaxing we reluctantly did the obligatory holy-shit-we're-in-Amsterdam-and-there-are-hugely-oversized-letters-than-pronounce-my-love-for-this-crazy
-little-place. The photo shoot, albeit long, was an important right of passage for any Amsterdam; any right-minded tourist would gladly climb up vowels and pose on consonants for a bold photo shoot.

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