Amsterdam: Then & Now

---

Holland. My third time there and the second time that I remembered. My brother was born in a little tiny town that my mom had loved here in the middle of winter. Being back there was a culture shock and made me remember.

Anouk my friend from when I first had traveled to Europe many years ago and had wanted to experience the madness of Amsterdam was there to greet me. She looked exactly the same. I had just flown in so she took me to a quiet little restaurant where we had sandwiches and soup. Then we drank dutch beer and I was starting to feel very happy. She told me about her life and her being a mom and roller derby and life in Dutchyland since we last saw eachother.

When I was in college we had been pen pals for a little while. She wrote every week to me on pink paper that had little dog people, kitty cats and purple stars. I had opened the envelopes to perfect handwriting with bubbles and carefully chosen words about the intricacies of her feelings and how much she missed me.

I was 20 years old when we met. She was 16. I had a shaved head and a goatee; traveling the old world. I had landed in Luxembourg, took a train to Belgium and Holland then down to Switzerland and into Italy. In Italy I had hitchhiked, skateboarded and slept above vineyards before going back to Switzerland and then surfed in France with my Dad's friends' son and his buddies. We celebrated my 21st birthday in Suisse before flying out of Paris at the end of summer.

In July of 1999 when I first met my dutchy friend I had ventured up to Texel, a tiny island about 90 km north of Amsterdam. I sought a respite from the self destruct I was creating for myself in the free and amazing city. It was during the world cup when France beat Brazil and the streets of Paris were pandemonium. When I was in Holland the Dutch were in high contention for the a medal. I wore my orange & black car racing jacket. The dutch soccer team was orange.

I had a tarp with me and I used my long skateboard with a sticker of the deftones and an 8 ball to hold up one end of the tent. I broke an equally measured branch for the other post. Anouk and her friends, all dutch teenagers, had seen this and thought it hilarious. We all got drunk and watched soccer together.

Several years later thanks to social media Anouk had found me and when I returned to Europe for my second round I found her. We played really cool video games and we hung out and talked into the night. It was like no time had passed. I was a different person entirely but I know that what I had in my heart and my love for such a splendid place and people held with me. It made me think about time and how it is somewhat irrelevant. We change immensely always as do our surroundings; but at the heart we are forever children in the womb of eternal love.

From these thoughts and actions I developed more feelings of security for my traveling and I gained inner strength for the rest of my journey. Next stop : Romania...

---

Photos

Eindhoven
Power of the People

Anouk
at roller derby!

Centraal Station
Europe's Northern Port