Amsterdam is a CRAZY place to be on New Year's Eve. Duh. Jon and I hopped on a train on Old Year's morning (Dec 31) and chugged up into Amsterdam and found a memorable time. First we did the bag drag from the train station to our hotel. Though it was only 400 meters from the station, we walked much further as navigating A-Dam can be a bit tricky for the uninitiated.
The smell of weed hung thick in the air on Nieuwendijk and Damrack, where "coffee-shops" were on every street corner ("coffee" = weed or hash). But we made our way through the haze to our hotel, left our bags, and set off. First stop, a coffee shop of course. They have very good orange juice. Then, around 2pm, we wandered around the Old Church and did some sightseeing. People familiar with Amsterdam will know what sightseeing at the Old Church entails; let's just say there are different kinds of organs and stained glass.
Next we took the tram down to the Van Gogh museum and saw their impressive collection, as bequeathed by Van Gogh's brother. As a novice painter myself, seeing a Van Gogh up close was very exciting. In so much of the thickly laid on paint I could clearly see the motion of the brush stroke. It was like reading a book handwritten by the author.
By 11pm, the whole town was absorbed in firecracker induced madness. The Dutch don't have a lot of laws and apparently no laws in regard to firecrackers. Imagine the stock of a US Town's fireworks display handed out to everyone on the street. Give the children M-80's in lieu of sparklers, multiply that by 1,000 and you have the New Year's Eve Amsterdam Experience.
By 11 pm I was incredibly shell-shocked and we took shelter on the terrace of a cafe. It was just then that a nearby incendiary went awry and ended up pointing toward our terrace instead of the the sky. Soon flaming missives were shooting around our heads and landing at our feet (I have actual firecracker paper burned into the sides of my shoes). We went inside the cafe and stayed there, ordering champagne. I wanted to have a toast, not be the toast.
Footage of the square we were on (Dam Square) on Monday night.
The next morning we walked around the neighborhood near our hotel and saw a road was closed so they could work on the wreckage of a canal house that had burnt down the night before. We also saw the springs of burnt mattresses in several squares and the streets were red with firecracker paper.
It was a great time, albeit heavy on the pyromania. Later, just before heading back to the train station, we popped into a chess club. Jon surprised a couple local chess players by beating them; I had some beer and watched.
The smell of weed hung thick in the air on Nieuwendijk and Damrack, where "coffee-shops" were on every street corner ("coffee" = weed or hash). But we made our way through the haze to our hotel, left our bags, and set off. First stop, a coffee shop of course. They have very good orange juice. Then, around 2pm, we wandered around the Old Church and did some sightseeing. People familiar with Amsterdam will know what sightseeing at the Old Church entails; let's just say there are different kinds of organs and stained glass.
Next we took the tram down to the Van Gogh museum and saw their impressive collection, as bequeathed by Van Gogh's brother. As a novice painter myself, seeing a Van Gogh up close was very exciting. In so much of the thickly laid on paint I could clearly see the motion of the brush stroke. It was like reading a book handwritten by the author.
By 11pm, the whole town was absorbed in firecracker induced madness. The Dutch don't have a lot of laws and apparently no laws in regard to firecrackers. Imagine the stock of a US Town's fireworks display handed out to everyone on the street. Give the children M-80's in lieu of sparklers, multiply that by 1,000 and you have the New Year's Eve Amsterdam Experience.
By 11 pm I was incredibly shell-shocked and we took shelter on the terrace of a cafe. It was just then that a nearby incendiary went awry and ended up pointing toward our terrace instead of the the sky. Soon flaming missives were shooting around our heads and landing at our feet (I have actual firecracker paper burned into the sides of my shoes). We went inside the cafe and stayed there, ordering champagne. I wanted to have a toast, not be the toast.
Footage of the square we were on (Dam Square) on Monday night.
The next morning we walked around the neighborhood near our hotel and saw a road was closed so they could work on the wreckage of a canal house that had burnt down the night before. We also saw the springs of burnt mattresses in several squares and the streets were red with firecracker paper.
It was a great time, albeit heavy on the pyromania. Later, just before heading back to the train station, we popped into a chess club. Jon surprised a couple local chess players by beating them; I had some beer and watched.
Comments
I just found out from Jason that you guys are in Europe, I see Jon is as studly if not more studly than ever !
You seem like you're having an awesome adventure.
Love your blog, would like to get in touch.
Andy
AndyKiteMan at mac dot com
Jon sent you an email, hopefully you can give us a ring?