Amsterdam - Day 61

Date: October 18th, 2009
Distance: None
Country: The Netherlands
Song of the Day: Miss America - Something Corporate

Wow, I can't believe that it has been two months already. Another ten before I return from my exile. Really I have been planning out how to spend the next two months or so. I figure I will take two weeks to get through Germany. Maybe make it down to Austria. I still think I am going to have to take a train over the Alps. (No elephants for me.) From there I want to spend three weeks in Italy. Then a week through the south coast of France. Finally two weeks going down the east coast of Spain. Then take a boat to Morocco. Hopefully that will put me right about December 15th. So I will have ten days to get to where my cousin is staying in Morocco before Christmas. I also need to figure out which to he is living in... So anyway, if anyone knows places to stay or people to meet in those places, let me know.

As for today, it was fairly relaxed. (Not that kind of relaxed.) Which was good. Woke up and ate a ton of free breakfast at the hostel. Then met up with Larry. He was going to see the Anne Frank museum. So we went there. I hadn't realized that the Frank family was in hiding in Amsterdam. I guess it just isn't something you really think about when you think Amsterdam. Frankly, this seems like the city being free to do what you want. Far different from the time that people were forbidden from businesses or from owning bicycles or sent to camps or hidden in tiny rooms. Just weird. The museum was put together well. Plus the story is just so sad and compelling.

From there we went out to get a pancake. (Shmoke and a pancake?) The place we went to seemed to be run by this one woman show. There were a ton of people in there. Just one lady was taking orders, making the pancakes and even running downstairs with a huge stack of dishes to do some washing. Frankly, I wished I could have helped out somehow. Instead, even though Europeans aren't big on tipping, we left a good one. We ordered a couple of pancakes, and they were really like big thick crepes. So, in other words, very tasty.

Then it was back to the hostel. I needed to get some laundry done. Not only were my biking clothes dirty and gross, my towel was starting to smell as was my sleeping bag liner. I ended up finding a place a couple of blocks away who were very nice. I just dropped it off and they were going to do the rest.

So I checked in on my bike. Still there, and in one piece, so that felt good. I took it and ran over to the Rijksmuseum. Expensive (11) but still pretty cool. They had a little bit of history of the Dutch golden age. This was mostly built on their overseas trading empire. Then on the upper floor they had works of art. Fruits of this golden age. Cool stuff. A lot of Rembrant, but other cool painters as well. Like the whole Van de Velde family, apparently.

Then back to the train station to lock my bike up again. Also back to pick up my laundry. Smells fresh and clean.

Back at the hostel I met a guy from New Hampshire. (Most of the people here seem to be from the East Coast.) So we started haning out. Eventually went out to dinner at a Thai restaraunt. Had some good food and chewed the fat for a while.

Finally it was back to the hostel for bed. Tomorrow I will be back on the road to head down to Arnhem.

-Dravis