I was informed by my Aunt Joan that I've been a real slacker, and lazy (only that is not exactly what she said, but I tend to be pretty hard on myself) on my blog. And you know, I realized she was in fact true, I never got around to my last few days in Paris, my 8-hour bus trip to Amsterdam with Char, or our excursion to Barcelona with Adam. So heres to me catching up, and getting prepared for some more summer adventures in NYC/NJ.
Amsterdam...
Charlotte had decided quite early that we should try out camping in Amsterdam at a place called Camping Zeeburg. Located about 10-15 minutes outside the main city limits of Amsterdam by tram, and for only 45 euros for 3 nights. CHEAP! Only problem was getting there..we spent a good hour trying to locate this place with big backpacks, sleeping bags/mats, and a tent. So when we finally found the place and got settled in, it was unanimously decided that we would need to find a coffee shop, stat! The Greenhouse was our destination, mainly for nostalgic reasons because my brother and I had spent some time there in our last visit four years ago. I was happy to see nothings really changed except that the street was being ripped up...minor right? Shortly after that, our hunger started kicking in and we found ourselves in the outskirts of the red light district, much to Charlotte's dismay, but it was for good reasons. I had been informed of a fantastic Thai restaurant in the area, and somehow we found ourselves starring right at the place after 25 minutes of wondering the streets debating on a place to eat. Sit down in a very private booth, tea is poured for us, and food is brought within minutes. Spring rolls, soup, and sweet and sour chicken with a gallon (3.7 liters) of rice. Everything served to us, and in the end we were quite satisfied. After a long day of traveling since 7 am, 9 pm seemed like a good time to call it a night.
June 29.
Wake up at 7.30 to find ourselves cooking in our tent because of a lack of placement (no shade), and decide to start the day with some breakfast at our little convenience store with a baguette, jam, and soft gouda. It had been decided the day before to rent out bicycles and ride around, visit some museums, and see the city. First stop, Rijksmuseum. My second visit (same with Rembrandt house, and Anne Frank House but Charlotte's first) but still nice to see some of the art and artifacts in the museum. Get done, and decide to head cross town over to Rembrandt house, and on the way I have a little accident on my bike. With Charlotte screaming at me in front, and a tram coming at me from behind, noticing the tram tracks below me was a last concern, and should have been my first. So I took a spill, but I'm a fighter and got back up and rode away, safe and still in one piece... Make our way to Rembrandt house, see a street market, pee in one of the urinals by the canal (didn't get to do it the last time I was there, so I has was happy to accomplish this), visit a coffeeshop to use the wifi (seriously), and call it a night after still avoiding much traffic from bikes, cars, and trams. Safely at the campsite, we visit the bar/cafe in the campsite, relax, and rest my weary body.
June 30.
Up at the same time again, do our same set of morning activities, and by 11 we make our way into Amsterdam. First on the list was to visit Anne Frank House, and while waiting in the 20 minute line, Charlotte spots a familiar face and it turns out to be Jack White of the White Stripes strolling down the street. Although she realized this a bit too late, and had given up her thoughts of leaving me and throwing her body at Mr. White, I was thankful. When finished, we head over to the spots we were at on Day 1 because I told Charlotte she had to see the real red light district before leaving Amsterdam. My friend Cem, Georges and his girlfriend Sam, were supposed to be arriving in Amsterdam on the 30th, but I had no cell phone number of his nor any meeting spot chosen. However, this did not seem to matter because when walking along side a canal, I spotted the 3 walking towards us. Wild, I know. So we do our little catch-up talking and introductions and make our way to a more relaxing location.... At the Bulldog, we're sitting at a table on the canal we chill for a few hours, and decide by Charlotte's eye to go down a narrow alleyway that she noticed many tour groups coming out of. Mainly why she picked this street was because at the other one there was prostitutes that were quite visible, the narrow street, nothing. This was in fact true until we made it about 15 feet through, and then were completely engulfed by red lights on either side of us in a 5 foot wide street. Good choice hun! But that means we had just accomplished what we set out for in the beginning of the day. It was just about 9 pm and we were worn out, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate paths.
July 1.
The end of our stay has come, and packing up was a much more difficult task than foreseen. After about 45 minutes of trying to fold the tent back we were all packed up and ready to roll. Our bus back was at 10 pm, so we had much time to kill, I guess you could say almost too much. Noting our amount of baggage and about 10 hours until we left, we decided to just kick it at the campsite for as long as possible. Card game after card game, page after page in our books, and munching on whatever decent food we could get our hands on is what followed. 3-4 hours at the campsite cafe and minor rains the whole day, it was decided that we would make our way into the city because we had to head that way to get to the bus station. What followed was heavy bags being lugged from place to place and sitting for as long as we could at several coffee shops buying the bare minimum until we got uncomfortable and no longer felt welcomed. Somehow we made it through, and by 6 am the next day we were back in Paris, with one day of rest before Adam arrived.
our campsite.
waiting..
Some pluses: Mannequin Pis Frites. Croquettes. Gouda. Friendly people.
Disappointments: Subway. Losing my 9 euro sunglasses. 40 lbs of baggage. The majority of the city being under construction, boo!
