Holland!

I had some kinda flight to Holland, I'd say... due to my complete ignorance of European geography and my reliance on a spanish cheap ticket service, i flew first to copenhagan, and then out to amsterdam airport. my plane was delayed for ages!! but ellen was wonderful and picked me up right at the airport. from there we took a train out to utrecht, where ellen lives and goes to college. it's a cute little student town, lots of bars, and, of course canals... ;)
we went to a friend's house party, and then hit the town on friday night, just because it was SO warm outside. it was BEAUTIFUL. everyone was sitting outside drinking and laughing and chatting it up... the weather really loved me in holland that weekend.

i was so surprised by the size of the beer glasses, though! after coming from ireland's pint to germany's weisse glass, holland's itty bitty sippy cup of beer just wasn't enough for me. about 4 rounds felt like a pint. go figure! but that's okay.
after a few rounds (see? doesn't sound so bad here...) we stopped to get some very traditional, and VERY yummy, dutch food.
krokets! oh it was brilliant! it was some kind of chicken potatoey breaded thing. with soft insides. and warm. with mayo or mustard? but mine was plain. yum!


the crazy thing, to me, was that main transportation is bikes. i mean, i know it seems kind of silly, but bikes are almost purely recreational where i'm from. so to balance precariously on the back of ellen's bike on the way into and out of town was some kind of challenge. but fun! i learned how to be confident moving swiftly on a bike with no brakes. also, the whole time i was there, i didn't see ANYONE wearing a helmet. and that's something that's SO stressed in america! :) maybe they learn to bike better in holland. less accidents?

on the saturday morning, we awoke and hit a train over to amsterdam city.

heheh, that's a random bar, but i thought the photo was appropriate. we were causing some kind of ruckus! ben (ellen's flatmate martinde's aussie friend) and i went to the museum of sex, which was probably very cool when it first opened, but seemed kind of dated while visiting it.

the streets were completely thronged with people the entire time we were there, from morning to, well, the next morning. and there are canals, everywhere! here's a typical photo of one...


we walked through dam square, where i actually did pose with a living statue. i know, right... touristy, but i had to. this guy did yoga, we saw him before i posed with him.

dam square

me and poseidon, my buddy.


the streets were so small! and there was an H&M on every block. no, seriously! along with your typical coffee shop... and smart shop... where you can get anything you're looking for. anything. or so it seems, coming from america where our war on drugs hypes the whole thing up. overmuch. of all the cities i visited, amsterdam was definitely the most diverse.

the weekend we were there was a free museum weekend, so we ran in and out of a bunch of different museums, including the one housing rembrant's night watch. i decided that when it comes to museums in cities, that in order to visit, i must first have a little but of prior knowledge, and a little bit of interest. like seeing that painting was cool... but i knew literally nothing about it. hmmm what else...

we ran into some ice sculptures! quite literally, with a hammer. it was actually an ad campaign for ice cream, but we didn't mind. it was hot enough to have it.


naturally, because the temp was so wonderfully hot, we had to find some makeshift air conditioning ;)

it's okay.. you can admit that we're basically too hot for this picture. melting the scenery and all that. we def are!

after wandering around for a while, we stumbed upon this as well.. i AMsterdam! i am amsterdam. what a great group picture though... these folk were mad for the craic! (and i mean that in the irish way, not the sketchy fella offering it to you on the street in the red light district way)


speaking of the red light district, yes, we did visit. at midnight on a saturday and following... i couldn't believe it. i mean, it's not BAD really, but... yeah. it's shocking. because it's right there, in your face. and you can get any kind depending upon which side street you walk down. well. i mean. yeah. i can't really say much 'bout it because it was sooooo out there.
but martinde and i found different ways to distract ourselves.
and we all sent ben into a peep show, but all he saw was some boobies, then time was up.


after that, we walked across town again to head to a night club where we danced the night away! and had some shots. ben and i did. and baby beers. it was fuunnnnn... but when we finally got back to utrecht, the sun had risen and people were on their way to work, and we were just biking back from the train station... nothing like the morning wind in your face while you're stumbling to stay awake. ;)
("it's getting light i hear the birds i think i put my shirt on backwards"-dar williams)

i stumbled into bed and alseep before i could focus to write anything down in my paper journal.

sunday morning, after we were able to wrench ourselves from bed, we went on a 30 km bike ride to a nearby town to watch the end of the rowing varsities. apparently, after winning said competition, it is a tradition that the team gets stark ass naked and jumps into the river to congratulate the winning boat...


as for me... ow. 30 km is so much to someone who's not ridden a bike since she was 13! but it was fun. SUCH a good way to see holland! and the tulips! it was brilliant.


here's the bikes all lined up before we took off on the way back-- after several makeshift fixes to student's bikes...


i loved it. but i'm nothing like the dutch girls on bikes. they're like serious multitaskerbikers. they can pedal, talk on the phone, smoke a cigarette and have a drink while masturbating. or something..

when we got back to utrecht... (oh i had such a hard time getting back on the bike when i could see the bruises forming...) we grabbed some blankets, candles, joints, and WOK TO GO. we went to the park where we just ate and lounged and played mad libs till our sides ached from laughing. and i thought i was some kind of brilliant photographer... it was amazing.
i think this was one of my favorite nights. for sure.

ellen looks so pretty here:


martinde's hands and feet...


and me. happy to be alive...


there is no way i could classify how much fun i had this weekend! it was such a blast. i can't wait to see ellen again at easky, the paddler's epic weekend in june. we're going to rock the place up like something serious.

i was so nervous leaving holland, because i had to take several forms of transportation to get to where i needed to be, in barcelona, but my fears were eased when i met jeroem and juerd, who probably made my journey so much better. i literally met them at the train platform in utrecht... they saved me. but more about them later!!

love, chris