Onward to Leiden! It was such a fun little college town. A lot like SLO, only much more cultured! -
did i even have to say that? I liked this town a lot. Beautiful. I love "The Netherlands by the Sea". Also I saw Den Haag on my way to Rotterdam, which is where I am now.
My trip has done nothing but progress in the best of fashions. I found Amsterdam to be a wonderful city, But not superlative to SF in my opinion. Minus, of coarse, the fact that its in Europe. Also, for me, I notice that the further south I get, the people are much happier to answer questions, engage in conversations, and even look at you when you order something.
Den Haag was no exception. Each of these cities is but a 15-30 minute train which runs 4 to an hour. Everything is extremely accessible.
THINGS DUALLY NOTED:
- They do not have a doggies can"t poop on sidewalk law/common courtesy which is really shame because in places this beautiful, one doesn't usually bring enough shoes to accommodate getting used to this.
- coffee here is a quarter of the size because its 4x the POWER!!!!!!!!!!!
- People don't eat bagels with cream cheese in Rotterdam?! Walked like 4 miles for the one store that sold them, and they didn't have whole wheat!
- A person approaching you in Vondelpark at night, while your on the way back to your hotel, is not going to ask you for direction; They're going to show you something. DON'T LOOK! It had so much metal in it, it demagnetized my room key!
- The cars here are so much better. So much character, and there all manuals! I spent a whole day almost looking in car parking lots. Im surprised they didn't think I was tying to plan a heist.
- I almost died on so many occasions in my first three days its not even funny. One time I was so scared I farted. BICYCLES HAVE THE RIGHT AWAY! ALWAYS! and they have marked paths on the sidewalk...ON the sideWALK!!! you can not in any circumstance, walk, think of walking, breath a notion of walking, or even joke about walking on them. You will be forced to dodge death or allow it to become you.
- After you have one of these such experiences: Do not expect people to sympathize with the tears swelled in your eyes, or the fact that your not sure if you just peed yourself or your legs just went numb. And further more, you mouth will not function right now to justify or apologize, so just carry on like nothing happened and get a look on your face like your life depended on the fact that you were in that heard of peoples way, hold your shoulders high, and walk in whatever direction you will see the least amount of people that witnessed.
- Being under 26 rocks in Europe! Everything is so much cheaper.
Rotterdam is by far my favorite city so far. I wish i had some pictures of the wonderful city I am in. Its majestic and clean and efficient, and new and old. It's a Harbor city so it's population is always evolving and changing. In WWII, the center of Rotterdam was bombed and so now all that is there is new and state of the art. The History can be found around the permitters of the destruction. Also, because there was so much rubble, they had to crush it all and fill the canals. So there are none running through the city. The energy is spectacular here and I feel like a pulse in the heartbeat of something so organic and awesome! The only non-positive thing I have to comment on is this:
Today, I felt was a good day to try my luck. I went to the casino today Grams! I played 5 Euros and lost so i called it quits; but it would have been nice to have been able to report otherwise. But life could be so much worse :)
Tomorrow...Antwarpen!
I miss you all :) Until Next time....
