Warning: Adult Content

Monday I ventured back towards the Big-Ben/London Eye area to eat at a noodle buffet I had seen there the second day. I seem to organize my day around what I’ll find to eat. Then I walked to the Tate Modern, more an art gallery than a museum, which had some very interesting things. The gallery was full of many paintings that made you stop and stare for awhile, trying to decide what to make of it. For example, there were things from Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Jackson Pollock. I ended up having to leave earlier than I had wanted because they close quite early at 6:00 p.m.. I took a nap in the grass for a little while then headed back to the hostel. I had wanted to make it back in time to have more fish and chips but the place I like was closed, as were most of the others, by the time I made it back. So, I settled for pizza hut and resolved to have fish and chips tomorrow.

Tuesday morning I headed for the train station to take a 30 minute direct line to the Gatwick airport outside London. I was sad to be leaving the hostel just as I was starting to feel comfortable. I am constantly amazed at how quickly I (as anti-social as I can be) am able to make friends in hostels. All of the travelers are somewhat ‘stuck’ with their fellows, both physically and culturally, as we’re separated from the locals. At the airport I seem to be selected for intense scrutiny each time, maybe because of my short stays and travelling alone. I had to take off my shoes, which most didn’t, and they even specially tested my watch for any substances. The flight itself is very short, maybe 30 minutes in the air that’s not either taking off or landing. Upon arriving in Amsterdam I had to take another train to get into the actual city from Schiphol airport, another 30 minute ride. After getting to central station I wandered outside to take a tram from the main train station to my hostel area. Amsterdam is very spread out, although the tourist areas are very centralized. By this time I was exhausted and after checking in just went across the street to eat. I finally ate the fish and chips I had been craving, although in Amsterdam not London.

Wednesday I walked around the hostel area a bit and found a McDonalds (yay!). I have eaten more McDonalds in a month, because of the free internet, than I would normally eat in 6 months. After my healthy breakfast I decided to continue in that vein and headed to the Heineken experience. The experience was fun, but uber-touristy. You walk through the pre-set up history and boiler rooms with little videos. There is even a room with a ride like video taking you through the creation of beer. I learned that beer is at first sweet with the barley, then the bitterness is added for taste with the hops, which are actually the dried flower of a plant. I also learned that the yeast not only adds the alcohol via fermentation, but also carbon dioxide which is (apparently) essential. Also—apparently it was more informative than I thought—I learned you should maintain a foam layer on the top of the beer and tip it back so as to drink under it. The foam layer is crucial to keep the carbon dioxide in and the oxygen out. During the tour you get a half beer ‘taste’ and then two full beers at the end where you can relax in a nice bar area.

After the Heineken experience I headed to the nearby Rijks Museum. It was a let-down. It could be that the Louvre and free Tate Modern had ruined my palate for weak museums. Half the building was closed and the big draw was a painting by Rembrandt of some militia men, with nothing very spectacular or thought provoking about it. Also, when you first walk in the early rooms are Dutch history. So, the first painting is an arrogant looking Dutch man with a background of a savage looking black man holding gold and some islands out a window. The painting just screamed racism and imperialism and it left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the museum.

After the museum I wandered back to the hostel where one of the other guests was leaving for a walking tour of the red light district. The walking tour was very fun, the guide was light hearted and funny (plus the tour ended with a shot of yager). I learned that Amsterdam is basically an old port that was literally built up around the needs of sailors, thus the legal drugs and prostitution. As a side, apparently in the early 20th century the streets were lined with heroin addicts. I also learned that the early Dutch government wanted to intimidate people who were entering the port city to beware their power, so they improvised brutal ways of killing people and then displayed their bodies (common among imperial powers I think). Right next to the church, which used to be the old central square used for such displays, there is even a street called Bloedstraat, or blood street, because that’s where the blood would flow down and away. Anyway, the area is fun and lively for short periods, kinda like an extended bachelor party. I learned that the Dutch government is attempting to diminish the red light district by buying out the windows and using them for fashion or art displays. I also learned that there are different areas for different kinds of women, and that at one point the business owners attempted to have male prostitutes, so they recruited 5—from 2 million applications—and the media was in such a frenzy they had to stop after 30 minutes, although there had been 7 customers in that time. I was still with my hostel friend and at this point we split as I went in to watch a sex show, which was really just like a bad strip club with other things as you can imagine. After the show I made it back to the hostel and hung out with the other hostel guests; it was raining and no one was going out so it was a nice night in. Thursday morning I just woke up and headed back on the tram/train to the airport to head out. The US flight had its own separate security and they used the full body scanners. Also, the wheel broke on my luggage just as I was entering the airport, impeccable timing really.

And thus concluded my trip around part of Europe, next time Vietnam.