Seattle and Day One in Amsterdam!

Since flying out of Seattle is generally quite a bit cheaper than flying out of Vancouver, my partner Christopher and I decided to take the opportunity to get a romantic weekend away in together before I go.  We stayed in the foggy city of Seattle, which feels to me like Victoria’s older, punker brother.  It was super wonderful to explore the market, walk along the waterfront, and have a break before the relative stress of figuring out where you are while traveling and simultaneously moving.  The market was overstimulating, to say the least.  Craftspeople with their wares shouting at you and offering you samples, bright colours, funny smells, and always the crush of people.  It was fun, if overwhelming, to be inside.  Chris made me walk back up 5 flights of stairs to see the ridiculous gum wall when he realized we’d passed it, which was less fun.  We checked out some galleries and had lovely meals, including one at a really cute Italian restaurant where a wizened old man played us “That’s Amor”.  The perfect revitalization weekend with my love before this period of upheaval and change.
One short-ish flight later, and I'm across the world in Amsterdam.  I've never been here before, and it's been neat to have some time to appreciate the city a bit aesthetically and architecturally before jumping into the culture tomorrow with the Museums Quarter and the Anne Frank House.

In Vancouver, I pride myself on my sense of direction.  It’s my small town upbringing, I can just feel North.  But I think the jet-lag stole it away from me, because I walked in increasing panic and ever-smaller circles around the lovely Amsterdam today.  I can’t say it was all bad, I did cover rather a lot of ground that will hopefully inform my wanderings tomorrow, but if not for the Dutch people’s friendliness and their multi-lingual population, I might still be out there, wandering the maze of canals and brick buildings that make up the capital of the Netherlands.
When I landed, I was so tired of sitting and in desperate need of fresh air, so after an easy transit trip in, I set out on foot to explore.  I walked past gorgeous red brick buildings with ornate trim, talked to tulip sellers about the mixed blessing of tourism, made awkwardly long, spaced-out eye contact with a young lady in a window in the red light district, and learned about the history of cannabis and hemp, whose availability have added to the draw of Amsterdam for twenty-somethings.  The museum was of questionable validity, given that they referenced things like Shakespeare saying he “descended into a mind dream” as a definite pledge of the Bard for legalization, but the artifacts were interesting, many from a few hundred years ago.  After the spontaneous stop at the museum, I spent several hours winding my way through the brick-laid streets, taking pictures and taunting pigeons.  Amsterdam is a gorgeous city, with way too many intriguing streets to peek down.  I love the mixture of historic past in the pretty buildings and preservation of their cultural history, and present in their energy initiatives, among them windmills all along the outskirts of the city and awesome bike paths that see heavy use.  Not wanting to miss out on another quintessential Amsterdam experience, I sought out the mellow-est cafe I could find, sat down with some tea, a book, a joint and the cafe’s resident cat to half-watch a nature documentary while the dude behind the counter played Dark Side of the Moon on shuffle.  Too weird to be a lie.
Upon my departure from the cafe, I realized that I had walked very far indeed from my hostel.  I started to head back in the increasing chill, and soon discovered that my instincts are useless in this city.  A clear reminder that I am a visitor, nothing more.  Once I decided to do the opposite of what my head thought I should do in terms of directions, I began making progress towards the red dot the hostel manager had put on my map.  However, a couple of hours later as I neared the area where I thought the dot showed my hostel to be, I recognized nothing.  My surroundings were not the touristy ones I was expecting, but a residential area where people biking by looked sardonically at my map and befuddled expression.  Upon a deeper inspection of the map, I discovered that the hostel manager had highlighted in red only two things on the map, which was otherwise covered in his scrawling recommendations: my hostel and the Heineken factory.  Apparently the brewery warranted equal importance to my place of residence.
I must say, I’m looking forward to getting to Istanbul, to start from scratch in a new city, to figure out the best places to go, to be a local.  I’ve never attempted a venture like this, and I’m starting to get antsy.  I want to get my hands on my new home.

(photos to come!)