Ouch Part II

Namur, Belgium

Okay, I think I have a better computer now but still a shitty keyboard... Why oh Why would you change the keys around... Oh well, I've spent a lot of the day online looking for some kick ass jobs for while I'm over here and I'm starting to get better at using this thing.

So, where was I... oh yes, Rotterdam harbor. Zoom in on this bad boy.

The Jolly Roger flying proud

So the nationalists among you will have quickly spotted the Canadian flag; maybe even the UN one folded up in front... But the PIRATE FLAG??? I knew right away that Rotterdam and I would get along just fine...

And of course a little stroll down the harbor found me at the ultimate bachelor pad of all time:

The Cube House

My life will never be complete unless at some point I get to live in a funky-ass cube. Fortunately I can pretend:

The Cube Attic

And just to make sure I had a damn good time in Rotterdam, The North Sea Jazz festival hit town while I was there. At a stiff 80 euros it was tough on the pocket book but I decided to splurge and check it out seeing as how it IS the biggest jazz festival in the world. It was a good decision. I left the camera in lock up so there are no pics to show all you ravenous dogs but I got to see BB King. He might possibly be the smoothest man alive. Even smoother than James Bond.

Anyway, it's getting late and I'm tired of fighting the keyboard so here are a few pics of Amsterdam and Leiden to get you all caught up.

Giant Chess in Ansterdam - serious sport - damn right I played a game.


Amsterdam hotel by night.


Windmill in Leiden.

Until next time everyone!

I want a motorcycle

The Hague, The Netherlands

So I was walking down the street and I passed a motorcycle dealership. I think it was Honda, I might be wrong. Anyway, the point is, I looked inside and saw an ad for thier bikes. There was a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand written in Dutch, but the picture was of a gorgeous girl straddling a bike with a foot on the ground as if stopped at a light, and wearing nothing but a helmet. I swear, if I could ever actually get a super hot girl to DO that, it would make the expense instantly worthwhile.

That is all.

To sin or not to sin...

The Hague, The Netherlands

I'm still having picture trouble but I think I know how to solve that now so I should be good to go for my next post. Turns out it may be a problem with MY gear and not the computers provided... go figure.

Well, Amsterdam has come and gone, and let me just say: I don't know jack! Trying to get about in a place you don't know the language is difficult as always. Fortunately everyone here speaks English so it's not a big deal but it does still feel a little odd to be illiterate. I can't help but TRY to read all the signs andof course they never make sense.

One thing to say about Amsterdam though: that city lives up to the hype. I spent about three days there and in that time I went to the Van Gogh museum, on a heineken brewery tour, played giant chess, travelled on the trams, checked out the red light district and just hung out with some cool people I met along the way. The only problem is that there's so many tourists sometimes it feels as if you're not seeing Holland at all, but visiting a theme park or something. Even so, it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. Maybe THE most beautiful. There're canals everywhere; they're nearly as frequent as roads. Tourist boats, personal boats, kayaks and just about anything that can float cruise through the waterways, or are docked to the brick on the sides. The streets are lined with old two or three story buildings broken up by the occasional plaza. There's huge grassy parks for tanning in the sun, or going for a morning jog and cyclists are always attempting to run me down for walking along the bike paths thinking they're sidewalks. They're not.

I walked probably a solid 10 km per day and just saw as much of the place as I could. For my first REAL hostel experience (In iceland there were no real dorm rooms - not that I was in anyway) it was fantastic. A very nice place filled with a bunch of friendly people that are easy to talk to and spend time with. My first day (actually while standing in the check-in line) I met a girl there named Betsy travelling with her mom from the States. I later met Davi from Brazil and... ... ... uh oh.... a dude from NY. We talked pretty late into the evening that first night while drinking cheap heinekens on the couch in the hostel.

The next day Betsy and I rocked some giant chess (I won thanks in no small part to some crowd interference) and then hit the Heineken tour where she completely owned me in foozeball (sp?)... embarassing. Still it was a pretty good time. That night I went to go check out the red light district - okay I know everyone is asking so I will give a description. It's odd. Very odd. But a lot cleaner than one might expect and CERTAINLY a lot cleaner than Bangkok's red light district. I had trouble finding the place so when I eventually arrived I essentially stumbled into it. On either side of the street, prostitutes stand in head to toe black lit windows with (you guessed it) red flourescent lights along the top or sides. Some of the shutters are drawn where the prositutes have a client but the rest stand looking out at you, dressed in skimpy bikini's trying to convince you to come inside. There are live sex shows, sex museums, pubs that smell like vomit and alcohol and a ton of tourists roaming the streets, occasionally going up to the window to ask for a price. Sorry girls, there are no boy prostitutes! Overall the whole place is sleazy, it's dirty, but it's real and if you're in Amsterdam it's unmissable. After I was there I met a group of Canadians that I spent the rest of Canada day with. They are going to the EXIT festival in Eastern Europed next week. I thought about joining them but wanted to see the area a bit better.

Next day I laid in the grass and tried to get my tan on, saw the Van Gogh museum and I went on a four hour excursion to try and find a theatre where I could watch Transformers (no such luck) and just generally hung out and enjoyed the city. Overall, a very cool town. I recommend it.

I'll check in again soon!