A Relaxing Day

I have fallen behind in my blogging and must do my best to reconstruct the past two days. But first, I will resume from where I left off in my last post. As I had intended, I left the apartment and made my way to the Amsterdam ice bar. I was a little disappointed that the one in Copenhagen had closed, so when I discovered there was one here, I thought it might be fun to visit. I headed outside, where the skies were overcast, but the weather seemed pleasant enough, without an umbrella. As luck would have it, but the time I got off the tram, way out from my lodgings, the downpour began. It was a pretty steady rain that just wouldn't let up. So I wandered the streets of Amsterdam, completely lost in the maze of streets, seeking the elusive ice bar. I was getting really drenched. By the time I found it, I looked like I had emerged from one of the canals. I got inside, headed to the washroom to at least dry my face and head, and exchanged my very damp coupon for a discounted entry to the bar.

I have to say that I was a tad bit disappointed, probably because I had already experienced the novelty in Stockholm three years ago. All the same, the space didn't seem as nice as the one in Stockholm, but the temperature was considerably colder, at -10C. We were furnished with heavy parkas and ill-fitting leather mittens, and we were offered two drinks (instead of the one drink in Stockholm). Considering that I was still fretting about my antibiotics, I got the non-alcoholic tropical fruit juice for the first drink. We were then shown a pretty lame animated film in what was touted as being in 4D. It involved a squirrel falling down tunnels, and ran for more than 9 minutes. I quickly lost interest. After the film, we were offered our second drink, and I chose a sour puss shooter. Now speaking of shooters, it is a pretty common occurence in Amsterdam to see offers of 10 shooters for 10 euros in the bars. I think this is incredibly cheap!

I left the ice bar to reemerge into the driving rain, and slowly inched my way to the north of the city. I cannot believe that I have been here such a long time and had not yet seen the famed red-light district, with its well-known shop windows from which the prostitutes display their wares. But before I arrived there, I stopped for my next order of patat, and this time, it was a much more Dutch treat. The French fries came with four sauces: ketchup, curry sauce, satay sauce (a peanut butter base) and (my favourite) joopie sauce (a sort of sweet, tangy, yellow-coloured sauce). This time, I really enjoyed the experience, and washed it all down with a Coca Cola.

By 10:00 p.m., the display windows were starting to be lit up, and the shapely female prostitutes began to ply their trade. It was a very interesting sight, particularly studying the groups of drunken young men, especially groups of British guys in bachelor parties, as they approach the windows and asked how much it would cost for their turn. I have to say that the whole scene was somehow less seedy than I expected. I had somehow thought that here in Amsterdam, where prostitution is regulated, the women would be completely naked, but it was not the case. After having had my fill of this spectacle, I stopped off at a bar to get a (ho-hum) bottle of water. I did a bit of bar hopping, but there was nothing to write home about, so I left the red-light district and eventually made my way back home. I must have gone to bed around 2:00 a.m. (I am so not used to having Coca Cola, or any amount of caffeine, for that matter.

The next morning came around much too quickly, so that I opened my eyes and realized it was already past 11:00. I had not yet had such a late start to the day, because I had been pretty disciplined for much of my trip, in order to take advantage of being abroad to do the whole tourist thing. But my rising late in the day pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day to follow, as shall be seen shortly. I had planned to go to both the Sex museum and the Van Gogh museum this morning, before the arrival of my good friend Nick, who was scheduled to arrive in Amsterdam from Brussels at 2:00 p.m. But because I got up so late, I had to totally revise my plan. So I slowly got ready (after having played a few games of the addictive "Ticket to Ride" on my iPhone), and headed out into the city around 12:30 p.m. I walked around for a bit, taking in the sights, sounds and smells, before arriving at the monument in The Dam, where I spotted Nick. It was very good to see him. I met Nick at work back in 2006, and three years later, he accepted a job in Belgium, so I don't get to see him that often nowadays. I last saw him last summer when he, his wife and their toddler son visited Canada in August.

Nick asked me if I had eaten yet, and I had to explain that I was still waiting for 2:30 to come around, because it had still not been two hours since my antibiotics. So, we wandered around a bit and Nick, who knows the city like the back of his hand, since he comes up here fairly regularly, led the way to a great little Indonesian restaurant. Now since the Netherlands (or Holland) had colonized both Suriname and Indonesia, its cuisine was heavily influenced by the contributions of these former Dutch colonies, and I really wanted to try these foods, but had still not had a chance to sample them.

The restaurant was a great little place, and Nick and I got a very light bite to eat, a simple fried noodle dish, which I have to say was perfect. Nick was thinking we would keep it light, maybe nibble on munchies along the way, and save our appetites for a larger meal at another Indonesian restaurant he wanted to make a reservation at. Since the restaurant only opens at 9:00 p.m., I kew that I would miss the Eurovision finale tonight. But that was OK. So during the rest of the afternoon, Nick introduced me to his "flaneur" approach to travel. It was nice, not having to schedule anything or plan ahead of time, but just go with the flow. We stopped along the way to eat a pastry here (usually of the strawberry variety), or a patat there. As we walked along the canals, or followed the meandering streets, Nick was able to show me areas of the city I had not yet explored. And what was really nice is that he snatched my camera from me and took some pictures of me, which are sadly missing from my trip. He was a regular shutterbug, and I have to say he has a very good eye, because there are a number of shots of myself that I really like. We entered many book stores, DVD shops and CD boutiques. Because we have so many common interests, it was a pleasure travelling with him. At one point, he pointed out to me that this trip would end up being the most consecutive time we have ever hung out together. I hadn't thought of it that way, but realized it was true.

After having made a brief stop back at the apartment for Nick to drop off his travel bag and few purchases, we were ready to seek out the Indonesian restaurant where he had made a reservation for us. Oh my God, was the meal gargantuan and sublime! I don't think I have seen so much food since my experience with the smorgasbord onboard the Silja Serenade! Nick ordered the King's Feast for us, which started off with two spring rolls each. After this appetizer, the plates kept coming and coming, and being piled onto a special board that was set in the middle of our table: spicy braised beef in a hot pepper sauce, fried fish in a sweet sauce, vegetables and tofu, pickled cucumbers, breaded chicken in a sweet and sour sauce, steamed rice, Indonesian fried rice, breaded shrimp on a skewer, coconut shavings with almonds for the rice, crispy Indonesian rice chips... These are just off the top of my head. We absolutely gorged ourselves on the heaping mounds of food, and suddenly, like a light switch being turned on, we were full. I have never experienced fullness so suddenly, and I was absolutely stuffed. Unfortunately, there was still some food left on several of these plates. Suffice it to say that this was an incredibly delicious experience.

Too full to have any dessert, Nick and I left the restaurant and gradually headed on foot back to the apartment, where I crashed. My meal had been so heavy I didn't feel like doing much, but Nick declared around midnight that he had the urge to walk off his meal. By that time, I was completely worn out, so I told him I would turn in. So Nick departed on foot to continue his observation of human interaction in the red-light district, which he finds absolutely interesting from a sociological and an anthropological perspective. As I hardly ever engage in people-watching, this wasn't of much interest to me, and was happy enough to be able to retire for the night.