I woke briefly from my slumbers around 4:00 a.m., when Nick came in, but simply rolled over and fell asleep again. When daylight came, I kept on sleeping, and by the time I rose at 11:00 (again!) Nick was already up and ready. So I showered and got ready myself, and we were able to leave the apartment around noon to continue our explorations.
I still had to wait a while before having a bite to eat, so we wandered the streets in Nick's typical flaneur way, which is a welcome change from the frantic pace I had set for myself these past two weeks. It was pretty much more of the same, with frequent picture opportunities around the city, particularly the amazing views of the canals and the irregularly-shaped houses. We made frequent stops for pastries and patat, like we did yesterday. Towards the middle of the afternoon, Nick led the way to the ferry to the north side of Amsterdam, and we disembarked near the museum of film, the Eye. We sat on a terrasse and ordered a late lunch: the veloute of lobster, and in my case, an egg and chive sandwich. As we ate, we kept up the very interesting discussion we started yesterday, which was a thorough examination of where I am in life right now. The focus was primarily on the anxiety I have been experiencing for a few years now, and how I can leave most of it behind to achieve a better level of functioning. Nick is the most empathetic person I know, and using his personal Socratic method, he leads me to valuable insights into my inner journey. As he so succinctly puts it, it is only when I travel that I can have the necessary distance to look at myself objectively and do some work on my thought patterns. I very much value his friendship, and even if at times his comments can seem cruel, I know he is just going for the shock effect, and there is always an important lesson to get from it. As we sat on the terrasse, he shot a series of pictures of me, using my camera, and I have to say, I really like the effect, and I can truly see how intensely pensive I can become.
There really isn't all that much to record, given the exceedingly personal nature of my inward journey today. In terms of the outer journey, the exploration of the city, it was, generally-speaking, more of the same. But it offered me the opportunity to take some great shots of the city (again), on this beautiful, partly sunny day. (We have been really lucky two days in a row, because Amsterdam is usually always overcast or rainy.) At one point, we entered a great CD store, with incredibly low prices, even by Canadian standards, and I was able to buy a CD/DVD combination I had been seeking for months now, to no avail: the Deluxe edition of the classic 1975 ABBA album, simply titled "ABBA". I was pleased to be able to finally get it for myself.
In the evening, we discovered a great place called Wok to Walk, and I got myself egg noodles with pork, chicken and shrimp, in sweet and sour sauce. It was really tasty and satisfying. It was the first of two for Nick, who was to return later that evening to get another order (it was just that good!) We made our way to the apartment, where Nick got his iPad out, and we played "Ticket to Ride" against one another, then played other games like Blokus and Yatzee! He asked if I could find any CDs to play on the apartment's DVD player, and the only CDs I could find were the ones I have bought during my travels. So, Nick had to endure Agnetha's album, followed by one disc from the "Eurovision" double disc set. Although we have similar tastes, our musical tastes are very different. But he didn't complain, and we were able to enjoy a quiet evening at the apartment. Nick was starting to fall asleep between turns of "Ticket to Ride", so we stopped playing around midnight and called it a night.
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