Eurotrip 2006 Begins

Things have been pretty crazy since I arrived at the Schipol aiport in Amsterdam Thursday. I rented a car and drove through the rush-hour exodus from Amsterdam around 6pm. Arriving in Utrecht a bit over an hour later I headed for my Oma's and she made me a big meal before I chatted with her for a while and passed out.

Friday I got up around 8am rested and did a little shopping after a big breakfast. I love having roast-beef, cheese and ham on bread for breakfast. I slept a bit in the afternoon to get ready for the night. Oma and I had dinner with Indra (recently graduated as an MD and waiting to start work) here at the place and then Indra and I headed out to her friend Corrina's place on the bicycles. It's literally freezing here though. I've never seen it so cold in March! We headed out to a couple of bars downtown and then hit the club Poema and partied until 6am. We rode the bicycles home and I passed out until mid-afternoon. The party was good, I met a ton of friendly interesting dutch people and was invited out again the next night VIP by a bouncer-by-weekend psycotherapist by week named Rourri.

I have to say that the dutch people are very hospitable and genuine. There isn't as much snobby behavior. Most people at the club ride bicycles or take a bus to get there instead of driving their porche or escalade. There are no fights and if you bump into someone or talk to their girlfriend they buy you a drink instead of getting all pissed off. I like the good vibe. You can also drink here all day/night and the legal age is 18 for most clubs. Most everyone speaks English and is interested in why I'm here.

Saturday Indra and Corina headed off to the alps snowboarding so I was left to my own devices. I realized my time clock had slipped back to Pacific time as I stayed up all night. Determined to get home to sleep before 4am I decided to head out again anyway. I took the bus downtown and had a couple beer with the locals in my favorite pub "the flaten". Then headed to 'De Winkel Van Sinkel' which is a super old and artistic building turned into a cafe by day, club by night. The entrance underground is down by the canal and is an old storage tunnel. Very cool! Rourri got me through the line and in for free and I headed upstairs. The club had about 300ish people probably and the music was well mixed and mostly house. I have a video of the interior of the main hall to post when I get home. I met some german girls who were celebrating a birthday (Kara I think was her name). I left pretty early, around 4am, and jumped in a Mercedes cab for the ride home. Today I got up before noon and feel like I'm finally getting adjusted to the time-zone. Now I'm checking my work email and relaxing with my Oma.

Amanda's trying to move her flight up from Wednesday to Monday. Hopefully it'll work and she arrives soon. I'm really just relaxing and saving most of the sightseeing for when she arrives. "It's a vacation and I can do what I want" as my Oma says. It's pretty much like my second home here.

As for my Oma she's recovered really well from her bypass surgery and I'm so happy it worked out well. She's spoiling me rotten by feeding me constantly but I try and help where I can. Tonight we're visiting some family and today I'll probably head out for a while to do some shopping and maybe go for a swim in the sports complex across the street.

That's all for now! I'd post pics but I write this offline on my laptop and upload it over dialup (which is expensive in the Netherlands). What's next? Amanda arrives soon and we'll go sightseeing... plus Amsterdam!