Amsterdam

08/19/08 (written on 08/21/08)

The language barrier started when we landed in Detroit. Scott and I ate at a restaurant there and when I ordered seltzer water. The waitress pretended not to hear me, listening to Scott’s order of Sam Adams instead. She turned back to me; I repeated myself, and the said “club soda?” She still didn’t know what that was, so I clarified again with “mineral water?” …”Oooh” she said, “we have Perrier” making sure to pronounce the “r” at the end of the word.
We got on the plane and arrived 7.5 hours later at Amsterdam Schipol. I had woken up at 6:30 am the day before and had only slept for two hours; Scott didn’t sleep on the plane at all.
During the flight, I did watch a great film called “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” I also read David Sedaris’s new book, which was appropriate because it talked about rude people on airplanes, American couples traveling in Europe and the arguments they get in, and speaking the only word you know in French.
We arrived at the airport at 11am and took a train into the city. Luckily, the walk to the hotel wasn’t too far from the train station in Amsterdam, so we dropped off our bags and headed out to explore the city before we could check in.
We walked along the Kalversraat where there were lots of shops and coffee shops. The smell of weeds was omnipresent, but Scott and I weren’t tempted since we both get panic attacks from the stuff. Although, the local remedy seems to be eating something sweet or so says Scott.
We got a bit hungry, so Scott had a shitty piece of pizza that cost 5 euros or approximately $7.50. I had frites with mayo! Mmm… my fry addiction is only going to be fed more so here in Europe.
We sat in the main square, Dam Square, and watched tourist feed a huge flock of pigeons. We were really jet lagged, so we went back to the hotel and slept.
We woke up at 7pm walked to an Indonesian restaurant, Bojo, in the central ring area/Heidsplein. We ordered beef satay, which was delicious & Scott loved it. He also had a meet bun. I had rice noodles stir-fry with beef in a peanutty sauce; it came with pickled veggies and shrimp chips. Scott never had Indonesian, and I was happy he enjoyed it so much.
After a stroll back to the hotel, we watched the Olympics and fell fast asleep –at least I did. Scott can never seem to sleep too well, even when he is super tired.