Pannenkoeken en koffie

Do not adjust your monitors, the trains to Ghent and Amsterdam really did take forever. We took intercity trains (as opposed to the more expensive high speed ones), which left us plenty of time to reflect, nap, and take video. El Dragon likes seeing the countryside whiz by at relatively high speeds.

Youth Hostel Meeting point was...ok. I'm glad we didn't stay there the whole time. 2 rooms with 18 beds apiece sharing 4 showers isn't the most ideal set of living conditions. There was a gaggle of boys form Normandy sleeping in the bunks across from me. They spent 2 days talking trash in French until I snapped the last day and called them out. It was funny. Rule of travel: Never assume the person next to you doesn't speak your language.

As I have previously stated, Amsterdam is a wonderful city to wander in, preferably away from Centraal Station and the red light district with their hustle and bustle (pun intended). According to one of our travel books, some 20,000 of Amsterdam's innumerable bicycles end up in the canals every year. The salvage industry must be booming there. Despite all of the attention and activity around the canals, I don't think I saw a single moving boat while we were there. Wait, scratch that. I saw the "hop-on, hop-off" canal buses for those travelers too inept to take the tram (it's not a bus, it's a TRAM!) and too lazy to walk or bike.

It's truly a shame we couldn't sneak some video of the interior of the Van Gogh Museum. Its titular collection aside, it's really a nice exhibition space. Instead, we give you, dear readers, a montage of every single sign within a kilometer that makes reference to the museum. Also, directions to the nearest phone booth.

The picture of the naked women forming a bridge is the work of an American artist named Spencer Tunick. He has made his name traveling around the world doing massive installations involving thousands of naked volunteers. If you are interested, here is more info on him.

The video also gives you a small taste of our ever-changing cast of cheap umbrellas. The one you see Anders purchase is actually his second. The first was bought just a few steps away from Mannekin-Pis and had a really cool newsprint design. It lasted all of 3 days. Stef's rainbow rain protection was bought in Amsterdam and fared the best of the bunch. Mine took some severe punishment from the wind and disappeared on my last day in Paris.

-Eric

Days Seven and Eight: Arrival in Amsterdam

re: Day Six: Ghent

So, the camera is deciding to work again. I will probably finish up all of the video when I get home and then post them here.

I have finished Ghent, the video pretty much speaks for itself.



-Anders

Eric on Amsterdam

Amsterdam was terribly busy and loud this time around. Everything is under construction and every restaurant or souvenir stand owner is eying your wallet. This is most likely due to the location of our hostels, both in close proximity to Centraal Station. We did eventually escape the center to wander along narrow streets lined with flat-faced brown brick houses with tastefully adorned living rooms that open directly onto the sidewalk covered in parked bicycles. Lime-green trees hang over arched stone bridges trimmed with white lights. There is something infectiously cheerful about the Dutch. Their language has a natural bounce to it, the bulk of the population rides a bike to work, and the general environment inspires calm. Furthermore, traffic is regulated using a system of bells. I'm not even kidding.

I can't believe how much time we spent here on shoes. OMG SHOES. Very sexy video montage in the works on that very subject. Both Steff and Anders were pleased with their purchases though.

Next stop, Paris!

-Eric

Uninformed art critique: Amsterdam

Van Gogh, despite his fame, was by no means a master of his art. This first became apparent to me during my first visit. I had always enjoyed his work, but essentially from afar. Seeing work that spans the entire career of an artist provides the means to really "get" him/her. Last year l was most struck by the technical flaws: perspective problems in still lifes, impossible points of view and misshapen body parts in portraits, etc. This year I focused on the influence of the post impressionists, especially the pointillists, on his work. Van Gogh's color palette brightened drastically after he moved to Paris: and he very successfully integrated pointillism into his own emotional and very tactile painting style.

The Rijksmuseum was surprisingly quite fascinating. The work of the Dutch and Flemish masters is so detailed you want to reach into the canvas. People look alive and glowing. Fruit glistens in intricately painted porcelain bowls. Dutch aristocrats apparently had enormous foreheads.

Thank you for indulging in my amateurish musings. More to come.

-Eric

Camera Down!

Hello everybody, it is now day ten, and our last day in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam. Has been chaos. Our first hostel was super shady, and we were in an 18 bed dorm with our stuff all locked up in big steel drums the entire time. We are now in a much better hostel called the Flying Pig. This place is awesome. When you first walk in the have a bar with a pool table and "the pillow room" (exactly what it sounds like). No shoes allowed. I am currently in the basement kitchen / living room. There are couches, soft lighting, and a big screen TV. They are currently serving the free breakfast. Also, they offer free skype phone calling, internet terminals, and wi-fi.

This town is super touristy, everything is very expensive. The food is generally crappy, greasy stuff. Also, it is incredibly easy to get lost in Amsterdam.

So, in these last few days, we've seen the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Anne Frank house. Not to mention, the red light district. That shit is crazy.

Unfortunately, I haven't captured much on film because we were uncomfortable carrying the camera around (security). And also, the camera is having problems. It is demanding a head cleaning cassette again, so the video it spits out is all garbled until we can get it fixed, or until I can get it home. Sooo...maybe no more video until we come home =(

We are heading out to Paris tomorrow! Excitement!

-Anders 11:30 AM 6/27/07

Day Six: Ghent

Day Six:

On day six we travelled to the city of Ghent, 30 minutes outside of Brussels (unless you are on the slow train like us).

Anyways, we are currently in Amsterdam in a super crazy ghetto hostel on a crappy internet terminal since they do not have wi-fi. I will be uploading our Ghent material once we get somewhere safe enough to take the laptop out (tomorrow). Until then!

-Anders 6/25/07 12PM