Of Sinful European Pleasures
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2/12/2006
My last day in London (April 10) I met with some old friends who live there, and also had a relaxing time looking around in the bookstores of Charing Cross. I bought another Chinese phrasebook but I failed to find the other books I was looking for. But I decided not to spend any more time looking. I got the feeling if I didn't get out of London soon, I'd keep finding more excuses to stay until my money ran out (which wouldn't take that long). In the evening I headed out to Cambridge (using up the last of my BritRail pass) to see a former college roommate who was picking up his British citizenship papers on the 11th. So he's a Brit by now, or at least a half-Brit, being a dual citizen with the USA.
I had planned to catch the ferry from Harwich, England to Hoek von Holland in the Netherlands, but I stayed up way too late talking and drinking with some Norwegians. They insisted on buying me lots of drinks after I mentioned their national hero Fritjof Nansen. I also (after a few drinks) let them convince me to have some chewing tobacco. I soon remembered why I concluded this was a filthy and disgusting habit back in the fourth grade. Still, they had some interesting advice on places to go in Sardinia and Sicily.
So after waking up on April 11, I went to Dover and took the ferry to Calais, where I got my Eurail pass activated. This will let me take pretty much any train I want in Europe for free, or for no more than a small reservation fee. I took the first train to Lille, where I almost missed my connecting train after spending a while looking through the French supermarket Carrefour. I found my French language skills returning fairly quickly. Princes in France are still quoted in both francs and Euros, even though the money is all in Euros. I guess it's to help people who are used to spending francs figure out how much everything is. I bought some non-pasteurized goat cheese (illegal in the USA!) and a baguette and had them for dinner on the train to Amsterdam, where I arrived around 11 pm. From the train, the Low Countries reminded me of Japan--lots of people everywhere crammed close together, and the entire landscape obviously carefully groomed. The signs were easier to read than in Japan, though.
Today (April 12) I took a canal trip around the center of Amsterdam, and also saw a great exhibit of Indonesian art, held in cooperation with the Indonesian national museum in Jakarta. There were some very impressive Hindu statues, and also a wonderful set of gold jewelry from a noblewoman's grave.
Looking around in Amsterdam, it's not hard to see why it bulks so large in the imagination of young US servicemen stationed in Europe. The memorable scent of marijuana is everywhere in the central parts of town (in Amsterdam, a "coffee shop" usually means a place where you can smoke marijuana as well as buying coffee, whereas if it's a "cafe" weed is not welcome). Almost all weekend or other passes issued by the Army in Europe specifically exclude Amsterdam.
I have no plans to avail myself of any of Amsterdam's seedier pleasures except (possibly) a glass of absinthe.
Next: Brussels and the WWI battlefields.
My last day in London (April 10) I met with some old friends who live there, and also had a relaxing time looking around in the bookstores of Charing Cross. I bought another Chinese phrasebook but I failed to find the other books I was looking for. But I decided not to spend any more time looking. I got the feeling if I didn't get out of London soon, I'd keep finding more excuses to stay until my money ran out (which wouldn't take that long). In the evening I headed out to Cambridge (using up the last of my BritRail pass) to see a former college roommate who was picking up his British citizenship papers on the 11th. So he's a Brit by now, or at least a half-Brit, being a dual citizen with the USA.
I had planned to catch the ferry from Harwich, England to Hoek von Holland in the Netherlands, but I stayed up way too late talking and drinking with some Norwegians. They insisted on buying me lots of drinks after I mentioned their national hero Fritjof Nansen. I also (after a few drinks) let them convince me to have some chewing tobacco. I soon remembered why I concluded this was a filthy and disgusting habit back in the fourth grade. Still, they had some interesting advice on places to go in Sardinia and Sicily.
So after waking up on April 11, I went to Dover and took the ferry to Calais, where I got my Eurail pass activated. This will let me take pretty much any train I want in Europe for free, or for no more than a small reservation fee. I took the first train to Lille, where I almost missed my connecting train after spending a while looking through the French supermarket Carrefour. I found my French language skills returning fairly quickly. Princes in France are still quoted in both francs and Euros, even though the money is all in Euros. I guess it's to help people who are used to spending francs figure out how much everything is. I bought some non-pasteurized goat cheese (illegal in the USA!) and a baguette and had them for dinner on the train to Amsterdam, where I arrived around 11 pm. From the train, the Low Countries reminded me of Japan--lots of people everywhere crammed close together, and the entire landscape obviously carefully groomed. The signs were easier to read than in Japan, though.
Today (April 12) I took a canal trip around the center of Amsterdam, and also saw a great exhibit of Indonesian art, held in cooperation with the Indonesian national museum in Jakarta. There were some very impressive Hindu statues, and also a wonderful set of gold jewelry from a noblewoman's grave.
Looking around in Amsterdam, it's not hard to see why it bulks so large in the imagination of young US servicemen stationed in Europe. The memorable scent of marijuana is everywhere in the central parts of town (in Amsterdam, a "coffee shop" usually means a place where you can smoke marijuana as well as buying coffee, whereas if it's a "cafe" weed is not welcome). Almost all weekend or other passes issued by the Army in Europe specifically exclude Amsterdam.
I have no plans to avail myself of any of Amsterdam's seedier pleasures except (possibly) a glass of absinthe.
Next: Brussels and the WWI battlefields.
posted by jeros | 7:36 PM
1 Comments:
It does my heart good to know that someone still appreciates Nansen. Keep up the good work.
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