I spent a lot of time in Europe last year so there is still more to tell but next time we will hit another continent for some variety but, first, more adventures in Amsterdam…
I am not sure if it’s me or the Dutch – or the chemistry between us – but I have never had so much fun in any other city. I have lovely memories from New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Prague, Sydney, Bucharest, Ljubljana and the list goes on… But Amsterdam is this mix of friendly locals, outrageous tourists and a general spirit of embracing pretty much everything the Tea Party hates. It’s full of history yet easily embraces the future.
The day started with a bang. Staying out until 5 or 6am every night is not a great idea when you have to catch a flight. The hotel was amazing (K+K Elisabeta). When I didn’t respond to my wake-up call, someone came and knocked on my door until I answered the knock clutching a towel around me and looking sheepish. The early wake-up call meant I had about an hour of sleep but at least I had lots of time to get ready and made it to the airport earlier than really necessary. As an added bonus, I got upgraded to business class! Too bad it was just a short flight but meant I tried not to sleep on the plane so arrived in Amsterdam exhausted.
amsterdam on a sunny day!
Luckily, my hotel was easy to find. It was another experiment via internet searching – Art Hotel Dulac. Now that I have done the test run, you can stay there knowing it is excellent. You can walk from Centraal Station. If you are a hipster, you will fit into the neighborhood perfectly. It’s close to the canals and you can easily walk to most tourist attractions. Pre-Bucharest, I went east. This time I was closer to the west within flirting distance of De Jordaan.
After a survival nap, I headed over to Café Ruig. I had discovered it when I was trying to follow the SAIL parade without paying enough attention to the map. I missed a second chance to catch the parade but had far more fun by succumbing to fatigue. By that point I had been walking for six hours or more so sitting down and drinking a beer seemed like a great idea. The bar caught my attention because it advertised craft brews rather than the ubiquitous Heineken.
It was really quiet so I got lots of attention from the bartenders and had them suggest local beer for me to try. It was yet another fascinating conversation with locals. Ruben had studied set design and was a budding entrepreneur so we started talking business. Then I discovered he had recently made his first trip to the USA. The American media is everywhere and people think they know what the country is like but then they arrive and are frequently confused. It’s a fascinating place full of contradictions. As I try to explain, there is no such thing as a typical American. The propaganda says otherwise but the actual citizens agree on almost nothing except that they are proud to be American – but what they think that means varies so widely foreigners just leave perplexed.
I have to thank the Americans, though, for being the catalyst that made us bond. He even got some take-out and we ate dinner together on the outdoor patio. There is also a DJ and dancing as the evening progresses. I ended up staying so late that I had to take a taxi back to the hotel because the metro was closed for the night. I met other people and even met an Iranian Canadian who was the object of affection of a lovely Dutch woman with whom I discussed relationships.
On my second visit Ruben wasn’t working but I did meet Rick who had played ice hockey in Canada so spoke English with a Canadian accent. Eventually other ice hockey players showed up to hang out with him and I went looking for new adventures. I wandered down the canal in the direction of the hotel and spotted some bright lights and plenty of patrons so I got a beer and figured I would just stand around for a little while absorbing the local culture and admiring Dutch guys 😉 No one was speaking English. I was obviously in a “real” place not frequented by tourists.
Then one of the Dutch guys talked to me – first in Dutch. He seemed impressed that I had found this place as a tourist. It turned out that he was at a bachelor party for his friend Rutger. It was the night of surprise accents. Rutger worked in London a lot so, in English, he was Roger with an English accent. It was a second marriage so an older crowd and most departed quite early (by Amsterdam standards at least 😉 but Hans and Rutger weren’t ready yet for the night to end so they invited me to come with them to De Twee Zwaantjies (The Two Swans).
Hans enjoyed giving me a hard time so told me I had to pretend to be Dutch to get in. It is definitely a Dutch experience. Lots of loud singing of traditional songs in Dutch. There was even a conga line. So different to the bars around Leidseplein catering to tourists. Eventually their driver arrived so I made my way back to the hotel. Good thing I had the nap 😉
much more romantic than gracht sounds 😉
My final day in Amsterdam was a Sunday so chilled out a bit but did do a couple of things I would recommend. The first was a visit to FOAM on the Keizergracht. I have been there before and there are
moving photos – literally!
generally really interesting photo exhibits. It is also on a really romantic canal so make sure you walk to it.
The other discovery was a random accident when I was trying to get away from Dam Square. It’s called De Drie Fleschjes and is at Gravenstraat 18. It has been a tasting room since 1650 and has an excellent selection of Genever if you are a fan like me. For the uninitiated, Genever was a precursor to gin and is a spectacular way to have a local experience in the Netherlands.
Writing about Amsterdam makes me yearn to be there. This is the first year since 2010 I haven’t passed through Amsterdam for at least a couple of days. My KLM points will expire in 2017 unless I fly one of the partners so what better reason to book a flight 🙂 Hans thought I should move to Amsterdam. If only I knew how to finance that… for now, I’ll just play tourist – and share my discoveries and enthusiasm for all things Dutch 😉
life on planetm 
the follies of dictators
I am going to finally write my last Bucharest post – a bittersweet moment. My new Romanian friends encouraged me to check out the Palace that Ceaușescu built as a temple to his self-proclaimed emperor status. As he showed little regard for the citizens he was bossing around, it is likely not surprising that there is nowhere to sit but lots of time to stand around waiting to actually get on a tour. When I was there, there were various maintenance issues so only the standard tour was available. No chance to check out the bunkers.
It required standing around for about an hour – or giving up and sitting on the floor. It seemed a big commitment but I had already learned how to use the metro and walked across a large park to get there so I thought I might as well see something before I repeated the process. I would highly encourage you to do the same.
You will never see anything else like it. If you are lucky, you will also have an excellent guide who speaks English very well and has a sly sense of humour. Now that Romania is no longer a police state, poking fun at the past seems to be a bit of a hobby. You can’t blame them. Ceaușescu makes Donald Trump look like a humble pussy.
It’s mind-boggling how dictators convince themselves that they are not auditioning for evil wizard roles in the next Harry Potter movie and that the public loves them – even if they can only get that level of adoration via fear and violence.
meglomania personified
Perhaps they are mentally ill. That would definitely explain the Presidential Palace in Bucharest… It is the second largest administrative building in the world. Only the Pentagon is bigger! The Palace was part of a more ambitious Project Bucharest to apparently create a replica of the North Korean capital. One can certainly imagine Ceaușescu as a Kim-Il-Sung fan-boy. Someone who rejected Mao and Khrushchev as being too progressive and idolized Stalin was certainly a role model… poor Romania!
Is there something viperous about women whose names start with “E”??? No doubt Nicolae had plenty of issues of his own and very little education but hooking up with Elena added an “Eva Peron” element to his maniacal quest for power and adoration. Apparently she modelled herself on the evil queen in Sleeping Beauty.
If you check out the Palace, you can learn more about the terrible twosome.
And the Palace itself (since the revolution dubbed the “People’s Palace”) is a physical manifestation of megalomania. Huge tracts of land were razed, 40,000 people were relocated and soldiers were forced to work on the construction to reduce costs. It cost billions to build and a ridiculous amount to maintain.
It’s the Sagrada Familia of administrative buildings. Work began in 1984 and is not yet totally complete. When the government fell in 1989, it was unclear how to proceed. The building is a nutty mess built by an idiot but it would have cost more to get rid of it so they have just tried to work with it but the government only uses about 30% of the building. You can rent a room if you’d like 😉
The building has eight underground levels and apparently can survive a nuclear war. It is 2% larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza – megalomaniacs think alike 🙂
Almost all the materials used for the building came from Romania. Selling those natural resources to trading partners no doubt would have been a more sensible strategy for the citizenry. It does mean that it is fascinating to see as a tourist. Chandeliers, carpets, mirrors, wooden ornamentation – everything is totally over the top. Some carpets are so large machines had to be brought into the room to weave the carpet on-site. The palace includes 220,000 square metres of carpet, 3,500 tons of crystal and one million cubic metres of marble. The carpet in the main Union Hall weighs 1.5 tons. It’s like being in someone’s crazy fairy tale palace.
Like something stuck in the past, the building is a mess of ancient architecture styles with little regard for function. You will get a lot of exercise on the tour as mostly you have to take grandiose staircases to get around. Apparently the government has established some services within the building as it takes a long time to get to any shops outside – or even to a meeting in another part of the building.
As a reward for all the stairs, you get to go out on the famous balcony for an overview of a large swath of Bucharest. And you will hear the Michael Jackson story – do NOT stand on the balcony and declare “I LOVE BUDAPEST”. Hey, international geography is not an American strength.
worth all the stairs
as good as it looks!
After you’ve checked out the monstrosity, head to the Old Town. Some parts of it are crumbling but there are still lots of magnificent buildings from Bucharest’s fin-de-siècle heyday. If you need refreshment after all that walking, find the Emilia Cremerie. Possibly some of the best ice cream in Europe. Romanian culture is closer to Italy than to Slovakia, which is probably why they also make excellent wine. There is a local grape called Tomani that I really enjoyed. I learned about it at Abel’s Wine Bar, which boasts lovely service and a gigantic wine list.
The Romanians really deserve your love – and tourist dollars – after the hand they have been dealt by life. Somehow they have managed to be hopeful instead of bitter – with a wicked sense of humour about their past. Go and meet them 🙂
Category:
social commentary, travel stories
Leave a comment
Tagged with: