Finally we are at a hotel with real live wifi! Woo hoo! But as usual we're tired from the day so I don't know if I'll be able to write much more than I have been writing -- but it's a hell of a lot easier on the computer :) SO. This morning started off with disaster. After checking out of our hotel we decided to brave Amsterdam's public transportation system. Not that it's all that scary for normal people but for Angelinos like us, public transportation in general is very scary indeed. (Arwen -- think the teaser from BITCH lol) But, we studied the metro map and figured, how hard can it be to take a bus from the hotel to Vondelpark? WELL. First we were waiting at the wrong stop. Then when we got to the right stop, I was figuring out how much money I was going to need, and I thought I had to get on the bus at the front to pay, and as I approached the front of the bus, the door closed. I assumed he'd open it. After all, I was standing RIGHT THERE. But no. So I turned around to apologize to Cindy that I made us miss the bus when I realized... she wasn't there! She had boarded the bus, which was now speeding down the street, leaving me totally at a loss and worried because I was carrying all the Euros. I literally was picturing her getting carted off to Dutch jail for boarding a bus and not being able to pay. First I tried to chase the bus. Then I realized that was a dumb idea since it was going way faster than I was and I didn't know exactly where it was headed. You see, while I had the money, Cindy was handling all of that confusing directiony stuff... So then I figured, I'd wait for the next bus and that she probably got off at the first stop and I would meet her there. Next bus took forever and a day. Keep in mind, we only have one functioning cell phone here and it was in my purse. After what seemed like a terrifying eternity, the next bus arrived and I hopped on it, only to see Cindy hop on behind me smiling "Here I am." I couldn't figure out how she'd gotten there but apparently she DID get off at the next stop, but when the next bus failed to come she got worried and jogged back up the block to find me hopping onto the bus. At last, we were both on the right bus. But that experience took years off my life.
Anyway, we went to the Van Gogh museum first. Asa, I know this is your life's work, but man, I am terrible at art appreciation. People are just standing there staring at paintings and I'm kind of like, "it's not gonna do anything." Plus I was all excited to see The Scream, but Cindy told me that wasn't even Van Gogh, it was someone else! AND that it was stolen and no one even knows where it is. God, I'm art retarded. How did my brother get ALL the art genes in the family? Seriously, I think paintings are pretty, but I have no clue what else I'm supposed to look for. But the museum was nice, anyway.
Afterwards we hit Vondelpark which was really really beautiful and it was so nice to be outside -- we've just so lucked out with weather (so far... knock wood...) so it was a beautiful day. We were going to rent bikes here but we couldn't find the rental place and time was getting to be of the essence since we lost an hour with that whole transportation debacle. So we stopped for a snack (I FINALLY found a smoothie -- yay!) and headed back to our hotel. No bus problems this time. We collected our luggage and then had to decide how to get back to our car. Walk + bus? 2 buses? Bus + train? We wound up doing walk plus bus though poor Cindy fell twice. Did I mention she's sick, surprise surprise? And now on top of that her fancy new shoes which are great for walking, seem to have some trouble in uneven surface cracks. Yep. She's fallen four times today and is all bruised up. I am going to have to carry her through Bruges tomorrow I think!
Anyway we did make it back to our Mercedes, and trooper that she is Cindy hopped in and drove us to Bruges. The countryside of Holland/Belgium is kind of unremarkable. Sort of looks like Canada to me. Not like, pretty Canada, like, boring, close to the upstate NY border, brick houses, plain trees Canada. Anyway arriving in Bruges was fascinating. At first I was like, what is the big deal about this place? It seemed run-down and dull --- THEN we got inside the "walled city." Holy crap. Rumors of its beauty were not exaggerated. This place is amazing. You feel like you're walking around on a film set. Oh, wait, that was because of the FILM CREW that was there. Well, it's nice to feel like it's home away from home, right? Okay, so that picturesque fog over the canal was coming from a fog machine. So what? It added to the mystique of the surroundings! Anyway our hotel here is lovely, though I almost got us locked out of it because I'm retarded and I thought I had the code to get in memorized and yet... I didn't. But anyway we went out to dinner at a very Dutch, medieval restaurant that the hotel guy recommended. Actually it was the Jan Van Eyck restaurant, who apparently (stop cringing Asa) is an important, famous artist. Again, lacking the art gene, I wasn't aware, but there's a big statue of him and I feel I'll learn more about him tomorrow. Though mostly I'm looking forward to the chocolate museum!
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Hey Ari!
Don't feel bad -- most people have no idea what to do when standing in front of a painting. Not to worry about The Scream, though. Munch made several copies. He's Norwegian, by the by, not Dutch, so the Van Goghs w0ould give a better idea of the local flavor, so to speak.
Michele took a photo of me under that Van Eyck statue! He is not just an important artist. He's the guy who popularized the use of oil paint, which changed the way that all painters in the West have painted for the last 500 years! And his paintings (once you get past the stiff, stilted people) are really mindblowingly good. Give them a shot.
We just saw some of those shoes that Cindy has in the mall -- I'd fall all over the place in those, too! Cindy, I hope you feel better soon! Have some of that hemp lollipop -- that should make you feel better, one way or another!
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