Amsterdam take 2!

So at the teylers museum they had a natural history collection, lots of scientific instruments, some rocks and paintings, old coins and in the rare book room, old books on mushrooms. About half of the collection was in English, with an audio guide. While I was there it started to snow, and it went on for the whole day, really coming down at some points! I left around 4 to do one of the walking tours, And the snowing had basically stopped, although there was several inches on the ground. I sure was glad I didn't bring lance! People were walking their bikes through town. When I got to the market sq, it was crazy. Everyone was out playing in the snow, esp parents dragging their children on sleds from the 1800s. I was pretty jealous (although there are no hills so how much fun can a sled be!?), but everyone was having fun so it was a real nice atmosphere. I walked around, saw some of the nice buildings, one of the old royal residences, the greenest street in haarlem, the waag, fish market, and old pharmacy, with original interior with their statues of native Americans smoking pipes and such, still in operation (boy was it crazy busy in there!!), churches (of course) and I walked along that pretty tree lined avenue I had rode up. I stopped off at "Michels bakery" (didn't try and get free food because the owner shares my name this time) and cured my sweet fix that I had been having for the past few days. The tour detoured me through this park (although I got lost at first cause it said to follow a path but I couldn't see the path cause it was covered in snow!) So I'm walking and this giant dog, maybe an akita just comes bounding at me, looking for a quick belly rub before it continued playing in the snow. Then it went off but the next second came back for more! It was so adorable!! Then I saw some 12 yr old boys throwing snowballs at cars and I thought oh thank god I don't have lance, they would probably throw some at me too lol and soon it got dark so I went back to Hans. His wife had a meeting in Amsterdam for that bicycle magazine they volunteer for, but because of the snow all the trains were delayed, so she had to wait in the station for 2 hours! So she was really late! But hans and I made dinner and I went to bed shortly after. I downloaded a walking tour of haarlem although I had seen most of the sights already. At the end the guy wrote, I hope you now know the difference between haarlem and Harlem in NYC lol, yeah there is a huge difference, and the former is much nicer! Sat Feb 4: the 3 of us had breakfast, wifey didnt get back from Amsterdam until real late cause she had to wait for the train 2 hours coming back! She said cycling would have been faster! So after breaky I went to the st bavo church in the markt sq, which was really beautiful. They had some info on the windows which depicted religious scenes but also scenes of haarlem. I saw the graves of frans hals and that teyler guy. After the church I did the other walking tour which was all about almshouses, which haarlem has a lot of! So they were quite nice, and all had pretty courtyards, and esp now with the snow, it added an extra grandeur to them. Most had residents, although they were converted into apts. One had a clever number system carved into the facade above the doorway, saying something like it was for woman of 8 x 2 + 1 or something like that which meant that it holds 20 woman all aged 60 (ok I got the numbers wrong but you get the idea). So after that walking tour I went to the frans hals museum. I had to pay extra again for a temp exhibit which I was annoyed about but at least they gave audio guides in English. It was all about celebrating in the golden age, so all 17th cent paintings of feasts and festivities. It was quite nice actually so then I was glad I went, the paintings were mostly of peasant weddings, winter scenes, religious celebrations and stuff. Then I went to the permanent exhibition which had (obviously) frans hals paintings. So I was there for a bit then I left at 4:26 pm for Amsterdam directly. It was straight forward leaving haarlem (not like leiden with all the signs in the bike lanes pointing every which direction and confusing me). I didn't get to see the windmill which was a shame but I did get to see the old city gate as I left so that was nice. So to Amsterdam was easy, I just followed the bike path that mostly was parallel to the n200. I didn't want to stray off of the main cycle route and use the cycle network cause I figured the paths would be all covered in snow cause there was at least 3 inches or so. However, there was snow on the main route as well so I had to go a bit slower. I stopped to take some nice photos of the snow covered bushes and the frozen stream along the path. Saw some kids playing hockey on a canal :-) and a lake was totally frozen except for this one small patch, so that was where like 100 ducks and swans gathered! I got a photo of that too. So I had a few slips and slides with the bike but no falls, quite surprisingly, considering all the times I fell in Boston with the hybrid. Lance is a tough cookie! So once I got into the Amsterdam area I ran into trouble cause I needed to get off the cycle route and take the streets to my hosts place so I thought following a major motorway would be easiest but there was no bike path alongside so I had to improvise (which I now could do cause I had Google maps again!) So I just took a street parallel to the motorway, then followed some tram track and made it, arriving at 6:49 pm, rode 12.64 mi, max 11, avg 6.4.  My host erik lived in an apt on top of zeeman, so the stairs were narrow and steep, but luckily he brought lance up, not me! He said lance was a cutie!! I'm sure he was flattered :-) so we made dinner and chatted. It turns out he is a photo editer for the same dutch cycling magazine that hans and what's her name volunteer for! And he was at the same meeting the night before that [insert her name] was late to! So he showed me some issues and explained what the stories were about. They always have a theme where they invite the members of this club to submit stories and photos based on this theme, and it changes every issue. So the one I saw was " cycling in love" and some older couple got married and then spent their honeymoon cycle touring!! And the photo was their tent that they camped in with "just married" written on it. Pretty hardcore! And Erik submitted a story about how when he was touring he met a girl in Croatia and they had an intense but quick relationship. She looked about 13 in the photo!! But yeah after the mags we just talked for a while. He is really into winter cycling, but he camps! He did a trip around Belgium and Switzerland and he camped on top of the matterhorn and he said he didn't get much sleep cause it was so cold!! That is pretty crazy. He even said he went out somewhere in the dunes not far from Amsterdam a few nights before and just camped out there for the night because he "couldn't resist" and wanted to be outside! I thought, wow this guy should really be living in like Norway or Sweden if he loves the cold so much! He also really likes hills cause he grew up in the hilly south, so he doesn't like Amsterdam too much cause its flat and it has lost a lot of its identity, according to him. He moved there in the 70s and really enjoyed the provos movements and squatting and stuff, so he's upset its all gone now. He wants to move out and go elsewhere but he has rent control (not sure if this is the right term) so he has paid the same amount since he first moved in, which is like €300 a month! Everyone else in the building pays way more!! So in a way he feels trapped cause he knows if he goes anywhere else he won't find a deal as good as that. But his landlady wants him to move out so she can charge the next person the current rate cause she is annoyed he pays her so little rent, even though she owns many apts and apparently is very rich. So she's just a greedy bastard! So this then got us to talking about the current economic crisis and he said he thinks people will start to be less greedy cause they now realize what its done to the economy. I think that's wishful thinking. So he also showed me some pics, including the ones he had taken of dinner (he really likes mushrooms for whatever reason and we had a meal with 3 different kinds in..I thought he would enjoy those books from the teyler museum lol) and he showed me a book he wrote with pics he took of his friends from Irelands kids who were dressed as fairies. He tried to get the book published but no publisher in the netherlands or UK was interested, so he tried in the US but they told him that the kids were showing too much skin (the boy was topless and the girl had a bare belly) so they were afraid only pedophiles would buy it. Then some independent publisher guy in the US said he liked the photos but not the story line, so I don't actually know if he sold the photos or not. But I read the story and it was a bit weird to be honest, for a kids book. It was about a little girl whose gpa dies and the girls at school don't like her so she goes into the woods (Ireland!) And meets some fairies who befriend her and teach her to be brave. But yeah the first sentences of the book were like sally used to love listening to gpas stories, but grandpa was dead now. I was like umm not very pleasant for a kids book! And he agreed it was a bit too dark. So we talked some more, he told me about another cycle touring trip he did thru Europe but he cut it short and took a train back cause he was feeling homesick (even though he doesn't like Amsterdam lol). Good thing I don't have that problem cause its a bit harder for me to get home! So all this while I had some clothes by his heater, which was a real fire, and my jeans actually got burnt!! He said I can look at it as a souvenir from Amsterdam lol. But then I went to bed, on a mattress in the living room. Sun Feb 5: Superbowl Sunday!! Giants vs patriots round 2!! Everyone at home was going crazy, marj even made a football cake that came out awesome. Homesickness was really kicking in then!! I had wanted to go to a bar and watch it and I even Googled some that would show it, and I asked carmen if she wanted to join me but she said she couldn't so I decided against it cause it started at 12:30 am Amsterdam time. So that was such a shame, the first Superbowl I've ever missed in my life!! And I heard it was a great game, and the giants were the underdog AGAIN and they showed everyone up AGAIN!! But anywayyy, Erik and I had breaky together and then I left shortly afterwards to drop my stuff at my hostel. It was called hotel sarphati so located right across from sarphati park which was only like a mile from museum plein, which was super convenient cause I didn't get to go to those museums last time I was in Amsterdam, so that was my first port of call. So I arrived at the hostel around 950 am and couldn't check in but was able to drop my bags off. Breakfast was till 10 so I quickly made myself a nutella sandwich then left for the van gogh museum. I got there around 1015 am and just as I arrived so did a bus load of Japanese tourists! And you had to go thru this whole security checkpoint, as if you were taking a flight to the galleries. The museum filled up verrry quickly, I kept thinking 'what are summers like here!?" ( just like in London!) But it was awesome, I didn't know much about van gogh at all prior, not even the fact that he killed himself. So I made my way through the whole museum, and was hoping to see starry night (which according to Michael is not his most famous painting..its sunflowers!) But it wasn't there so I Googled it and its at the MoMA :-) seriously my city just has the most world class museums!! And I googled sunflowers too and that is in the national gallery in London, like the one museum I still have yet to go to!! So after that I went to the riksmuseum. And would you believe it, the security guard was hot!! But I was looking a right mess so I didn't even bother to talk to him. So I made my way through most of the galleries, saw more golden age paintings by rembrandt, Jan steen and those guys. I saw another wooden chest that claimed to be the one that hugo de groot (remember the guy from delft whose name I couldn't remember) escaped from exile in. So I don't know which museum is telling the truth! But such are artifacts like that. Just like when I was in stratford and the wood from the tree that was chopped down in shakeys last house was used to make souvenirs, yet there were more souvenirs that a whole forest full of trees! But yeah so there I was in the museum, minding my own, when one of the guards (an unattractive one) comes up to me from all the way across the room and says "excuse me can I ask you a question?" And I say yes and he says "where are you from?" And I say USA and he says thanks and walks away. I thought that was incredibly strange, cause the guy at the ticket counter when I arrived had asked the same but I know its for demographic purposes, but for that guard to really come straight at me from across the room, I really was curious as to why he asked!! But I just went about looking at the artwork anyhow. So when it got close to closing time I had a quick look at some 13-14th cent catholic art and then saw "night watch" and then left! So then I walked back to lance and it was still somewhat light out (it was 6 pm) so I thought if I should go to the tourist info and see if they have self guided walking tours, but I couldn't be bothered since I was tired, hungry and so close to the hostel. Just as I was leaving, an old man was crossing the street and he slipped on the snow and fell and screamed "ow my knee!" My heart really sank, I felt so bad for him, but 2 woman immediately went to him and helped him up so he seemed ok and able to stand so I felt better, so I rode off. I got to the hostel and had to leave lance outside (I had tried to persuade the receptionist in the morning to let me bring him inside but he said no and promised he would be safe outside) but there were like 20 other bikes all around him so he blended quite well. So I picked up my stuff from the luggage storage and went to my room. The lights were turned off but there was a guy in a bed so I asked if I could turn them on but he said people were sleeping! I thought oh lord, party animals in my room, this is going to be an interesting night. I unpacked and got talking to an Aussie girl from Melbourne who had been in that hostel for like 12 days cause she was attending a conference for her thesis, which was in something like biomedical related. So after a bit I left to try and find a supermarket. there was a new receptionist and I had asked him where I can pick up some food and he said most places would be closed cause its a Sunday. So I left and walked for a few blocks and found a convenience store so I bought some krokets and spekulaas cause mayke told me to try them. So back at the hostel I put the krokets in the microwave and had them for dinner. I wasn't a huge fan but I was hungry so I ate them anyway!! The kitchen was also the lounge so CNN was on tv and they were talking about the presidental election. When I was in haarlem Hans was saying to me that everyday something about the election race is in the newspaper, as if the Netherlands is a state!! And I said oh we hardly get world news in the US, only if its something real big, so it definitely wouldn't be about a leadership candidate election! And while I'm on the subject, hans wife showed me the newspaper one of the mornings I was there and said that hundreds of people, mostly sick, elderly and homeless, and more so in eastern Europe, had died over the last few days cause of the cold. Id believe it, when I was in gouda, Paul the annoying Lithuanian, had researched the temp of Lithuania and it was like -20 C!! My god I'm sure glad I decided to cycle western Europe!! But ok back on track here.so after dinner I went back to my room and talked more with that girl, a south Korean guy, and 1 of the sleepyheads who had finally woken up. He was Argentinian but spent time in Germany so he knew Spanish and German but not too much English. Aussie girl had gone on exchange to Berlin so she knew some German, so they communicated a bit, and I commented here and there with my sub par español. He and his friend (one of the other guys who was sleeping earlier) then went out for the night. All the other guys had gone out too, so it was me, Aussie and SK guy, and then a Malaysian guy for the rest of the night. They were all soo nice, and Aussie girl (Ku her name was, or something like that) let me use her computer. The SK guy said he wanted to try herring so I told him about my experience in delft lol so he seemed intrigued so we checked my lonely planet for places where he can go to find some :-) so the 3 of us talked for a few hours, the SK guy did an exchange in Birmingham so he knew English really well. He said he couldnt understand peoples English in bham though and I said neither can i!! So around midnight we put the tv on in the room to see if we could pick up the Superbowl but the only channel we got was a music video type channel (didn't know those still existed in the YouTube age) which played a song about Amsterdam every 20 min. So I went to the receptionist and asked if they got ESPN or some type channel that would play the superbowl and I also asked where bakeries were nearby for the next morning. He showed me on the map some famous multi cultural st that was real close by and said he would look into finding the Superbowl. So I said thanks and went to walk away but then he asked where I was from so we talked for a while. His English wasn't that great though. But I did manage to learn he is from somewhere in Spain and it used to be a real trashy place with prostitutes just walking the streets, so he didnt like it. So I said so you came to Amsterdam, where prostitutes are behind windows! And he said oh yeah I didn't even think about it like that lol. So after a bit I went upstairs and he said if he found out which channel the game would be on then he would come to the room and tell me, but he never did :-( he was a bit cute so I wanted him to come and tuck me in ;-) so I was a bit heart broken when he didn't show up! Don't worry, I'm nearly over it now. So yeah I went to bit at 12:30 am, just as the game was starting, and everyone back home was getting their Superbowl partying on :-( and that's all for me for the night!