Well this has been a great week in Amsterdam and surrounding areas. After Saturday with the Eurovision I thought it was going to be better and better.. Well it was, but it had a funny bump or two. On Sunday, it was typical, cool and damp weather and I had forgotten my jacket in Philly. I didn't need it in Paris... but sure did here. So I thought on Sunday I would just go buy one. I also wanted to buy a bag.. man purse.. or whatever you want to call it, but it was a shoulder bag, small for phone, wallet, keys etc. so I don't get pick pocketed again. A lot of men in Paris and Amsterdam and I am guessing in Europe in general carry them.. so I am quite in fashion.
First we were walking thru the city, and we passed this thrift store so I thought that would be good idea to buy a jacket somewhat cheap and yet maybe funky. Well I got those 2 points on the head. I found this great Netherlands Football (Soccer) team jacket from Utrecht which is another city near Amsterdam. There was the leam logo on the chest.. FC Utrecht Football Club.
Well Also on Sunday unbeknownst to us, there is a HUGE football game going on with Amsterdam's team.. (not sure what the team was called but they were red and white as their colors) with some other team. There were so many guys (otherwise known as hooligans by the locals) at every pub they were hanging outside and in the street. There are pubs every 4 doors down in the cit. Well it was more hooligans that I have ever seen in my life. Guys, drinking beer, and watching football ... all wearing red and white.. ok.. there were plenty of women and kids as well.. but they weren't drunk and no one called them hooligans.
So when they won, the city was A BLAZE in excitement.. and they were off to Museum Square in the city. Museum Square is a big park near the museums. There were so many people heading to the square from all directions. it was getting a little dicey as we passed the square. You could tell that there were too many people, drunk and wildly excited for winning. Something was going to happen. They even had the riot police out in drovers too.. so they were expecting some shannigans from the hooligans..
Well here we go a walking thru town showing me around etc.. when there were 4 guys in a car drinking and partying etc.. and one of them saw my jacket. He got out of the car and started yelling at me in dutch about liking the Utrecht Football Team. He was basically asking me "you really like them? REALLY!?!?!.. I got kind of nervous and kept walking. I did turn the lapel down and held on to it so you couldn't see it. Little while later I got yelled at again by a group of guys.. So NOW I just took off the jacket, and turned it inside out JUST in case. Was so wild. Well we finally got thru the massive crowd and back close to the house and we were at the food store. I thought it was ok to put it back on.. I was cold. Well there was this yuppie couple in the mild section.. and all of a sudden he just LOOKED at me.. and I thought .. OH NO!!! Well I yelled at Carl and told him to explain to this couple that I was basically a nice guy, don't hate anyone and that I had no clue that Utrecht was the most hated team ... It was really like wearing a full outfit of the Red Sox to a Yankees game in NYC.
Well that coat has been sitting in the closet all week.. I will wear it at home tho. Now I want to buy a AEGON t-shirt in Red and white.. just because..
I also bought this brown vinyl bag/man purse and got it 1/2 off and that was a good deal. It is big enough for all my things including maps.. :) handy while in a foreign city.
On Monday, I got up and got dressed, and thought what am I going to do? Well I decided to start walking the city. Had my bag full, my borrowed coat a little too big on, and off to the big city. Amsterdam is a great city.. It is a city of bicycles... has a million of them, their own bike lanes which is bigger than the sidewalk in some cases. It has a lot of canals that run everywhere thru the city so it was a little confusing since the streets/canals all look alike. There are signs on the buildings of the streets and the canals so that was handy. However the dutch language is not the easiest language and so that was a little confusing. I started looking for landmarks. A couple of things you will notice right off the bat.. They have a thing for pot. They have stores, coffee shop, general shops, and all kinds of other stores all to do with pot. So that is kind of crazy. Also in the coffee shops where they smoke the pot, you can't smoke cigarettes. That was a little strange. You also smell the pot all over in general. The other thing is the red light district. They have these cubicles RIGHT on the street with glass doors and women all in their doors lit up in red mostly wearing skimpy outfits.. underwear mostly. Now there are all types.. young, older, every nationality, MOST of them have big breasts... and I can almost say that I am pretty sure they are augmented in some way. I asked Carl if anyone had natural breasts? He said that if they do, they have certificates from their Dr!!!! :)
So Monday I thought I would walk by the Anne Frank House. It had been crowded on the weekend when we walked by. But Monday it was hardly any line so I am guessing the rain and cool tempuratures kept the tourists away. So I got in line for the house. I am not sure if you all have read the story of Anne Frank like I did way back in grade school, but I remember reading that book. This was one of the things I really wanted to do while in Amsterdam. The story is a true story and so unbelievable in so many ways. However to go thru the house/museum, see the exact space they occupied for 2 years, saw her actual diaries, it was one of the most moving times of my life. The had an exhibit of Margo Frank (Anne's sister) as well which was very nice as well. She had diaries too, but they were never found. They also had an exhibit of short vidoes of some kind of issue from around the world and had a question if something was correct to doing what they were doing. The subject was all around the Freedom of speech etc. Each one had their own issue and was very hard to really tell which was right.. but you had to put what you thought yes or no on each one. 2 of them were easier for me.. one had to do with a political party in Hungary (which reminded me of the tea party sect of the republican party), and one had to do with an issue in public schools and a particular item of clothing. So that was a little easier for me as well. They then gave us the results of the visitors THAT day, yes and no percentages, and then of all visitors. Sitting there watching and responding I started to talk to this young woman, 26 and from Australia but living in Germany on some of the issues we were watching. We then started talking of some issues that were relevant today but getting 2 different perspectives .. hers and mine, different ages, different nationalities, with different thoughts. We talked for about 30 minutes. We both had a great time, and both said thanks for sharing some of our time in our lives. It was really a perfect ending of that 1/2 day. Monday night Zuling made a great dinner.. went to a bar in town.. and had a great first weekday here.
On Tuesday my highlight of the day was my massage. I had gone on line on the weekend to try to find a massage therapist. I went to Gay Massage in Amsterdam via Google, and found this one that worked from his home. He had big arms, a great website, and was very cheap. So I thought why not. I had emailed him for a few questions etc. Oh, also .... his name was Craig.. :) Craig Riches (www.bodyworkmassage.nl) lives in West Amsterdam. I had to get on the Tram (first time for that) on the 14, transfer to the 12, and then get off and walk a few blocks to his house. It was kind of raining and cold again.. typical for this time of the year. I left early figuring it was going to take extra time since it was my first time on the tram here in Amsterdam. I find that it always takes extra time even for the easiest thing in a foreign country. I also figure correctly that since he works from his home, that there was not going to be any retails nearby. Well I stood underneath an awning of a "Oriental Restaurant" (it did say Oriental) listening to my music and watching the world go by. These folks even ride bikes in the rain, in some cases carrying umbrellas..
Well I got there at 10 minutes to 11.. 4th floor walkup in what looked like a blue collar neighborhood. His place was immaculate, beautiful, and he was pretty hot too. He was a native of Great Britain. All I can say is he was AMAZING!!!!! one of the best massages ever. He started off with a little Shiatsu, mixed in with some stretching, then some swedish deep tissue, mixed in with a little Eastern Holistic massage. I did a 90 minute with Craig. Technically he was GREAT. But there were some things that were a little unique that has never happened before. So not sure if it was unique to Craig, or the Netherlands. I have another massage tomorrow with Simon (later on for that story) so I may be able to tell more then. The 2 things that he did was... 1, when working on my back, he straddled my body and really worked on my upper butt (which is where my back issue really was), which was amazing.. at all areas from the upper butt to my neck. The women in Manila consistently straddle my body in their massages. Craig is my height, but had a very nice muscle body obvious that he spends a lot of time in the gym. The 2nd thing which started out to be a little weird, but turned into AMAZING very quickly, was when he was done with my backside, he put his legs on my legs, and started to basically roll on top of me. He rolled completely on my body with his body. He was basically laying on top of me.. including putting his head on my head. Now at first I thought this could be kind of sexual/sensual, which it really wasn't, then thought it was a little weird, BUT then.. his weight felt so good on my body, and then I could feel this heat from his body going thru mine like this personal heating blanked. It felt like he laid on top of me for about 30 to 45 seconds... it was AMAZING!!!!!! Then he rolled off which I didn't even feel.. and I turned around and he worked on my front side. Over all it was the BEST massage ever. The cost you ask? 50 Euros. CHEAP!!!! I gave him 60. Unfortunately he wasn't available the rest of the week.. so this was one time deal at least for this trip. People here were kind of amazed that I from a different country, found this massage therapist on line, just got on the public transport, went to his house in a residential neighborhood and just went in upstairs, walked in and got naked on his table. :) I found it not at least weird. :)
Tuesday night I met a friend of Carls.. Alex, he was born in Texas, but his whole adult life has worked in Europe. He is presently in Austria during the week, while his swedish boyfriend works in Germany. They are together on the weekends. We went to a chinese restaurant which was great... and then we decided to go to a bar called Queens Head. Well we got there and they have their Hysterical Bingo on Tuesday's. The evening was hosted by a woman that was kind of dressed like a drag queen, with her husband that had a long wig and a white suite with .. the red and white AEGON football shirt. Well the hostest had a thing for Carl and kept asking him how do you say things in swedish.. like 69?? She also said that I looked like a dutch cartoon from the 70's named Niels.. Me and cartoon look a likes.. last time was a french cartoon.
The bingo was a little crazy.. we finally understood how they were playing by the end of the first time period. At intermission the husband had to sing We are the Champions for the football game on Sunday.. and oh yea there was some comment about Utrecht.. Again I was being haunted by this other team that I now own the team jacket :)
We left and called it a night.
Wednesday was another great day of doing nothing.. I walked around the city..
I am getting the hang of this place, looking less at my maps etc. The only unique thing of the day worth telling was I wanted to go buy some tulips for Carl. Well as you can imagine they are really CHEAP here... :) I went up to this young woman and was trying to understand the signs and was asking her some questions. (Everyone speaks english very well and with no hestiation). In fact I guess I really look american... even though I wasn't wearing my red sox ball cap, OR wearing my white running shoes. I thought I was blending in nicely.. but guess not. She was so nice.. but we weren't really communicating very well in the beginning. She apologized for that but then I said that if anyone was to blame, that it should be me. I was the visitor to her country and I should be speaking her language instead of the other way around. I said in other countries I have visited my little french, my little Filipino, my more spanish can get me thru quite nicely. But I don't know one word of dutch which then I apologized. She said for her dutch and german and english were the ones she knows. I said they were the hard ones.. which she commented that she thought french, and spanish were the hard ones. Well after our little love fest for each other she gave me 2 free bunches of tulips to add the 3 I was buying.. So all in all I have about 45 to 50 tulips for 5 Euros.. ($7.50). So we have them in the bedrooms, on the eating table. beautiful purple tulips.. Carl only has one vase so we put 2 small bunches in beer glasses. Which reminds me.. I should take some pictures.. RIGHT NOW!
Wednesday night Zuling made a wonderful Italian dinner, and told us how to made soup with egg in it. Was great. We had 2 "oriental dinners" this week so that is why he made Italian. After dinner we went to a bar called Cozy. Cozy is owned by a guy names Anthony and a friend of Carls. He is 1/2 dutch and 1/2 american was born in Arizona. He was a great guy.. Cozy is a cute bar/lounge and it is very cozy. He had massage night.. :) So Simon a massage therapist which Anthony had gone to for 2 years was there with his chair, and for 10 Euros, would give a 20 minute massage and Anthony would give a free drink. So I said... why not. He was pretty good.. and so then I asked if he was available on Thrusday which he wasn't. But since I was leaving on Friday, he was willing to squeeze me in on Friday morning. So now I can see how he does it and then compare. :)
The friends we met this night.. again a little international group. We met a friend of Carls named Ruut, a dutch guy, cute and very nice works for KLM, then we met a dutch friend of Zulings name Yens... very cute and nice. Then we met 2 others.. Simon, a dutchman,,, cute and his friend Bobby from Louisiana but living in Oklahoma City, OK and is in the Air Force. He was cute and quite animated and with the mix of this group, we had ONE GREAT EVENING at Cozy's. Bobby and Simon met in Curacao few years back.. and were kind of boyfriends. Simon now has a dutch bf and they are just friends.. but I could feel a huge chemistry between them still. I have a feeling that the distance is what did it for them. However after being here 1 week, I have met so many international couples living in all kinds of arrangements... and I believe that they should just face the reality.. but who knows.
So that is it for now.. I will describe today and the rest of the week next time. I go back to Paris tomorrow afternoon, and then return back to Philly on Saturday. I do know that this vacation was so much more than sightseeing 2 wonderful cities, seeing my friends and spending time with them. I have met so many people and have done more than I had ever expected. I think the European way of life is a wonderful one.. and would love to one day live here. Probably won't happen.. but I am not adverse to the possiblity...
Til Next time..
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