Amsterdam (May 1-3)

From London we took a bus & ferry & train combo to Amsterdam. To catch the morning bus required catching the earliest Underground from Rayner's Lane over to Liverpool Station. I did not factor in the train line being under construction and having to take a bus part of the way. Without going into specifics, I discovered something important that morning: backup plans when you don't have cell phones, are critical. With that auspicious start we were on our way, with Paul driving:




Apparently this was a funny picture. How else can you carry two backpacks? If you can think of a better way, let me know.




Getting out at the train station we realised we had no idea where we were and where we were going. The plan was to get a map and work from there. The helpful girl at the bookshop & map repository in the train station recommended a hostel close to the Rijksmuseum. After a long day of traveling we went off in search of food.




As this blog progresses, you'll be reading less and less information about the various structures seen in the pictures. Most of them are written down somewhere, or on occasion I had the foresight to record a memo with the pics, but for the most part they've all blended together into what I call the "Vast And Columnar Buildings, both Historical And grandiose"




At one of the old churches, let's call it Odenkirk, I saw my new favourite photograph at the World Press Photo exhibit.




Again, VACBHAGs are all around Europe, and this, is a shopping mall. It does kinda remind me of South Common...kinda.




This will appeal to one person, my "History of Mathematics" prof; I did a paper on Huygens and his crazy world of evolutes.




This is fairly self-explanatory.




Finally, Paul & I ventured into many a McDonald's in our travels. The justification of course is that while McDonald's is an American icon, there are regional specialities that piqued our respective curiosities. After a bad McCroquet, Paul opted for a tried and true happy meal, and the gem found inside was a little plastic stereo that played the following tune (mp3).




This little toy ventured all across Europe with us, in the hopes of starting a party with it. Unfortunately we kept forgetting about it. It is a catchy song tho.

about The Netherlands, from Canada