Amsterdam

I just got back from an amazing weekend in Amsterdam.  All I can think about is how much I want to go back!  I had all day friday, saturday and sunday there, so I covered a lot of ground.  I walked around the grachts (canals) a lot, which is definitely my favorite part of the city.  Much like copenhagen everyone rides bikes, though the general atmosphere is more energetic and eclectic than in denmark.  It was a nice change of pace.  

I met up with my friend Kevin, who is also on a semster abroad at the Design Academy Eindhoven about 1.5 hours from Amsterdam.  We stayed on a boat.  It was...cozy.  On saturday we walked a lot.  We found a really great outdoors vintage clothing/goods market, stopped by a fancy cigar store to pick up some cigars for my dad, went to DROOG (I felt really special to be present for Kevin's first trip to droog :) ), another cool dutch/european design store called Frozen Fountain, visited the Cat Museum, which featured only art with cats in it.  We had a great cheap lunch and then coffee and Dutch apple pie later.  It was so nice being somewhere where it's affordable to go out to eat!  Later that night we ran into some people that we went to high school with (small world!), and went to an Indian themed dance club in a church.

Sunday we took it easy and went to the Dutch funeral and mortality museum so that Kevin could do some research for a project, then we took a canal boat tour.  Did you know that Amsterdam is home to europe's largest floating chinese restaurant?  Me niether.  

There are good vibes in Amsterdam.  I hope that I get a chance to go back again soon.

little/big

This is the view from the front of the apartment and a really small dog.

Blue

for aya :)

green

not as sneaky as they think

I got a bike!

It's such a cool feeling to be a copenhagen cyclist!

  I got my new bike yesterday at the train station.  The bike-to-person ratio in copenhagen is 3:1, so as you can imagine there are lots of abandoned bikes.  Every now and then the police go around the central public places and tag bikes that have been there for a while.  If they're not picked up within a month or so they get an orange sticker.  Post stickering if they're still not picked up they get collected and brought to the dump or auctioned off at the politi (police) headquarters.  Orange sticker, no lock, and it's yours.  What a beautiful system.

Today I bought a lock and adjusted the seat, tomorrow I'll buy a basket and then I'll be ready to go.  My bike is a bit sporty.  Some kind of racing/road bike, so it's taking a little getting used to.  

And I'm sure the frame is way too big for me, but luckily I have unusually long arms, so it's not so bad.  

Because so many people ride bikes here (30% of the city commutes daily by bicycle), the bike lanes are really well developed and extensive.  On most streets the bike lane is between the parked cars and the sidewalk and is wide enough for two bikes to ride side by side.  There isn't a helmet law, but there is a light law (you must have a light on your bike after dark) which I think is pretty cool.

Can't wait to explore more!

yellow

this is a zambonie kind of thing at the ice rink accross the street.  

orange

tulips are almost cheap here and they're sold accross the street from my apartment, so sometimes I induldge.