Thursday, May 31, 2007

Never underestimate the amazingness of good water pressure in the shower

5-31-07, 6:54, Amsterdam

Well, what to say about my first day in Amsterdam. We got up, took showers, which didn't have much pressure, to say the least. 3 good streams of water, plus a couple extras that hit the wall at a pretty unnatural angle for a person to get under. Anyway - the soap got out of my hair somehow, although I couldn't help but think I looked like the Seinfield gang when the superintendent put the "water saver shower heads" on all of their showers. "I can't get the soap out jerry!" It was raining a bit today so we had to wear rain stuff a couple of times, but then it got sunny....then it got rainy... then it got sunny...then it got cold...then it got hot... weird city - I guess it's because it's on the water. We rented bikes, which was really great, because we got to go really far in the city without too much effort - we managed not to kill ourselves today, which was a plus, as we followed most of the street rules and such.

We proceeded to the Anne Frank house which was really pretty neat - very sad, but very interesting. They wouldn't allow us to take pictures, so I couldn't get the shots Kristen wanted me to, but I got a few of the outside. You all know the story - very very sad, but very neat to see how they lived there for so long without someone finding them out. Then we went to the Heineken Experience. What a great advertisement for Heineken! I mean, don't get me wrong, it was a great museum and stuff, and the 3 beers included in the price were great too. After that, we went to Vondelpark (with a statue of Vondel in the middle - who knows who he was or what he did, but he was there), and had "dinner" of some sort. We had cheese on bread, with a bottle of wine, which we picked up from the local supermarket, where I also got a few stamps, one of which to mail out to my sister, on a postcard from the Anne Frank house - expect that sometime in the future, Kristen. Maybe we'll have a little more to eat later, but that satiated both of us for the moment, as well as being really picturesque. We walked through the red light district for a little bit today - that was a bit weird, but that's ok - good to see during the day - it was safe with a lof people walking around, and some with their kids, so that made me feel safe. Now we're back at the hostel, which I'll talk about for a moment. We have 3 roommates (I think I messed up when I told you guys that before on the phone, but sorry, I wasn't thinking right about the number of people). Two of which are from Australia (don't know each other), and the third is from Toronto - we haven't seen much of them because they seem like they have their own thing to do (hang out at the hostel all day and party at night), but they're really cool -- gave us some tips on the hostel and such.

I should go now, because 2 of them are trying to sleep, and the typing, while quiet, is not stealthily quiet. I think about everyone all the time - in fact, I was just telling Simon how weird it is to be so far away, just a couple hours prior. Anyway, good afternoon to all of you, and good evening to us.

Love and miss you all,
Matt

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Toronto Airport and missing people

Well we're here. Kind of - we're in the beautiful and majestic Toronto Airport diligently awaiting our flight. I wanted to leave a little later than my parents wanted me to, as well as everyone else at the dinner table last night, but I caved, and we're here, a full 4 or so hours ahead of the flight (it's 6:46, and our flight leaves at around 11 or so). Just for the record, the wait for customs was 15 minutes, in case anyone was wondering. We're just kind of sitting here, looking at the duty free store, and listening to the airport news channel showing on the flat panels above our heads. I am missing everyone so much already - this morning was a bit teary to say the least; I guess I'll just leave it at that - teary. These next weeks will be difficult on me and everyone else involved, especially Claire, but I'm confident that we can all make it - we love each other for pete sake! I think I should put this thing away for a bit, seeing as how the wireless is a bit spotty here, but the really good wireless is 10 bucks for a day. I suppose that's not really worth it -- we're stuck in this airport for a long time, but not quite a day. This is going to be so much fun, difficult on me as far as missing people, but so much fun! "We're on Vay-Kay!"

Love and miss you all --
Matt

PS: Our flight (BMI#109 from Hethrow) arrives in the amsterdam airport at 4:45 (local time), 10:45 (rochester time)

PSS: Quick edit before I go, (Edit means I added it later), but simon and I forgot to put tags on our bags, so I'm sure they'll get there alright, but we picked up some luggage tags while we were in the airport.... We got Canadian Flag luggage tags - no use risking the anti-american sentiment, right?

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