Until Next Time, Amsterdam

We say goodbye to Amsterdam with a heart that is even lighter than when we first arrived. Amsterdam, for her rather bad girl image, actually became a beautifully quaint city whom was in reality a misunderstood good girl. It got me to thinking: how many people have I unfairly judged before truly getting to know their true light? Amsterdam has become a symbol for the moments when I lose my personal consciousness by bringing my own personal gavel of judgment upon the actions and choices of another human being.

Our final day was spectacularly simply yet incredibly exciting at the same time. Joy and I awoke after nine following a night of late night talking, laughing and generally solving the world’s problems by realizing we don’t know squat about solving the world’s problems. We got ready quickly to enjoy our last day in Amsterdam and we made our way down to the lobby for our final tour of this city on this leg of our European tour. We hopped, once again, on the ultimate tourist transportation; the canal boats.

There is something so quaint about the cheesiness that is disguised as convenience that the canal boats offer but by the same token I feel the canal boats have both: equal parts cheesiness and equal parts convenience. This is a recipe for fun for day two on the canal boats for Joy and me. The boat ride offers a cornucopia of life on the river. A quick glance out of the boat window and one might spy a woman dressed in red on a gondola slicing through the water with seemingly not a care in the world or see a duck resting comfortably on a pile of floating garbage. It was all there to see if only a person could be present to soak in all of Amsterdam’s eccentricities.

Joy and I exited the boat at our first stop and we meandered our way through the cobble stone streets of Amsterdam while happening upon a local art festival. Coincidentally, it happened to be right outside the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, which to me is the cruelest barometer by which to measure these up and coming talents that are trying desperately to sell their wares at this local festival. To try to sell paintings outside the shadow of the building that celebrates the work of one of the greatest artists in the world seems to be an act of bravery that exceeds pure confidence. This is the equivalent of standing in the parking lot outside of a Luciano Pavarotti concert and telling everyone going inside to watch it, “You know what? I sing a little bit too.”

However, as we strolled through the festival we were awe-inspired to discover that these artists did “sing a little too.” Each time we walked up to a newly created piece of Dutch art we were impressed.   Breathtaking paintings peered out at anyone who was willing to witness their beauty simply by stopping for a peek. No pressure to buy, just take a look and see if I can’t entice you to take me home. You know you want to. Just one peak, it won’t hurt. The first one is free…

These artists are the quintessential essence of expressing the beautiful creativity of humans. We are godlike in our ability to create however few of us know it and few of us are able to quell the feelings of fear just long enough to take a
chance to create and then share that creation with the world. I had to respect these artists for taking that chance. This is why I love artists so much. They dive headfirst into their passion and let the critics fight over the merit of their work. For their part, they simply enjoy the process of creation.

Even the street food vendors found ways to create new versions of old classics. We watched as one vendor, who was selling only French fries, artistically tossed steaming hot fries into a paper shaped cone sleeve with an attached container for ketchup, just to add a little convenience to the whole fry-eating process.   The vendor catered to an endless line of people waiting patiently to partake in this simple delicacy. This proves you don’t have to necessarily do something groundbreaking to get the recognition for a job well done. Sometimes mastering a classic is the greatest skill we can learn.

Joy and I continued to wander the streets after partaking in “New York” pizza at one local food truck that can never quite measure up to authentic NEW YORK pizza. I sipped cappuccinos while watching all walks of life pull out joints and smoke them in public view. Marijuana technically isn’t legal in Amsterdam but it also doesn’t seem to be any concern for local authorities. The general rule seems to be, smoke all you want, just don’t do it in front of the police or for the eyes of children to witness.  Amsterdam always seems to say, “Practice any vice that you see fit just don’t throw it in our face while you do it.”

For us, Joy and I decided to try our luck in the casinos. We slid into a little boutique casino in the Red Light District, I placed one bet on roulette on my favorite number 4 and on the first spin we walked away a winner. Joy and I hugged and decided not to push our luck any further. Mother Universe had smile upon us and we took our winnings and decided we would close out our final night in Amsterdam with a glass of wine for me and a water with ice for Joy (She is very American when it comes to her water. Ice is a must for her contrary to European tradition).

As the sun began cooling signaling the end of the day, Joy and I decided it was time to figure out where we were going next. We thought, what better way than allowing the Universe to decide. All day we had been receiving hints as to where we should go. No less than three people mentioned the same place to us and finally, as we were closing out our final day in Amsterdam our waiter, Alejandro, sealed the deal when he told us where he was from.

“We are wondering where we should go next.  Where is your favorite city in the world?” we asked Alejandro.

“My home will always be my favorite city in the world,” he told us. “This is simply a magical place you must visit before you die and it is my hometown.”

We asked Alejandro where he was from and wouldn’t you know it, it was the same city we had been hearing about all day. This had sealed the deal. We knew where the world was now taking us. Joy pulled out her phone and in only a few seconds she booked us flights on the next stop on our journey.

Soon after we hopped on the canal boat to head back to our hotel. While we were waiting for the boat to depart to our final destination we sat reveling in our final day in this magical European city. As the captain of the boat fired up the engines to take us back to our hotel he said, “It is time to go, my friends.” Indeed it was. We were closing our chapter on Amsterdam and we were moving on. The next adventure awaited.

Imagine our excitement as we head off to our next place of inspiration. Joy and I spent the night packing as we talked about our next adventure ahead. For now we were turning out the lights on Amsterdam. She was a divine city that played gracious host to us, the kind of host that you can’t wait to offer you another invitation to visit.

Amsterdam is misunderstood. She is and always will be authentically herself and she isn’t going to change for you or anyone else just to conform to a set of rules for the sake of conformity. Amsterdam is her own girl and she likes it that way.

As Joy and I clicked out the lights of our last night we were anxious knowing at our next stop a different girl awaits. I don’t know this city well but I am looking forward to meeting her. We drifted off to sleep as we prepare to go to…