Day 7: Old Amsterdam Pt.1

Chapter the fifth, wherein our hero loses his mind, finds new purpose and discovers true love. Monday, September 20 2004. I awoke as from a great slumber, echoes of another life clinging to my consciousness. A world of vibrant peoples and cultures, a city from the past, ideas from the future. But this world is no dream. It is real, and its name is Amsterdam.

Wow. Amsterdam hit me like a Mac truck - and I found myself in love. What an amazing city, where you can find anything and everything for sale. Fashion for any wardrobe, food for any palette, culture for any sophistication, companionship for any desire. Among it all, the city flows - canals, bridges and venerable old buildings tie everything together and keep you within the dream. And of course, everywhere you go, the scent of weed lingers in the air like the official perfume of Amsterdam.

I spent my first day in Amsterdam with no plan at all except to take in the city. Amsterdam is one of those rare cities that wears its heart on its sleeve - the antithesis of Los Angeles or Berlin. Everywhere you go, the energy of the city is there. From the hip shopping boutiques to the fantastic restaurants to the architecture, which perfected "understated sophistication" before our generation even defined the concept. And of course, you have to admire the Dutch commitment to tolerance regardless of your politics. Despite being a small city, Amsterdam walked tall. When you cleared away all the flotsam and jetsam of tourists and the tourism industry, Amsterdam was still a progressive, cosmopolitan city. In many ways, it reminded me of New York in its urban character and its busy beehive routine. Quite fitting, considering that New York was founded by the Dutch and originally named New Amsterdam.

As the day wore on, I met some local Dutch kids who gave me some tips on where to hang out, and so I found myself looking for a club called Bitterzoet. Like Amsterdam, it was a small unassuming club but the place simply oozed cool. I was in the mood for hip-hop, so that's what the kids had pointed me towards, and this was some of the best underground hip-hop I've heard in a long time. The type of scene that I've only experienced in San Francisco. In one part of the club, an indie clothing company called Razk was hawking some seriously dope t-shirts and clothing. In another part, a group of graffiti artists were painting a giant mural of the most brilliant graffiti I have ever seen. I talked to one of them, a guy named Garrett who was part of a professional graffiti collective called The London Police. It turned out, he was actually from San Francisco and had moved to Amsterdam 5 years ago. And that, quite simply, was my moment of epiphany. Why not move to Amsterdam?! I'd always wanted to live in San Francisco and now I'm doing it. It was something to sleep on anyway, as Day 1 of the Amsterdam dream was coming to a close.

Amsterdam soundtrack: Deep Dish "Junk Science". Just pure smooth house deliciousness, but edgy and progressive like Amsterdam. Various other trance and electronica. Sorry I didn't have any Bob Marley!

Note: I apologize for the long lapse in posting. I didn't want to write about Amsterdam until I was done there. I tried to write about it when I arrived in Brussels, but just about every internet cafe in Belgium uses the wacky AZERTY keyboard layout, which is like trying to type backwards! After Brussels, I visited my friend in Leuven and was too busy entertaining to sit for hours in an internet cafe. Anyway, I should be back on schedule now!