Amsterdam-Rome-Florence
Amsterdam, roma and fierenze to be correct. Anglisized once again. we are not the only ones with that legacy. Maybe bengalooru is fine.... maybe we must all retain our flavours and not collectively get anglicized. And if it is cute to have a french or italian accented english then it defenitely is cute to have a mallu accent :). that is considering if any of these italians or french speak english. But now i am digressing. after all this is supposed to be a travelogue.
Amsterdam- seems a while ago now. 21st of june... Laura and baz kept their word. They came by and picked me up at noon. This is one thing you must applaud the europenas for. When they say "see you later" they actually mean it. So getting pissed at night and promising to meet up in the morning at 10 is not something you say "chumma'', you mean it. :O
Baz used to work full time and now does part time at a juvenile penitentiary in amsterdam...well it is actually amstelveen . A correctional facility for juvenile criminals.
As we drive in the housing quarters of this place, both laura and baz in hushed tones tell me "look left..look left..". The hells angels community. Other than a couple of bikes outside and sometypical garage gear lying around with empty cans and some rubbish, this high walled area is deserted. Next to this you see the "hangaround" club. also closed this early in the evening. all in all it has an omnious feeling. Well read this little story about
Willem van Boxtel, he is the president of Hells Angels amsterdam and you will tread softly where angels sleep.
To my right i see container after container stacked one on top of the other. Yes container, the ones that are loaded on to ships and shipped. big long orange ones. Its a bit strange since it is not a port.... it is not even a container yard.... it has interconnected steel stairways.... it has...doors??? and there is music wafting out of it... clothes lines... garbage bins...parked cycles....
"student housing", pipes in baz. STUDENTFUCKINGHOUSING! what a cool cool cool idea!!! Immagine...you have a lot of discarded shipping containers. and what does the town planning do? Stack it on top of another, divide the whole length to a kind of studio appartment, throw in a kitchen and toilet, add stairways, electricity and plumbing and kachang! you have a groovy, temporary box to spend your college years in. Even the local cafe is in a slightly big container!
The rest of the evening we did what one does in amsterdam. We had "coffee''. and then we had a beer. a few beers, dinner at a lovely restaurant famous for it's food.... and this wasn't just my immagination!!! i swear this cute lil waitress was giving me the eyes!! hahaha.... and this time there is laura and baz to vouch for me! and to complicate things further, after the girl walks by a couple of times and finally serves us the desert instead of our waiter (!!!!), laura pops in to the pantry area and chats this girl up and tells her that i am this famous actor from bollywood!!! *&%$ you shah rukh!
the rest of that night is spend around Leidseplein- the place of lights, loosely translated. We hunt for a place for me to stay since these guys wanna go back early in the morning. I remember white tulip having chep acco. this is a student hostel right in the middle of the red light district opposite to this famous gay club called "cock ring''.
hmmmm....
''Tomorrow'' sanne joins me here with her cousin sis. The plan is to watch football at leidseplein. A match the dutch lost, but hell the football fever is something to watch :) and a visit to the anne frank house.
