I decided to take the opportunity to go visit some friends of mine in Amsterdam. I went to UNCG with Elly and met her husband Barry over the years. Elly worked for one of the Big 4, alphabet soup firms but had taken a secondment (much like me...) to the Dam for 2 years. They moved over right after I left London, so I hadn't seen them in about 2 years.
I caught my no frills sleazyjet (EasyJet) flight over. I had never been out of the airport before so it promised to be an interesting trip. Well, I got to spent a bit more time in the airport when I got there. You see Barry had said that he would pick me up, but we didn't set a meeting point and my phone didn't work over there... So I got there and waited a while near the customs exit while Barry waited outside in his car. Then I checked my email at a kiosk and found a message to meet him outside. Right about then he decided to come inside. We spent about 2 hours looking looking for each other until we were about to catch up.
We went back to their flat (which was very nice and new) and I got to meet their son Vince and catch up with Elly. Elly had to work most of the days I was there so Barry, Vince and I hung out. Barry and I did get out some evenings and looked around the city. Amsterdam is a beautiful place, lots of old buildings with character and more miles of canals than you could image. Apparently it has more canals then Venice. We went out one night and explored the Red Light district a bit too.
The Red Light is interesting. Its in a cool old part of town and more beautiful canals and scores of windows full of beautiful girls from across the world. It was very interesting yet very weird at the same time. The streets were full of random windows where a girl (usually in a bikini or lingerie) would smile, dance or try and get your attention. And, yes, they have red lights on and no, that not my thing either. There were definitely some gorgeous women there, and some that were, well not. Just like any other business, there was something for everyone, young old, skinny, fat, name your country and you can find one from there. Talk about capitalism. We had to stop and talk to some of them, who wouldn't. After constantly explaining that we were just curious, seriously (they thought we were haggling) we found out the going price was 50 euros.
Amsterdam is also known for a tolerant policy on soft drugs. Essentially this means that you can find many people (usually younger people) smoking marijuana without any real concern of repercussions. Again not my bag...
After a short visit, it was time to go back to London. It is always good to see old friends especially in strange places. Sharing adventures and discovering new places is fun but even better with people you know. So back to London to get ready to go to the US!
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