Window Shopping (August 20)

When I first arrived in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago I really didn’t have a chance to see much of it. At that time my attention was focussed on the Kenya portion of my adventure. Now that I have returned from Kenya I can now turn my attention back to Amsterdam and beyond. The former was today’s primary focus.

Even though there was no urgency to today’s plan, I was up somewhat early this morning. Gage’s return flight to Philadelphia required her to take the hotel shuttle to the airport at 7:00 AM so I got up early to see her off. It was a great ten days in Africa but now I have to readjust back to life without giraffes and as a solo traveller. If all goes well, Gage and I will reunite in Philadelphia sometime in the fall.

My grand plan for my day in Amsterdam was to take the hotel shuttle to the airport where I would take a short train ride into the city where I would jump into tourist-mode and simply explore the city – and probably take more than a few photos. As a bonus, today’s weather was absolutely beautiful for such an activity.

Despite the early hour at which my day began, I didn’t end up getting to Centraal Station until about 11:30. My procrastination skills were on high (or at least medium-high) this morning. The timing actually worked out well as I had time to walk from Centraal Station to Olle’s place to drop off some of my extra stuff before he headed out for the day as well. Reminder: Olle is the Warm Showers host that has been storing my bike and gear while I was in Kenya. Side note: Olle has been great. And very accommodating as there was a little confusion as to what date I was actually returning. The confusion was entirely my fault. I hate when that happens.

With my excess baggage safely stored at Olle’s, I was free to wander around Amsterdam. And wander I did. I don’t know how many kilometres I walked but it was more than a few. Although, there were definitely some streets which I walked multiple times. Usually not intentionally. On the upside, there was no shortage of interesting things to see as I did so.

In addition to all the interesting buildings and canals and general people watching, there were also plenty of storefronts that contained very interesting, often amusing, and … how should I put this, uh … “provocative” displays. That said, I’m not going to post photos of said storefronts. If you don’t know why, well … come to Amsterdam and see for yourself. It’s certainly worth a visit. Viewer discretion is advised. As is a sense of humour.

In addition to the entertaining storefronts, the most notable sight was the number of people. They absolutely filled the sidewalks. They crowded into restaurants. They crowded into museums. And, of course, they crowded into the many themed shops that were interspersed around virtually every corner.

As for my photos from the day, well … I’ll warn you now, there are a quite a few canal photos. Not three-galleries worth (like the other day) but there are more than a few photos and much of them look very similar. That said, the canals were very picturesque. Obviously.

As for my plan beyond Amsterdam, well … it looks like I’m going to head south. Over the past two years, heading south has been the formula for late August and it’s worked out pretty well. Since we’re now into late August it just seems like the right thing to do. The route remains somewhat unclear but that’s just details. Besides, plans of that nature always seem to change.

And speaking of plans changing, I’ve decided to spend another day in Amsterdam. Even though I wandered all over the city today, I ended up leaving the city centre before it got dark and I kind of hoped to get some photos of Amsterdam after dark. It’s that kind of city after all. So, that’s the big plan for tomorrow. What I’ll do before it gets dark is still more than a little vague. Apparently that’s the way I like it.