What Happens in Amsterdam

The city of islands, canals and bridges is one of the most common stops on the backpacker’s trail in Europe. Its promise of “coffee” shops, red light district and DJ scene lures tourists from far and wide. It got me too! I had 4 days to cram in as much Amsterdam as I could, but what I expected to be a crazy stop turned out to be almost the opposite. I say almost because sandwiched between relaxing evenings with a book or a movie was the Halloween pub crawl. I think it was the 3^rd pub crawl of the trip so far (or maybe 4^th but who’s counting), and probably my last. Halloween is usually one of my favorite days of the year but this year something was off. I usually spend the week leading up to it bunkered down in Colin’s art studio fabricating the costume that is to be unleashed on the world on all hallow's eve. This year I spent 30 minutes at a flea market and 30 more at a costume store trying to manufacture a costume without spending too many euros. It felt so wrong buying a costume after sporting the homemade creations that were the subject of great admiration for the past few years. Being without my usual Halloween crew of cousins and other friends felt as strange as spending Christmas abroad. I found a red plaid flannel shirt and decided it would become a stereotypically Canadian lumberjack. Although it was nowhere near the level of the group costumes constructed at the studio on East Hastings St I was still semi pleased with the result. I met a couple other Halloween orphans on my way to the first stop of the crawl and spent a good chunk of the evening with them. Later in the evening I was adopted by a group of English students led by the highly entertaining Hannah and Jade. Overall it was a good night out, and the usual slightly hungover morning. I will however rank it well behind the Halloweens I’ve spent causing trouble back in Vancouver. The majority of my time in Amsterdam was spent exploring the city on foot or by tram, which is odd given the amount of bikes around. My first image of the city was exiting the main station and staring directly at a 3 story parking garage that was filled with bicycles. It didn’t take long to realize that the bikes were in charge. Bike lanes were everywhere. Traffic and walk signals made sure the bikes had the right of way, and I learned quickly to stay out of the bike lanes and make sure to look both ways (twice) before crossing one. I took part in the walking tour of city which has no become somewhat of a tradition when I visit a new city. The coolest fact of this version of the tour was that they pull approximately 20,000 bicycles out of the canals every year. It’s apparently a tradition for drunken Amsterdamers to toss bikes that are not locked properly into the water. This means that if only the front tire is locked to the rail then they will leave it locked but toss the rest of the bike in. If the bike is locked but not the tire, kiss the tire goodbye. The moral of the story is make sure to lock your front tire AND frame securely to something! I did notice something in Amsterdam that I hadn’t seen so far on my trip. There weren’t any solo travelers. Everyone had traveled to Amsterdam to cause trouble in groups. I guess I’ll have to head back with a posse so I can experience the city in a different light. And for those who are curious…the brownies are delicious, but they make you feel kinda funny :p

The Most Expensive Place in the World

My last attempt to visit Oslo almost four years ago was foiled by terrible weather and major delays in Minnesota and London. This time around the trip went smoothly and I was greeted at the airport by fellow Sauder Alumni, Emil Soberg. Emil and I attended UBC at the same time and became friends during the time we were both members of the B.Comm Rich Capitalists hockey team. My university days are what I consider to be the best period in my life to date, so it’s somewhat surprising that I have lost contact with a large portion of the people from back then. Despite living an ocean away Emil and I have managed to maintain that friendship. I visited his hometown of Lillehammer during the Christmas break in 2007 and he in turn visited me during the Vancouver Olympics and again briefly this past summer as he was going on a trip down the west coast with his girlfriend Maja. Emil, Maja and their dog Gullik were kind enough to share their apartment with me for the weekend saving me the hassle and the expense of a hostel/hotel. The couple are in the process of selling their apartment and looking for a bigger upgrade so we had to work around a couple showings and I tagged along to look at a couple listings. Friday night was “guys night out” as Maja was off to a party with some of her friends so Emil and I caught up with is long-time friend Knut, whom I had met previously during my trip to Lillehammer. We started off at a 50s style American diner for a gigantic burger and a couple Norwegian pints. This was my first true experience with the outrageous nature of prices in Oslo. I remember hearing that one of Rob Feeney’s restaurants was selling a $30 hamburger and I couldn’t understand who would ever buy such a thing. Guess what? I am now a member of the $30 hamburger club! My bill for the burger, fries and 3 pints came to almost $80 CDN. It was at that point that I decided to stop doing the conversion in my head otherwise there would be no way I could relax and enjoy my visit to Norway. I just accepted the fact that a weekend in Oslo would probably cost as much as an entire month is Asia and went with it. Our next stop was a small lounge that made exotic drinks that took a long time to concoct and featured names such as Chili Punch and Thor’s Hammer. We made one final stop to collect Maja and then headed home. It was a much needed night of man talk and catching up. The solitude of London faded quickly. Saturday featured a tour of the city with my hosts as my guides. The highlight was the elevator to the top of the ski jump. The photos from the top cannot do justice to actually being there. It also confirmed that anyone who enjoys jumping off this tower has a brain that is wired differently than mine. Crazy!! After some frozen pizza and a small dance party at the apartment we set off for another night on the town. The apartment dance party was no match for the one we took part in at the club Raspoutine (I thought the spelling was odd, and I suddenly had a craving for fries, gravy and cheese curds). We met up with Alex, another friend from UBC who had also visited during the Olympics. He was disappointed his schedule was so busy and that we only had a few hours to visit, but it was good to see him nonetheless. On the way home I had what could possibly be the worst late night meal I’ve ever had. Don’t order a kebab in Norway or at least from the place close to Emil’s apartment. I had a great time visiting Emil and getting to know Maja. I have a feeling I may have to save up for another flight to Norway in the not too distant future.

Showtime

The second part of my time in London was quite solitary. For the first time since I left Vancouver I was without even a temporary best friend. The hostel had a bar as a common space and there was never a shortage of people in it, but I guess I was subconsciously ready for some alone time. I didn’t realize that I spent the majority of the next few days exploring London solo until I sat down to right this post. I’ve been keeping small notes in my iPod so that when I find the time to sit down and write an entry I won’t forget any of my favorite details/people. When I looked at the “People” list in my notes it was almost completely blank. The only exception was an Australian police officer named Nick. I had first encountered him on a pub crawl in Dublin, and as luck would have it I ran into him on my last night in London (again on a pubcrawl). The party was sparsely attended but we managed to make the best of it. For the second time in as many weeks I woke up feeling less than 100%. That night was my only real social endeavor during my final 3.5 days in England. At this point I’m not certain how I feel about it, and whether or not it will be continue. It does become tiring having to say goodbye to people every few days, so there is something to be said for having a travel companion. My next stop is in Oslo where I will be visiting a good friend from my UBC days, so that will be a refreshing change from having to learn all about strangers. I’ll let you know how that turns out. My solitary efforts in London focused largely on the theatres of the West End. The next portion in this post will amount to bragging and then I’ll offer a tip for seeing shows and saving $. The weather was less than ideal so I took refuge in the theatres on the rainy evenings/afternoons. I was able to take in 3 excellent shows. The first was Million Dollar Quartet, the story of one exceptional night when Elvis, Jonny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were all in the same small recording studio in Memphis. Over the past decade my musical tastes have expanded well beyond the alternative/rock genre that dominated my teen years, and during that expansion I have added many Jonny Cash songs to my playlists. As a kid, 60s and 70s rock dominated the stereo in our minivan on long roadtrips and summer vacations, so I was familiar with many of the songs and was even able to sing along to a few. It was a great evening that had the audience, myself included, out of our seats dancing and singing. As I was out of my seat I couldn’t help but laugh at myself and think of all the times I gave my mother shit for her silly dancing in her seat during those family trips. The next day I was hoping to indulge my inner child and see the Lion King. Unfortunately it was sold out so my plan B was a matinee of Phantom of the Opera. Phantom has been playing for 25 years and is arguably the most popular production of all time, so a description is unnecessary. The third and final show in my theatre hat-trick was by far and away my favorite. We Will Rock You is about a time in the future when all life is lived online and free thought and expression, especially through music, is forbidden. The story winds its way through the greatest hits of Queen and only further illustrates how talented Freddy Mercury was. Now how did I attend all these shows on a backpackers budget? The key is being a loner and attending the shows solo. You’re watching the show, so who cares if you don’t know the person beside you. Most weekday shows don’t completely sell out and/or theatres keep a few seats empty in case they need to accommodate guests with special issues. You simply buy the cheapest possible single ticket to the production at one of the discount ticket brokers in the main square. Usually your assigned seat has a partially obstructed view or something else wrong with it as to warrant the bargain price. When you arrive at the theatre you go to the box office and ask if they have any available upgrades for a single ticket. I was 3 for 3 and was sitting in £75 seats for £18-24. 3 shows for the price of 1 and about enough “culture” to last me the rest of the trip.