I poked my head out of the window today at about 6pm. The weather prompted me to leave my lair. Sunny, still and fresh (now, a couple of hours later it is still quite magical - misty, my window is covered with condensate, it's like a very thick fog, so that you can see the beams of street lights standing out quite distinctly in the dark). So I took my bike and went.
They say in the tourist guides, "Don't be afraid to get lost, that's quite all right, happens to everyone in Amsterdam". I can see why you could say that, all buildings look pretty much the same (that's because of all the water actually, regulations: big windows to make them lighter, not too many floors etc), but it has not happened to me. I have deliberately left my bike on a street like any other next to a fence like any other so that when I want to come back from my walk I will not find it instantly and in this manner prolong the walk. Didn't happen. Found it. There seems to be just one secret to navigating the center of the city: streets are not straight but concentric. This made me think of the Inferno and I was prepared to make that comparison right here, but then I did some googling, and, surprise, Camus: "Have you noticed that Amsterdam's concentric canals resemble the circles of hell? The middle-class hell, of course..." I should read The Fall. I have "liked" Camus on facebook some time ago and now I get these unsettling updates, "Albert Camus posted a new picture"...
I enjoyed the walk. It was pretty crowded but in an amusing way. Seamen who came to shore, in their bleached uniforms, taking pictures. A two-dog-powered bicycle. Tons of Britts... I might have also ventured into the red light district but I would not vouch for it, there were no red lights anywhere.
The very first store I went to in Amsterdam, my total at the cashiers was 10.99 but they charged me 11. Ripoff, I thought, would have never happened in Germany. But today I have learned that it works both ways. I got my eurocent back. Eurokarma, eh.
Sunday, September 09, 2012
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