Wow, hopefully everyone gets that Carpenters reference? I’m old…

Luca says it doesn’t rain hard and heavy here much and he’s rarely seen lightning and thunder but for some reason it’s been crazy windy with heavy rains. Intermittent but heavy. And not showing on my weather app!? Oh well. Good thing I brought waterproof stuff. 

Yesterday after I returned my bike it started pouring and storming but finally cleared a bit so I walked around the two hoods that I had only touched on before, de negen straatjes (9 streets) and de pijp (so named since it resembles a pipe). De Negen straatjes is a cute little area that perhaps before was more galleries and exclusive shops — now it’s still got cute little shops and food on a bunch of narrow streets along three canals. Like a SoHo? I took photos of weird things I saw…

De Pijp is more gritty and has an open market daily — groceries, food, flowers, and random stuff. Called Albert Cuyp Markt, it’s open daily 9-5 and when I got there at 430 in heavy rain they were closing up quite a bit. I still haven’t had either frites or stroopwafel and I saw booths for both but they had lines and didn’t care that much!

After all the walking and getting wet, I wanted to go local for a fancy cocktail and something light. So back to Luca’s local cocktail bar and Italian pizza from nearby. The bar, the Labyrinth, has really cool drinks and fancy ways to serve — beats the Aviary in Chicago imho but much cheaper (and smaller and slower. And they serve Caribbean food). Luca’s drink had a whole smoke thing coming out of a box which I tried to capture … but it was a semi video and apparently I can’t load them here. So you’ll have to ask me to show you some other time. This is my drink instead which also smoked up but in a much less dramatic way.

Sadly Tuesday was just as rainy though the forecast as usual was not as bad. I wanted to do a day trip to Delft and Rotterdam though Luca’s colleagues all wondered about Delft? Apparently Haarlem is just as cute but much closer. But Delft has a 10-13 min train ride about every 5 minutes to Rotterdam and there are expresses from Rotterdam that get back to Amsterdam in about an hour. So it made sense to do them together. And Rick Steves liked Delft as well as Haarlem! It’s where Vermeer was born, lived and worked. His original art isn’t there but his house and stories are. I had no idea he had 15 children (he married a Catholic and her mom made him convert before they married). 

I listened to a podcast that talked about how the light is so fantastic in Delft and must’ve influenced Vermeer but with all the clouds and rain I can’t say I saw it. I pretty much walked from one end to another — saw their only still standing gate at one end and a working windmill at the other.  And I got a nice coffee — all in about 2 hours. But I didn’t stop in places (except drying off in the coffee shop). It is cute and more relaxing than AMS central area though Luca’s area is pretty calm. And it’s a university town — saw a lot of students and a few tourist groups. Oh, Delft is also famous for its pottery — they basically decided that they didn’t want to pay for the expensive Ming China that famously used the blue pattern so they made their own blue porcelain! They’re still doing it and have tours out to the factory but I didn’t go. But I found a park with Delft lampposts that I had to take a photo of.

Made it to Rotterdam around 1 pm and of course it was raining but I decided to follow the TI person’s suggestions — which covered the areas I’d researched. Rotterdam is very modern, which I like. Perhaps not pretty but interesting. Its story is that the Germans wanted the Dutch to capitulate in WWII but they resisted — so the Germans bombed the shit out of them, leveling Rotterdam. The Netherlands immediately gave in and their Queen fled to England. Sad story but the city is indeed all relatively newly built. 

Rotterdam port is also one of the busiest in the Europe. I keep hearing little quotes and one is that “money is made in Rotterdam, talked about in The Hague, and spent in Amsterdam” — and also that shirts are sold in Rotterdam with the sleeves already rolled up! Anyway clearly more of a working center. 

Meantime I was getting wetter and wetter so stopped in a hotel hoping for a view — but the visible rooftop was instead for conferences and so I had a ginger tea and cookies overlooking a canal. Still very nice (a Hilton of all things). Fortified and semi-dried I walked the last bit before returning to the station and I saw the longest line yet — a bunch of students (grade or middle school) at a Ben & Jerry’s!?  Pretty funny. 

But sadly as I got off the busy shopping street, I was harassed by a dude on a bike … he actually followed me to where there were fewer people so he could yell racist things at me. First in Dutch then in English but I simply pretended I didn’t understand either. Meantime he was black though not sure if he was Dutch or African; he had an accent but I was absolutely trying to tune him out and it didn’t register. Unfortunate occurrence and despite the bike he could’ve been homeless … he didn’t look well taken care of. I was also yelled at (in racist way) in AMS by a white homeless guy and also got racist vibes from a few other folks there. But at least they didn’t follow me. Anyway I kept walking and as we got towards other people he pedaled off. Good thing I was already on my way back to the station as that obviously left a bad taste for me for Rotterdam! 

Fortunately the rest of the trip was fine and I had a beer at Luca’s and had time to pack my stuff up before he got home. We actually went out for Tuesday night trivia at a good beer place in de pijp — came in 11th which is my number but it was not a great showing! Then again some groups had 5-8 people and we were just two! 

I’m currently on the plane to Vilnius (w a stopover in Riga) and will post this later. But I guess I don’t want to leave things in a negative place. Do I think the Dutch are racist? Sure but I think EVERY culture has some of it. So this wasn’t out of my expectations or experience. People famously write that the Dutch are liberal and progressive but neither Luca nor others I’ve listened to believe this — they’re actually quite fiscally and even socially conservative — but they’re above all pragmatic and thus tolerant about some things. Pot is actually illegal to grow or even smoke in the Netherlands but they’ve decided to let small amounts go and focused on keeping out hard drugs. (The percentage of pot smokers in the Netherlands is lower than in the US.) As for the infamous sex workers it’s also sheer pragmatism. Prostitutes are both taxed and protected. And thus tolerated. 

There is also apparently a saying “God created the world but the Dutch created the Netherlands” — because the land was simply not there before 1200 or so. The Dutch claimed they created locks (of course the Chinese had been using them for hundreds if not a thousand years already) — combined with dykes, canals and windmills to keep pumping out the water, they reclaimed much land and by 1600 hit their golden age as merchants and the founders of capitalism. They (very intelligently) promote eco friendly systems like biking, free electric car charging (I saw them everywhere), and a great public transportation system with lots of electric power. It’s all good. With few exceptions people were nice and helpful. Or just minded their own business. 

I like my son’s apartment (and gf – but I’ve liked all his gfs — he has good taste!), as well as his neighborhood and his way of life (from what I’ve observed). So I’m happy he’s there. They are, in fact, quite tall (and broad!) on average but he fits in. And fortunately since he’s large and male, I don’t think he gets harassed (he’s also a halfie so who knows what they think of him). The Dutch just voted in a very right wing anti-immigration dude but sadly that seems to be going on everywhere in the world these days. I’m not sure they’re worse than any other group.

So before I get on another negative tear, as I write this from Vilnius, I’ll close with photos of Luca’s closest tram stop and the external of his building.

I think the area was built post-war so it’s more plain looking but it’s all very functional!