Capricious Me

Cambridge weather is unpredictable. It was sunny all day and then all of a sudden it was pouring. And then just as abruptly, it stopped.

I took a walk of the town and saw a few of the college grounds, including King’s College and Corpus Christi. And then I discovered the Grand Arcade – a small but well stocked mall.

I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect pair of creamy yellow shoes to go with my dark blue satin dress, and I came so close today. It was ever so slightly too big. And I was trying on the smallest pair there. Usually, 37 is my size, but not today…

What is it about Chinese restaurants being located right next to … shall we say, unsavory shops of a sexual nature?

I think I walked through the red light district today right after visiting a huge church. Location is everything, I suppose. I was walking through a street with a few Chinese shops and restaurants (Amsterdam Chinatown is in that area), when I noticed quite a few shops unabashedly advertising their wares. Turning the corner and then noticed that the uncovered windows had STOOLS by them. So I turned around and walked through an alleyway back the way I came. It was an interesting alleyway, with lots of similar windows and the occasional scantily clad woman.

Anyway. I started out the day with a visit to the Amsterdam Hermitage, where I saw lots of paintings by Matisse, Picasso, and their peers. Not much besides that… despite the size of the building. After that I walked to Waterlooplein flea market and got myself some fries with mayonnaise.

My next stop was the Dutch Resistance Museum, across from a zoo. It was a really awesome setup with lots of props and audio. Unfortunately, there were tons of little boys running around being loud and annoying. What’s interesting about the Dutch resistance, to me, at least, is that there was a lot of church encouragement from both Protestants and Catholics to resist and even to help hide the Jews. This is in stark contrast to the churches in Germany, according to the book I’m reading (Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust) in which churches actually protested when the Nazis wouldn’t let them use the swastika as a symbol anymore.

From there, I walked to the Hortus Botanicus, where I saw a butterfly coming out of its cocoon. Very neat.

Next, I headed over to the tulip museum, which was actually just one room recounting the history of the tulip. From there, it was a quick walk to Nieuwe Kerk, a huge church across from the Royal Palace (currently surrounded by scaffolding and construction and closed on Mondays). After that is when I started wandering around and found the red light district.

Finally, I went to the Anne Frank house. It was a pretty depressing tour…

Tomorrow is souvenir hunting! And then the day after is my day trip to Brussels.

First things first: I bought my train tickets for a day trip to Brussels. Wooooo. I have plans to visit the Cantillon brewery, which makes some lambics.

Some observations:

• People here are ridiculously tall. They tower above me. I feel incredibly short.
• It rains a lot. But not all the time. There were at least two periods of bright sunshine before it poured again.
• People like to have big windows that aren’t covered by curtains. I walk by and see everything inside. Tim says that’s a leftover from the old Protestant way of life, in which they wanted the open windows to show that nothing improper was going on inside.
• There’s museum after museum. On one street, I went to 3. Two canal houses and a not so great photo gallery.
• I went to 5 museums today, all for “free” because of the I Amsterdam city card. I have two more days of unlimited travel and museums! Today I went to : Van Loon House, FOAM gallery, Geelvinck house, a Bags and Purses museum (seriously. historical overviews and everything.), and finally – the Rembrandt House.
• My plan initially was to go to the Rembrandt house first and then walk to stuff around it, but I got lost. Hence new order of museums.

It’s hot. and humid. I’ve never appreciated a cool breeze more… or guzzled down so much water without needing to make a stop every 10 minutes. Davis in the summer is nothing compared to Bangkok. But that’s about the only thing causing me discomfort.

Davis Thai food is forever ruined for me, because I’ve tasted the real thing (for a fraction of the cost) and I can’t go back. Seriously. Highlights include: roasted chicken liver, fried quail eggs with a dash of maggi seasoning and white pepper, slightly pickled guava, crunchy green mango dipped in a mixture of crushed shrimp, salt, and red pepper flakes, spicy catfish salad, and EVERYTHING from tonight’s meal.

The traffic is terrifying, though not nearly as chaotic as China. Motorcycles zip by without a care as to which lane they’re in, which direction traffic is coming from, and how many people are on the damn thing.

So far, we’ve wandered around some shopping areas, visited several temples and palaces, and made obligatory trips to the touristy areas. Bhume is an excellent host, and his house is amazing. It’s built in the Thai style (see here for an example) and is connected by small wooden gates to houses of several of his family members. Nearby is a cafe his sister and cousin own, his family’s gym, and his aunt’s restaurant (where we ate tonight). There’s a hospital literally across the street, so as a result there’s usually two street food vendors by the gate to his house. It’s understandable that people in the hospital would prefer that food to the Sodexo offerings in the hospital. Oh yes, Sodexo, as in the same awful caterer we have on the UCD campus.

There’s lots of rumors and apprehension regarding the Red Shirt rallies planned for this weekend. Military personnel are everywhere in the major tourist attractions and near government buildings. Some of the major areas will be closed starting tomorrow – including the areas we just saw today. Lucky us.

“Koala fingerprints are similar to human fingerprints; even with an electron microscope, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the two.” (Found this on Wikipedia.)

The more you know…