07.30.2009

København, Denmark

so, i have been really awful about updating...surprise, surprise. all that i'm doing today, however, is writing. well, at least until i meet up with mathilde and go to this farewell party tonight. im going to try and recount the nine days since i left the states, but im not sure how well im going to do. first day in amsterdam...coffeeshop (easy times) and then checked into the hostel to leave my bag. then i wandered around museumplein, went to the rijksmuseum (high) which was really disappointing and way too expensive for what it was, then i went to the van gogh museum, which was worth every penny. the steidlijk museum (aka the bath tub) is undergoing renovations, so they temporarily moved two avant-garde modern art exhibits to the van gogh museum, the twenties and the sixities, which i adored.

then i went back to the room for a nap, met stephen and then we went out for a drink. we got a pint in leidseplein, then richard met up with us (note:this part is all repetitive if you read the journal entry from amsterdam) and we decided to head to soundgarden since they were supposed to be showing a movie, which was a bust, but the bar was good. oh, and we went to maos for falafel. yum. met his finnish friends, who were a bit mean, and then we went ot this kind of seedy, dark club. i'm realizing how that i have already written about this. oh well. eventually stephan and i made it all the way back to the hostel, then i crashed hard. i woke up in time for breakfast, somehow, and stephen and i agreed to meet up for dinner after i got back. he had to meet up with his new landlord and start moving into his apartment in amsterdam, so this was the perfect opportunity to go exploring. i walked to centraal station, then out past the windmill, then back west through spuistraat and bit further north behind centraal station itself. it was nice to just walk around and try to absorb the city. oh, i also went into st. nicholaas and found a really cool flea market. i'm really glad i did it, but by the end of the day my feet were dead. i had taken some time to rest in vondelpark before i headed back to the hostel, then stephen and i went to a chinese restaurant and i have some amazing teriyaki tofu. then i came back and stephan went to meet richard.

i got back to the room and was coerced into going on a pub crawl in the red light district with mathilde and daniel, whom i had met briefly that morning, and then we subsequently convinced ben and dimitri to come along as well. we got dressed, walked over to the players club in the red light district, where the crawl started, and lo and behold michael was there by himself, who was also staying in our room in the hostel! it was one big party. we got free jager shots at every bar and club we went to, and there was always some kind of drink special. i told myself i was going to avoid the jager, but who says no to free shots? i couldn't help but think of andrew and all those awful nights on the bus or in hal and mals, but it was fun. the third shot almost got me, but it was all downhill from there, and by downhill i mean a lot of good fun. ben was really into me, and apparently ranted and raved about me to daniel later, but i wasn't really looking for anything. mathilde and i ended up leaving the last club a little after four, and then we ran into zach and some random asian danish guys (i know, right?) at the tram stop. mathilde left with the asian guys (i never got their names!) and i went with zach.

i got to ride a bike in the traditional 'dutch way' and then saw some of the more authentic parts of amsterdam. i took the metro back at around eleven the next morning, showered, and went to the royal palace in dam square, after missing the free New Europe tour yet again. the palace was really cool and i loved all the mythological references and motifs. i walked around a little, and then went to dinner with daniel, ben and mathilde at a random italian restaurant near the hostel in leidseplein. ben went back to the hostel and then mathilde, daniel and i went to the bulldog (well, one of them) in the red light district, had a coffee, smoked, and then wandered around the canals and the western part of the city until around two, then headed back.

i finally went on the free tour the next day after moving to hotel anne-marie that morning. i walked through rembrandtplein for the first time, and then finally made it all the way to dam square. the weather was absolutely awful and i got horrible blisters from my tevas. after the free tour i tried, on a whim, to ring whitney at her hotel since i ended up near the train station, and she was there! we went to the grasshopper, enjoyed northern lights and then agreed to meet back up that night with sarah beck at abraxas if i didn't end up at matthias' birthday party with stephen. well, my phone stopped working and i think whitney's canal tour ended late, along with the fact that she was confused about where it was (not spuistraat but the street directly behind dam square down the street from the albert). long story short, she wasn't there when i got there. i got a fanta and then headed back to the hostel and fell asleep around one. woke up the next day and had absolutely no plan. whitney and i were supposed to meet up at one or two and go to the jewish quarter, so i had a few hours to kill.

i woke up late and headed to centraal station to get my reservation for the train to copenhagen, which took forever and was a bit frustrating. i had to go out of my way to berlin, and then back again. it all worked out in the end, though. after that i tried to get a hold of whitney, but i couldn't. i walked around waterlooplein, found another flea market, and then i decided to find a coffee to ward off the bad day and then go back down spuistraat. i wanted to take pictures of the things i had missed when i didn't have my camera on me the night before, anyway. i ended up passing a small bulldog that was a bit out of the way, and decided to stop for a cappuccino.

i ended up chatting with two americans who were also there, lily and chris, and we decided to spend the rest of the day hanging out. we went for more coffee and lunch at bagel and beans, then went to rokin to go shopping at the big h&m, where i bought a really affordable (and cute) red shoulder bag. we went for a pint on the canal after that, and then set off in search of the tapas bar that lily's friend works at. we found it eventually, and a few appetizers and more than a few pitchers of sangria later, the bar was closing. lily left with robin and chris agreed to walk me back to the hostel. i got back in one piece, and crashed, yet again. checked out the next morning and left my bag at the annemarie. i walked around waterlooplein and found a flea market, and then eventually made it all the way to jordaan, where i went to the anne frank huis. it was a much more powerful experience than i was expecting, and after that back to the annemarie, pack strapped on, one last internet session before leaving amsterdam.

tram to centraal station, only the second time i had taken transportation (other than one foot in front of the other) since i had been in amsterdam. got ot my platform with an hour to kill before the train left, made friends with an old, local man who offered me his beach house to use at my leisure, and then boarded the train in a bit of a stupor. i met two really cool guys, brian from the states and eric from rotterdam, and we spoke for a few hours, which was really more fun than i was expecting. eventually we pulled into berlin at 4:20 in the morning, in theory, which turned out to be 5 and i literally just caught my train to hamburg as it was pulling out of the station.

got to hamburg, transferred again to the train bound for copenhagen, and slept like a baby after my heart stopped racing from all of the trying to stay awake, get to the right platforms, compartments, and seats. i was more than a bit confused by the train/ferry thing on the last leg of the trip, but i got to copenhagen (in one piece) around 12:30 in the afternoon, but without a functioning phone. in panic mode, i start to go up the stairs to the main station to hear my name 'Brandi! Brandi!' because mathilde was there waiting for me! well, that brings me up to denmark, but my hand needs a break, so until the next coffeeshop...