Seriously Jet Lagged in Amsterdam

museumplein amsterdam

museumplein amsterdam

Everyone is taking a nap after a brutal night. Here all the images from first day.

18.10.09 Amsterdam

Seriously Jet Lagged in Amsterdam

Arrived safely in Amsterdam, but seriously feeling the time difference. I must have blocked this from my memory or perhaps being stuck in 100 square feet with an 11and nine year old all night makes jet lag all the more poignant.

Okay, vibrant animated public space is something all cities strive for, but basketball at 2 AM is too much. When we arrived at the hotel at 9 pm there were kids playing football on the street. Where were all the fussy bourgeois Dutch when you need them?

Everyone is taking a nap as I write this after a largely sleepless night. We went to bed around 9 PM. Saffi could not keep her eyes open at the restaurant. Then we wake up at 1 AM to the chimes of the church across the street. The church (will find out the name today) was so beautiful in the afternoon light with its gilded clock against the blue grey sky, but last night chiming every half hour and then Malli asking: “what time is it in Vancouver?”, was mediaeval discipline that I could live without at night. Fussy noise adverse West Enders could not hack it here.

We could not really sleep on the plane over here so we were pretty tired when we arrived at our first hotel (serious variation on the term 3 star. We had to change hotels and I am not even going to go there with that story). We were pretty excited to be in Amsterdam despite being exhausted. By chance the Amsterdam Marathon was in progress when we arrived and there was a lot of excitement in the air.

We scoped out a vegetarian restaurant on the internet and that seem a doable voyage for the afternoon to try and get on Amsterdam time, walk around and experience the city (oh man, now this church is ringing its bell for noon prayers).

We went to Vondelpark first, which was on our way to Museumplien. Vondelpark is the central park of Amsterdam. One has to keep your head up for the bikes. This was my experience here two years ago. You really have to pay attention to where you are or some bike will be blasting you with its little bell. The girls needed constant reminders to watch out for the bikes. It’s amazing though, no helmets, and a couple of small children on these clunky bikes. There is a totally different risk assessment than North American perception. If a car hits a bike here you could wipe out an entire family of well-dressed messy haired folks.

Vondelpark is real gem. There are all these escaped domesticated parrots in the park. They make a real racket and the girls loved it.

I am starting to fade now, I should nap too. Most of my observations are in the photos in terms of the fine grained details of Amsterdam’s built environment (Okay now what? Church is chiming at 12:15 PM – is that the signal to end noon payers?). Today, we plan on going to the van Gogh Museum, Nemo the Childrens Science Museum, check out bike storage at the Central Station and eat fries from street vendors with peanut sauce.

When Anita and I were here in 2006, we fell in love with Amsterdam andw e wanted to share the city with the girls. Now back in 2009, I am excited to be here with the whole family despite last night’s drama of being trapped in the room all night with bleeping Nintendos and incessant questions about in the time in Vancouver. My expectations for the city have been romanticized. Everything was such a surprise last time. Now my appreciation of the city is starting to be more nuanced.

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