Monday, April 20, 2009

amsterdam.







i fell in love with another city... and i didn't see it coming. i wanted to visit amsterdam because i thought it would be something fun to do while i was young and traveling around... but i didn't have high expectations. i actually anticipated a grey city with with smog and smoke hovering around all the buildings. i thought the sun wouldn't shine and the trees would all be leaf-less. i imagined there being a lot of litter because i thought the residents of amsterdam would be too lazy to do anything about it. i was wrong.

not only was amsterdam not what i had expected, but it seemed to be a parallel universe. comparable to the truman show... it was perfect in every aspect of the word. the people were all so friendly. everyone was so environmentally conscious. everyone rode bikes... everywhere. there were canals that ran through out the entire city. it was beautiful. the weather was amazing. the park was green. the flowers... the flowers in holland are possibly the most beautiful flowers in the entire world. the children all seemed so well behaved. the city itself was quiet... peaceful. there were so many shops and restaurants... and they were all quirky and cute. the laws are progressive and liberal. amsterdam seems to be booming. i truly think it would be a great place to live and raise a family and i think to agree with that statement you need to visit the city for yourself.

so we rented bikes. which was probably the best decision we could have made. the canals were breathtaking... and we rode up and down them for hours. we hung out in vodelpark and basked in the sun. we went to the van gogh museum. we found this amazing bagel place that we ended up going to every day. we went to a street market... because i love them... and we walked through the floating flower market. i stole a tulip from the garden in front of the airport. its currently being pressed in my journal. we met so many young people who were traveling around the world and just happened to stop in amsterdam on the same weekend we did. its really weird to think about the decisions and circumstances that influence the people who end up being in the same places at the same times...

anyway, i had a lot of time to think and realize this weekend. and no matter what my thoughts started out with... they always finished with images and memories and ideas about being home. i came to the conclusion that i am absolutely thrilled about all the things... all the people... basically the future... that i have waiting for me when i get back.

<3&miss,
R

2 comments:

Claudia said...

is that the original van gogh starry night????????? omg!!!!
someones head is in the way! you don't even look like a traveller...you look like a local in all your pictures.

kavika_ali said...

I just set your tulip photo as the new background on my work computer, but it's a little blurry. Can you post a bigger version of the image? <3 They are my favorite flower. Perhaps I will go to Amsterdam someday for that reason alone.