I had a nice night last night. I went out for a walk after dinner and realized how very small the old part of Amsterdam is. I don't know how I got lost when I went out for my first walk yesterday because this area they call "central" is like a little island. I could probably walk the whole area in less than 30 minutes (well, maybe not, if I am dodging tourists and bicycles).
It was nice waking up here this morning even if I didn't sleep well last night. I had a hard time sleeping for two reasons - jetlag and mosquitos. Mosquitos love me and since the windows don't have screens on them and I had them open because I felt hot, the mosquitos found me and feasted on me during the night. I have big welts on my arms where a normal sized mosquito bite should be. It seems that my reaction to them is not normal - I mean my physical reaction - I swell up like crazy. Tonight I will close the bedroom door and sleep with a fan.
But back to waking up. It was nice. My apartment is on the fourth floor of a four story building. It is kind of like the attic. It is very bright and airy and has a nice view over the rooftops of my neighborhood. It's also very quiet.
I ate breakfast did a little exercising and straightened up a bit. I also e-mailed some friends.
Many of my friends are e-mailing me and telling me all of the things I should be doing while I am here. It's funny, because other than walk around, I feel like I do not want to plan anything and I don't want to do any of the "normal" touristy things. I don't feel like going to museums. The streets are more interesting to me than a bunch of old art hung on walls. I don't know if it is because I have so much time, or because I never really liked museums that much anyway. If I could go to a museum alone and take my time seeing what I wanted, I might not mind them so much, but I hate having to deal with crowds and lines and all of that. So, I don't think I will be doing any museums here.
Instead, today I plan on taking a walk across the bridge to another part of town that lies to the south of me. From what I can see there is a nice park. I might pack a sandwich and go sit in the park and have lunch. Then I will walk around that area of town and explore a bit. Even though I like the central area, there are so many tourists that is hard to walk. I don't feel like I am really experiencing Amsterdam, it's more like Disneyland.
So for this part of my trip, I am definitely a tourist, but my preferred kind of tourism is slow travel . I like to get the feel of the place from the point of view of the locals. I know living in San Francisco, that Fisherman's Wharf is nothing like the REAL San Francisco, and I am sure that this central area of Amsterdam is not the REAL Amsterdam either. So, as much as I can during these two weeks here, I want to try to experience as much as possible the REAL Amsterdam, away from the tourist crowds. I don't know if it is possible, but I know I won't find it in any museum.
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