An Unusually Quiet Morning In Amsterdam

The fatal flaw in our plan was that we only allotted about two hours of our overnight flight for sleeping. Thus, we arrived in Amsterdam at 6AM somewhat sleep-deprived. Added to this was my three-hour ordeal at Kotoka, which sapped my energy. But Lisa and I had a morning to kill in Amsterdam and we'd be damned if we were going to spend it sleeping on a bench at the airport.

Our first impressions of Amsterdam at 7AM? Eerily quiet. In fact, until 9, the only people we saw in the entire city were other tourists. It's like the entire downtown core had partied the night before and were all hungover.

We didn't take any pictures because I left my camera in the storage locker in the airport (along with my boarding pass, but that's another story), but here's what the city looks like:



Actually, it was more like this:

So we walked around the eerily-quiet capital of the Netherlands for a few hours, seeing no marijuana cafes, prostitutes or doctors euthanizing people, but we did have a pleasant stroll walking along the canals of the city, passing cyclists (who seem to outnumber car drivers - imagine that!) and generally feeling like crap - albeit crap walking around a world-class city.

What is there really to say? Nothing was open, so we found a small patisserie (or whatever they call them in Dutch, probably a Voortgofligjerny), ate some awesome pastries and drank real, fresh, whole milk. It was spectacular.

We walked around until 11AM, decided not to go to the Sex Museum - although I did argue for it being a form of cultural tourism - and instead took the train back to the airport. Lisa and I had some lunch, said our goodbyes and I got on my flight to Toronto as she waited for hers to Montreal.


Sidenote: Lisa and I had an awesome nine months and became great friends. We boosted each other when times got tough, especially with our respective partners. Along with Meghan, we became the Three's Company of Ghana. Yes, I was Jack. In fact, things went so smoothly that I'll be living next year in Ottawa with Lisa and her husband Peter in their swanky apartment. Let the Ghana experience continue!