Aarhus and Amsterdam
My day with Vera and Aarhus was absolutely lovely!
We started by going to the museum of modern art. She has a VIP pass for the museum which means that we were allowed to just waltz right in like total bosses. I enjoyed it a lot. But not as much as I enjoyed the museum itself!
There was a giant sculpture of a guy sitting on his haunches, paper money that was on fire but wasn't burning up, a sculpture of a drunk monkey, a very realistic sculpture of a sleepwalking woman, a rainbow that you could walk inside on the roof, and many many other awesome things!
We also checked out the main cathedral in town, the Museum of Women, and a pretty neat comic book shop. (I had a fit of nostalgia because they had these compilation books of the old Valhalla comics. So much love!)
All in all a wonderful day with a wonderful Vera. ♥
Then it was off to Amsterdam by night train. I didn't have a sleeper cabin, just a seat, so I ended up not getting a lot of sleep. It was okay, though. Apparently I am still young enough to function without too much sleep.
Amsterdam was so much fun! It's a beautiful city, full of canals and interesting architecture. I didn't really expect it to look like much, so I was pleasantly surprised. My couch surfing host was already at work when I arrived, so I put my bags in storage at the train station and went to explore the city.
Pretty train station!
First I visited the Sex Museum. This I did mainly because Alda recommended it to me. (Later on some other people told me not to go there, and still others agreed with Alda that I should go.) It was kind of gimmicky on the first floor, but it also had a lot of interesting old photographs, art and sculptures from all over the world. Definitely worth a look - especially since the admission is only 4 Euro.
I walked down the main street, admired the canals, the royal palace and the Westerkerk, and stood in line for a while before I was able to enter the Anne Frank House. Definitely worth a visit. Very thought-provoking and rewarding. I was amazed that they actually had Anne Frank's original diary on display! No photos allowed, though. I debated whether I should buy a paperback version of The Diary of Anne Frank, but decided to leave off the reading marathon for a while. I must have gone through 16 or 17 books since the end of May... Not the average count for me.
Anne Frank statue
After Anne Frank I went on a boat trip around the canals of the city. It was fun, and the boat driver pointed out some drunk houses. Apparently they've started sinking into the soft ground and leaning against each other. (Sadly I couldn't get a good picture of them.) I also saw a replica of an old fashioned ship with sails and everything!
The evening was spent in the company of my lovely couch surfing host. His apartment was in a really cool apartment building. It had been a warehouse at some point, but the whole structure has been renovated for apartments. He's originally from New Zealand, so of course he gave me some New Zealand original vodka to start the evening off. Then we went for Malaysian food and a tour of the Red Light District.
It was kind of fascinating to see that world up close. Jarring and uncomfortable at first, but surprisingly easy to adapt to. The women all seemed to be healthy and happy enough (although sometimes kind of bored) and the police were there to make sure no one got too rowdy. It looked like every effort was being made to keep them safe. In the end I think the smell of weed wafting out of every "coffee house" bothered me more than the women in the windows.
My host and I ended the evening with cocktails (Appletini, easy on the tini!) and a youtube party - there's nothing like Lonely Island videos when you're slightly tipsy - and he showed me this hilarious ad from New Zealand.
"You know I can't grab your ghost chips!"
So silly and amazing. ♥
Today I caught a train from Amsterdam to Brussels and the Eurostar across the channel to London from there. My friend Tommi met me at the station and took me to the cozy apartment that he shares with his girlfriend Holly. We started by having juice on the roof of his apartment building and enjoying the view of downtown London, went on to have Italian food and ice cream for dessert, and ended the evening with cocktails at some fancy pub. It was absolutely spiffy!
Tomorrow I plan to sleep in since I have stayed up way too late to write this update. (Anything for my adoring public!)
Off to bed now.
We started by going to the museum of modern art. She has a VIP pass for the museum which means that we were allowed to just waltz right in like total bosses. I enjoyed it a lot. But not as much as I enjoyed the museum itself!
There was a giant sculpture of a guy sitting on his haunches, paper money that was on fire but wasn't burning up, a sculpture of a drunk monkey, a very realistic sculpture of a sleepwalking woman, a rainbow that you could walk inside on the roof, and many many other awesome things!
We also checked out the main cathedral in town, the Museum of Women, and a pretty neat comic book shop. (I had a fit of nostalgia because they had these compilation books of the old Valhalla comics. So much love!)
All in all a wonderful day with a wonderful Vera. ♥
Then it was off to Amsterdam by night train. I didn't have a sleeper cabin, just a seat, so I ended up not getting a lot of sleep. It was okay, though. Apparently I am still young enough to function without too much sleep.
Amsterdam was so much fun! It's a beautiful city, full of canals and interesting architecture. I didn't really expect it to look like much, so I was pleasantly surprised. My couch surfing host was already at work when I arrived, so I put my bags in storage at the train station and went to explore the city.
Pretty train station!
First I visited the Sex Museum. This I did mainly because Alda recommended it to me. (Later on some other people told me not to go there, and still others agreed with Alda that I should go.) It was kind of gimmicky on the first floor, but it also had a lot of interesting old photographs, art and sculptures from all over the world. Definitely worth a look - especially since the admission is only 4 Euro.
I walked down the main street, admired the canals, the royal palace and the Westerkerk, and stood in line for a while before I was able to enter the Anne Frank House. Definitely worth a visit. Very thought-provoking and rewarding. I was amazed that they actually had Anne Frank's original diary on display! No photos allowed, though. I debated whether I should buy a paperback version of The Diary of Anne Frank, but decided to leave off the reading marathon for a while. I must have gone through 16 or 17 books since the end of May... Not the average count for me.
Anne Frank statue
After Anne Frank I went on a boat trip around the canals of the city. It was fun, and the boat driver pointed out some drunk houses. Apparently they've started sinking into the soft ground and leaning against each other. (Sadly I couldn't get a good picture of them.) I also saw a replica of an old fashioned ship with sails and everything!
The evening was spent in the company of my lovely couch surfing host. His apartment was in a really cool apartment building. It had been a warehouse at some point, but the whole structure has been renovated for apartments. He's originally from New Zealand, so of course he gave me some New Zealand original vodka to start the evening off. Then we went for Malaysian food and a tour of the Red Light District.
It was kind of fascinating to see that world up close. Jarring and uncomfortable at first, but surprisingly easy to adapt to. The women all seemed to be healthy and happy enough (although sometimes kind of bored) and the police were there to make sure no one got too rowdy. It looked like every effort was being made to keep them safe. In the end I think the smell of weed wafting out of every "coffee house" bothered me more than the women in the windows.
My host and I ended the evening with cocktails (Appletini, easy on the tini!) and a youtube party - there's nothing like Lonely Island videos when you're slightly tipsy - and he showed me this hilarious ad from New Zealand.
Click to view"You know I can't grab your ghost chips!"
So silly and amazing. ♥
Today I caught a train from Amsterdam to Brussels and the Eurostar across the channel to London from there. My friend Tommi met me at the station and took me to the cozy apartment that he shares with his girlfriend Holly. We started by having juice on the roof of his apartment building and enjoying the view of downtown London, went on to have Italian food and ice cream for dessert, and ended the evening with cocktails at some fancy pub. It was absolutely spiffy!
Tomorrow I plan to sleep in since I have stayed up way too late to write this update. (Anything for my adoring public!)
Off to bed now.