Idiosyncrasies #3

• Everyone speaks at least 3 languages
• Apartment leases have no end dates, just 3-month termination notices
• Speaking of apartment rentals, tenants typically (i.e. around 90% of the time) provide the appliances for the apartment (as in refrigerator, overn/range, etc.)
• In order for the lights in your hotel to work, you have to insert your key card into a key card slot by the door
• You don’t have to pay for baggage carts at the airport
• When you get your check at a restaurant, they only give you change if you ask. In other words, if you leave more money (20 euro) than the meal costs (12 euro), they'll think its a tip unless you tell them how much you want back.
• Traffic lights are positioned right at the line where cars are supposed to stop, so if you pull all the way up to the line, you can’t see when the light turns green.
• If there are homeless people in Amsterdam, they don’t ask for money on the street
• “F**k” means the same thing in all languages and is the preferred version of the word even though each language has their own translation of the word
• You can crack (as in open) windows on the subway trains
• Everyone AROUND THE WORLD has their eyes on the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
• Beggars have no problem pimping animals for your spare change

• They don’t “text” in Europe…they “SMS”
• Dogs don’t need leashes
• All streets have signs, regardless if they're pedestrian-only

Cheers.

Walk to Work

Blog 1 of 2 that I meant to post before I left...

In remembrance of my experience in Germany (not just for you all, but for me as well), I figured I'd make a "photo-blog" of my daily walk to the Frankfurt office from Berger Strasse 121. Enjoy.

So I lock the front door...


Walk down the steps (inside)...


Then walk down the steps outside (to the left) and pass by the casino on the ground floor (mind you, its in the cut, as you have to go under a canopy-corridor off of Berger Strasse to get to this area...


Check the always empty (except for the infamous letter grandma sent me) mailbox...


Come from under the canopy-corridor onto Berger Strasse (this is the view north)...


And this is the view south (the direction I have to walk to the U-bahn (subway)). Watch out for the cars.


Walk less than a block to the escalator for the Hoenstrasse station...


Pass by the "Fahrkarten" machine that I never learned to properly use my entire time in Frankfurt. Mind you, this isn't where you purchase the monthly pass, so I never really had much interaction with this machine, except when visitors came to town.


Go down two more levels to the actual boarding area...


However, this is the end of the boarding area I would wait because by boarding the train at this end, it would be less of a walk to the escalator I would need to take when I would get off at Hauptbahnhof (my destination).


Check the time board to see how much longer I have to wait for the next train...


Board the train when it arrives. Unfortunately this end of the train is ALWAYS crowded.


Fortunately, two stations later (at Konstablawache), many people get off the train to transfer to another train. I can usually find a seat at this point.


Get off the train and come above ground to this rather grandiose view of the Hauptbahnhof...


Get an "apfeltashe" (which I just learned means "apple turnover") from one of the vendors by the long-distance trains...


Walk to the southern-end of the station (along the platform for track 1)...


Exit the station and walk towards the cylindrical glass building in the distance...


However, its not as easy as it seems because the rental car parking lot blocking your way is like a maze (they have hidden gates and rails that making walking a straight line (the shortest distance between two point) impossible)...


Once through the parking lot, I come out on the street between the two buildings in the distance where the green "go" stick figure is (this picture is me looking back from where I just came)...


Walk half a block west to the next street, make a left and the glass building comes into clear view...

At the end of the block, all that's left is to cross the street...


Cars hardly come from the left...


But the right is always chock-full of cars...


Once across the street, a clear, sunny day always greets me with a beautiful view of the cobblestone ground around the office...


Although the glass building is the guide, our building is the trapezoidal one next to it...


Walk to it and put the access card in my wallet to the "entrance pad"...


Walk through the glass door that slides open...


Catch the first available elevator to the 2nd floor (which in the U.S. would be classified as the 3rd floor)...


Get out the elevator and use my access card again...


To open one of the glass doors for entry onto the floor...


Turn to the right and walk down the hall...


To the "water closet"...


To get my favorite 32oz. "medium-carbonated" sparkling water...


Go back out into the hall and walk the opposite direction to the other end...


Turn the curved corner...


Say hello to the world famous, Wall Street Journal quoted, Head of Research for Germany, Inga Schwarz (whose laughing by the way cause of all the pictures I'm always taking)...


Admire the open lay out of the Frankfurt office...


Walk to my desk and say hello to my desk mates Pascal (right) and Thomas (and yes Thomas is also trying not to laugh at all the pictures I take)...


And finally, get my laptop from the shelf to hook to the docking station to start another day at work...


Cheers.

Weekend Round-Up

So with one weekend left, I had a bunch of loose ends to tie up…these loose ends involving 3 cities which I had already visited: Berlin, Hamburg and Heidelberg. For two of the cities—Berlin and Heidelberg—the mission was easy: mail post cards. As these were the first two cities I visited while out in Germany, I had neglected to elevate mailing post cards to their proper priority level (i.e. people, after reading my blog, sent me their mailing addresses to send them post cards as a traversed Europe). The reason I needed to go back to Hamburg was a bit different.

In Spring 2009, I believe I will be traveling to Japan—Tokyo in particular. Now, I’ve been twice before and both times I have forgone checking out their world famous fish market. This is not a mistake I plan on making a third time—after multiple accounts from several people about how amazing the place is. Now, Hamburg also has a fish market and it is open only on Sunday morning from like 4am to 9am. If you can guess, my whole purpose to going to Hamburg was to check theirs out and compare it to Tokyo’s next year.

So here was the plan…leave for Berlin in the morning, get there sometime in the afternoon. Buy post cards (and postage), write and send them off, and spend a couple hours in the city (most likely the main retail strip that’s listed in our annual “Main Streets Across the World” publication). Head out to Hamburg sometime in the evening and get there just as the nightlife begins. Store my bag in one of those lockers in the train station and head out to the Reeperbahn (the main nightlife drag in Hamburg which is home to its clubs, bars and red light district). Party hearty on my last Saturday night in Germany til ‘round 4am, then walk over to the fish market (as it is close by). After getting my fill of the fish market, head back to the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and catch the first thang smoking to Heidelberg and pick up, write and mail some post cards. Get right back on the train (as everything is closed on Sunday) and head back to Frankfurt.

And guess what…everything pretty much went according to the plan, except for a few minor deviations, namely:

• I went back to Frankfurt after leaving Hamburg…but left back out to go to Heidelberg after taking a shower at the crib.
• It started raining I’d say about 1 or 2am, and it was one of those irritating rains where it was heavier than a drizzle but not enough to classify as a shower or downpour. As such, by the time I got to the fish market, my socks were pretty soaked. And I almost didn’t find the fish market and was ready to give up (everyone I asked where the actual fish market was either didn’t know or pointed me in the opposite direction). Luckily, just when I was ready to give up on finding the place—I had found a little storefront area that sold fish stuff, but it was closed—I asked someone cleaning up one of the storefronts who finally told me where to go. Turned out, I caught the fish market just as it was opening so it wasn’t exactly at full tilt when I arrived…and it didn’t seem as if it was going to get at full tilt at any point given the rain. It was more a fresh fish market than a place to get meals or sandwiches having freshly caught fish in them. Oh yeah…I called this a deviation because it caused me to take the second thang smoking out of Hamburg to Frankfurt (like 7:15am).
  

And that’s about it. I mean, I took some photos in Berlin…

No your eyes are not deceiving you, I believe this is a Chevy Impala out in Berlin

And in Hamburg…





















Oh yeah, as an FYI, I recorded that “End of the Road” preview at a Kareoke bar in Hamburg (sort of like an homage to the Kareoke bar in Lisbon and because it really was the end of the "Germany road" for me). Also, yes I was pretty toasted that night so while I remember taking many of the above pictures, I pretty much remember very little of the night except for the fact that I went in and out of like probably 5 bars/parties and socialized the whole way through.

Cheers.

Praha

Editor's note: There was a "Praha (preview)" blog that I had tried to upload several times...then I remembered, blogger has a 100MB storage limit, and this video was 199MB's. It was basically me in front of this astrological clock tower at noon...and what happened. Ya'll didn't miss much though...it was rather uneventful. Also, this blog was written in word before I left Frankfurt (31 Jan).

With just two weekends left before I was to leave Frankfurt, I had to travel this weekend (as well as the next). I had originally planned to do my “whirlwind” trip (where I go to Berlin, Hamburg and Heidelberg again) this weekend, but when Pascal told me that he’d be in Hamburg the next weekend, I postponed that for next weekend. So where should I go? That was the question I posed to several colleagues Thursday after work. I was thinking about Cologne—it being the only “major” German city I haven’t been to yet (yeah I know there’s Stuttgart, Nuermberg, Dresden, Dusseldorf, etc., but Cologne came up with greater frequency than those other cities)—but they advised against it. They suggested some other cities, but the one that stood out the most was Prague.

Now, I’ve heard a lot about Prague since (and before) I got here. From Brock wanting to do what I’m doing now in Frankfurt out there (i.e. valuation exchange program in Prague). From Josh saying Prague is the new Amsterdam. From Pascal saying the women walk up to you and offer sex for 10 Euros. From people just telling me it’s a beautiful city. Now, no offense, but I just didn’t figure myself to have the same appreciation for Eastern Europe that many of the people who raved about it have. Like people have told me positive things about Moscow, but I’m sorry, it just doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea. I sort of felt the same about Prague. Nevertheless, I decided to try it out.

On Friday, Martin (the head of valuation) put me in contact with a lady out of our Prague office that does all the hotel bookings for people in the company that come to Eastern Europe. I tried to book the same hotel that Martin stayed at when he visited last year, but they were booked. The lady then sent me an excel file with all the hotels we deal with in Prague. I cross checked one (Hotel Adria) with lonely planet and it seemed all right and centrally located. I then called and, as they had availabilities, booked a room for Saturday night. When I later asked what the rate was, I thought she said 23 Euros (like “wow”), but upon check in I saw it was 93 Euros, which wasn’t too bad. I’m getting ahead of myself…

Because my Eurail pass only covers travel throughout Germany, France and the Netherlands, I would still need to buy a ticket from the German/Czech Republic border to Prague. Luckily, that leg of the trip was only like an hour/hour and a half. So for around 22 Euros going and 196 Korunas coming back, my travel was covered. Oh yeah…”Korunas.”

Now, I’m not sure if the Czech Republic is part of the EU or not, but their national currency is the Koruna and, during my stay, the conversion was roughly 25 Korunas to 1 Euro. This was actually “mathematically” cool cause to calculate the equivalent in Euros all you have to do is chop off the last two digits of the price and multiply what’s left by 4. Example, if something is 700 krowns, it’d be 28 Euros (7 x 4 = 28).

Anyways, Saturday started early (5am to be exact) so I could catch the 6:18am train to Dresden. From there I had a little less than 10 minutes to catch (as in transfer to) the 11:10am train to Prague. Two hours later, I was in Prague (and yes, its in the same time zone).

As in Germany, there are no “turnstiles” as we know them (i.e. blocking your entry unless you have paid for a ticket) there are just these stations where you can get a time stamped on the (optional) ticket you’ve purchased (they had the same deal in Munich I believe). Once getting above ground, it took me around 20 to 30 minutes to find my hotel (which was probably a 2 minute walk from the metro exit) because I was wrong to assume that the red signs on buildings at intersections denoted street names. I mean they do the exact same thing in London, only here they don’t state the street but the area of the city you’re in and the building number (which, by the way, is not the same as the address number).

After checking into the hotel (which by the way had motion-sensored lights in the hallways, so when you turn the corner, its completely dark…and when you look behind you its dark as well…way to conserve energy!), I went to the Na Prinkope (Prague’s main retail street), which was nearby. Same ol’, same ol’. Bunch of chain retailers, including H&M and Zara. However, Zara was having a 50% off sale.


Now, Jonah told me about this when he spent his Monday in Frankfurt wandering the streets, and was raving about this suit he bought for like 60 Euro or something. I felt it was a good deal, but I sort of wasn’t that geeked about going out of my way to check out a Zara because they have them in the States, I wasn’t in the market for a suit at the moment and even if they did have something I wanted, I figured all my sizes would be gone—it being a 50% off sale and all.

But here I was in front of the store, in a country I’ve never been in before…”let’s see if they have some cashmere sweaters on sale,” I thought to myself. Try 599 Krowns! At a roughly 25 Krowns to 1 Euro exchange rate, that works out to…24 Euro! Times 1.5 (Euro to dollars conversion) that’s…(drumroll please)…36 Dollars!!!! It’s good deal. AND they had my size in each of the 4 colors they had. Practicing restraint (because after this revelation I was real temped to head over to the shoe and dress shirt sections and see what kind of deals they had there as well), I only purchased two sweaters and was out. I then ventured up the rest of the street, took some pictures of the historic and/or colorful buildings…









…and headed back to the hotel to drop off the sweaters.

OK, here’s where the adventure begins.

As I would find out as the night progressed, Saturday evening in Prague consisted of one recommendation, which I then would check out, followed by another. It all started with late lunch/early dinner. Before leaving the hotel after dropping off the sweaters, I asked the desk lady where was a good place to eat (as I have done for each of the cities in which I have stayed overnight). She gave two recommendations: Café Café and Platy’z.

Café Café was the closest so I headed there first. But upon arriving, I saw that it was basically a coffee bar/lounge that served drinks and sandwiches. Wasn’t my cup of tea (no pun intended), so I headed over to Platy’z…which upon arrival I saw was more my speed (more sit down restaurant than café/bar). And the dish I had there was excellent (I’m actually going to try to make this when I get home. It was basically broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and carrots, topped with mozzarella and oregano. Simple enough Italian dish, its just that most of the time something like this would be served with pasta or some sort of starch. But this was it…and it worked! Maybe it was the way in which they sautéed the vegetables or something, I don’t know. Also, to back up a bit, I also asked the lady at the front desk of the hotel (who recommended the places to eat) what are the beers to drink out here. She referred me to one of her colleagues (a dude…of course) who then gave me a list of four Czech beers to try. It was here that I tried the first of the four—Pilsner Urquell.

Backing up again, probably the first thing I noticed (and remembered) once I got off the train and walked through the station was that absinthe is legal (and prominently peddled) in Prague. Now, I’ve had absinthe once before in my life (it tastes like licorice) but the experience was nowhere close to the mind-altering state touted by many an absinthe-head and popularized by stories of Van Gogh. To tell the truth, I don’t even remember getting drunk from it. Backing up even further (I promise this is the last time I’ll use that phrase), when I was in Amsterdam (the other place in Europe where absinthe is sold), they told me you’re better off getting “authentic” absinthe from the Czech republic (where its still homemade in places…I believe) than in Amsterdam. So here I was in Prague and I was in the mood to have an experience with some “authentic” absinthe.

So, after finishing my meal at Platy’z, I asked the waitress where’s the best spot to get a drink. But there was one caveat…they had to serve absinthe as well. She then suggested Tretter’s NY Bar, which (according to her) was close by.

While walking over there, I found a liquor store that sold, amongst other liquors, absinthe. But to my surprise, they basically had all the absinthes that the guy in the store in Amsterdam said were weak and/or not the real thing. I even had the pleasure of schooling a couple U.S. soldiers (and their German girlfriends), who were on duty in Germany but on leave in Prague for the weekend, on absinthe-fare. Anyways, that isn't the point. The point is that it was here that I bought the second of the recommended Czech beers (this one is actually one of my favorites of the Europe entire trip)...Budweiser Budvar:


Anyways, back to the adventure. After circling the same block (where subsequently several people told me it was located) about three times, I finally found Tretter’s NY Bar.

As I walked into the place, this blonde haired girl walked in just before me and took the seat at the bar I was going to sit at. Shortly thereafter, I asked the bartender if they had absinthe, which they did. I then told him I wanted one. The girl who took my seat must have known the bartender cause they struck up a conversation somethin’ fierce (in Czech, of course). And it was during this conversation I heard her say something to the effect of “tourist” after I ordered absinthe. I then told her that this being Tretter’s NY bar, I was actually more at home than her. This sort of love-hate banter continued between us (she spoke very good English) the rest of my stay at the bar. It wasn’t long before another bartender came over and did his little “absinthe thing” (think that Tom Cruise movie where he’s playing a bartender) replete with pouring a shot of absinthe from the top shelf and lighting a brown sugar cube on fire…





Now, this was different than the absinthe from before, it BURNED as it went down. And no I didn’t take the shot “to the face.” I straight baby-sat (i.e. sipped) this bad boy for at least the following 30 minutes. During this time, girl proceeded to tell me how she was recently dumped by her boyfriend cause she would get mad when he smoked around her (to clarify, she didn’t like him smoking altogether, but it was the “smoking around her” that she had the problem with). I told her how most dudes take offense to bossy women cause its like they’re trying to control and/or change them to their liking, and how most of the time that builds up resentment and dissatisfaction with the woman and the relationship. She then tried to justify her request for not smoking by saying something to the effect of, “well, I’ve stopped flirting with other dudes while he’s around, so the least he can do is return the favor and not smoke around me.” Take it for what you will (cause it was around this time that the absinthe started kicking in and the majority of the night from this point on is a bunch of scattered instances remembered)…but I do remember her telling me how she had dude (current boyfriend) purposefully meet her at this bar where one of her exes (which she was on “good terms with”) worked and was “puzzled” why dude (current boyfriend) was acting different. I then asked whether ex was laying on the flirt/”yeah, I hit that” extra thick, to which she giggled and said yeah.

Shortly before I left, I asked where the party was. She told me about 3 places: Bombay, M1 and Radost Fx. The first two were nearby so I went to Bombay first. Not my cup of tea. But I ordered a Mojito with Havana Club Rum before leaving. Next was M1. I wouldn’t say it was wack (the DJ played that T-Pain song “Bartender”), but it was definitely less crowded than Bombay…but then again the night was still young at that point. I ordered a Mojito with Havana Club Rum before leaving…I think (remember, absinthe was taking the cake at this time).

As I made my way back to the hotel before leaving back out to check out the piece-de-resistance (Radost FX), I happened upon this other place (I want to say it was an Irish pub, but I don’t remember) and struck up a conversation with a mixed couple (black woman/white man) whom I believe were both British. He told me about when he was in the military, there was a city he was stationed at and everyday at 4pm they were told to get out of there cause that’s when the British air-calvary would come in and bomb the heck out of the city. He said that’s what happened to Frankfurt during WWII. He continued to say that’s why all of the construction is post-1950 and the one area that survived the bombings (Dom/Roemer—where the Chirstmas Market in Frankfurt is held) is one of the celebrated/touristy areas of the city.

Anyways, I got back to the room, somewhat caught my bearings then caught a cab to Radost FX. Surprisingly, it was wack but then again I think I got there before it really popped off (I got there around like 11 or 12 or something and I believe it popped off between 1 and 2). Again, I got a Mojito cause they make it with Havana Club Rum and was out. I caught another taxi back to the hotel and immediately passed out.

The next morning, I woke up and got the typical European breakfast (bread, cheese and salami), went back to the room and took a shower, then headed down to the front desk to request a late check out. Now, here’s the interesting thing about this hotel…you pay per hour (about 100 Krowns) for late check out. I’m not only surprised that the thought of such a thing has never crossed my mind, but also surprised that I haven’t run across a hotel in the U.S. with such a policy (because if you think about it, that’s a very American thing to do). But after the conversion, 100 Krowns works out to just 4 Euro. So I told them I’d be check out at 2pm.

At this point, I would normally have a long picture reel. But for some reason, even I feel that I took too many pictures on this day (well over 200). Make no mistake, the weather was beautiful, its just that I took like between 2 to 4 pictures of each thing. Nevertheless, I have a lot of very good pictures…in fact, too many to publish on this already super long blog. So, look for the blog with the link to my photo sharing account in the near future.

Anyways, to sum up the walk,

• I witnessed 12 o’clock at the Astrological clock...

(this was supposed to be the “Praha (preview)” blog, but everytime I tried to upload it, it would never work.

• Saw this HUGE metronome that was up on a hill in the distance...

I walked over and (exhaustively) up to it and it turned out to be a pseudo-skatepark/hangout for kids in the city...


And the view was spectacular...

• There’s this famous bridge in Prague (one or more of you all got the post card) so of course I had to take a picture. So I walked to the banks of the adjacent bridge and there was this area with a rack of swans. People were feeding them and the view was awesome...

• At the foot of this bridge, there was this super-small mom-and-pop shop (that sold chips and beer) with a guy outside grilling sausages. It was here that I tried the third of the suggested Czech beers: Gambrinus. From what I remember, nothing special. It tasted like a regular beer we drank at the dojo (Josh's apartment).
  
• Of all the cities I’ve visited on my jaunt out here in Europe, I’d say this city tops the list when it comes to number of Asian tourists.

I got lost on the way back to the hotel so I had to catch the 4:30 out of Prague. I got to the station just before four though so I had enough time to try the last of the suggested beers: Staropramen. It tasted the same as Gambrinus. After the trip was all said and done, I didn’t end up getting back to Frankfurt til after 1am. I was however able to catch snippets of the Patriots/Chargers game as I traveled on the train thanks to Kadija—we Skyped each other and she faced her laptop to the TV screen; but I say snippets cause the UMTS card kept timing out as I was traveling on the ICE (high speed train) and each cell tower that the card accessed would last at most like 10 minutes. I ain’t complaining though, I love all this new fangled technology!

Cheers.

Editor's Note

For all those wondering...

1) Yes, I am back Stateside.

2) I still have like 7 blogs to upload (even though, in lieu of #1, I doubt anyone will read them nor care)

3) Yes, I'm a procrastinating bamma, but the last few weeks have been very hectic...and I wanted to enjoy my time in London.

4) I don't know if I'll still continue writing this blog, once the last of all the aforementioned blogs have been posted (maybe I'll just save it for trips and stuff).

Cheers.

Amsterdam New Year's

The Heineken Experience was closed for renovations until Spring 2008 and most of the museums were closed during the time we were there—outside of Saturday the 29th (our first full day there), the 30th was a Sunday (things were closed off GP), the 31st was New Year’s Eve and the 1st was New Year’s Day (and we left January 2nd). Yeah, we slept on hitting the museum scene on Saturday (literally and figuratively), but we still saw a lot that day (no pun intended ;-). For that reason, outside of New Year’s Eve, there were no real major occurrences that took place in Amsterdam. Each of the days was pretty much the same…walking around, going in and out of different shops and all in all enjoying all the beautiful scenery the city had to offer. And oh, does it offer a bounty. So much so, that you’ll have to check my photo sharing account (when I post the link) to check out all the pictures. Sidebar: Over the course of the entire Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam soiree, I took more than 1,000 pictures…no lie.

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything to blog about. It just means that New Year’s in Amsterdam was really the only “blog-worthy” event that took place during this leg of the trip. I’m also going to follow-up this blog with an “Amsterdam Misc” blog that should hopefully cover all the remaining stuff that happened or I noticed while in Amsterdam that isn’t necessarily covered in this blog.

Our original plan was get dressed up and go somewhere (an actual inside venue) for New Year’s. But after procrastinating for the entire trip (truthfully, we should have called around and checked on stuff prior to leaving Frankfurt), we found that our options were pretty much nil. Still though, that didn’t mean we were SOL. New Year’s in Amsterdam’s Dam Square is pretty packed and chaotic we were told, and we were down for the experience.

Now, to put the evening in the proper context, New Year’s Eve is an all day event in Amsterdam. The morning of New Year’s Eve, we awoke to the sound of what we thought were gunshots, but (as we would find out later and hear about every 30 seconds throughout the rest of the day) were fireworks, set off by the population at large.

The day progressed just like all the other days in Amsterdam (walking around, shopping intermittently, me taking pictures, Kadija exhausted from me taking so many pictures, eating at whatever restaurant we happened upon). The evening, however, was a bit different. It started I’d say at about 10 o’clock.

We walked from the hotel to Dam Square and as we approached, there was a polica barricade at the street entrance to Dam Square. We then saw a sign that said, among other things, no alcohol. Well, we weren’t about to bring in the New Year without popping the bottle of Mo’ we had with us. Our “extensive” walks through this area of the city educated us to another “pseudo-back way” to Dam Square. Now, if this were ANY American city during New Year’s and the police wished to block off or control what comes into an area, you can be sure that ALL entrances (automobile, pedestrian or otherwise) would have a police presence. So Kadija and I found it quite funny that this “pseudo-back way” (which was basically like the pedestrian pathway for the street the cops had blocked off) was completely devoid of police. Needless to say, we passed right through, bottle of Mo’ in tow, and found us a place to stand, with a view of the Dam Square super huge TV screen, right under this monument:


Here's the view:


At about this time, it was around like 10-10:30pm. They had this stage set up in Dam Square where they had various acts performing. One of them that stood out was this kid who was like 12 or something but was playing the hell out the drums. It was basically him and another older dude on the drums taking turns soloing while the other kept time or something. Despite all this, it was pretty uneventful (save for the industrial-grade fireworks that people were letting off IN THE STREET—literally, where all the people were gathered).

(see the smoke trail of one someone just let off?)

It wasn’t long before Kadija and I were hungry, so we went to one of the many “create your own stir-fry” places in Amsterdam…and they were always DAMN good (pun intended). Basically, you choose the meat, vegetables and sauce and its ready in like 5 minutes. I’m sure these type of places have found their way to over NY and are probably all over places like Thailand, but it was new to me…and it hot the spot.

We were done with our food at around 11:30pm, so we headed back over to the spot under the monument we were standing at before. It was around this time that they brought the last act onto the stage—some troupe that played these bass heavy drums (think jungley like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). OK, to me, whoever was the program director for this New Year’s entertainment needs to straight up be fired. Yeah, I’ll concede that the playing of the drums sort of built up the anticipation for the coming year (their playing got more and more intense as midnight approached), but honestly they could of done better in such a New Year’s heavy city like Amsterdam. Secondly, AND THIS REALLY PISSED ME OFF (ask Kadija)…THEY ONLY SHOWED THE CLOCK 5 MINUTES AND 10 SECONDS BEFORE NEW YEAR’S. THE REST OF THE TIME THEY SHOWED THESE SORT OF MOVING SQUARES IN RED, BLUE AND ORANGE ON REPEAT (LITERALLY, THE WHOLE “MOVEMENT SEQUENCE” WAS LIKE 15 SECONDS IN TOTAL). You know, I could understand if it was a cultural difference thing where in America they always show the clock so you have an idea of how much time is left while over in Holland they feel the showing of the clock only matters for the countdown. But when you usurp my clock viewing time to show me moving squares (and I don’t care if it was part of the drumming troupe’s act/show)…I’m pissed, I’m sorry. And yeah, you could say that many of the people out there were on some sort of drug and the intent of the “moving square sequence” was to accentuate their high…but I guarantee, more people were blown than blown away…feasible?!

All right, I’m off my soapbox.

So, if the fireworks in the middle of the street weren’t enough then you had people climbing onto the monument we were standing under and around. The view from up there was spectacular I’m sure, but I mean, seriously, this is like the equivalent of someone climbing on the Lincoln Memorial during the 4th to get a better view of the fireworks and/or the Mall. And the police did nothing…as they did with the fireworks. And climbing up there was no cake-walk either. To get up there, you had to either jump or get pulled up to the ledge which was like (and I’m being conservative here) a good 12 feet high. This picture gives an idea of what I’m talking about…


So the countdown happened, 2008 started, fireworks went off like Beruit and it wasn’t until like 5 minutes into 2008 that I was finally able to pop the cork on the bottle of Moet (it was stuck in there some kinda serious). But we had a ball nonetheless…




Earlier, when we were researching last minute New Year’s options, someone told us that the fireworks in the red light district were where it’s at. So after the Dam Square countdown, we headed over to the PACKED red light district and lo’ and behold, dude was right. And the thing about these fireworks was that there was this neighborhood aesthetic to it. Of course there were random people just letting off fireworks by the canal (along the packed narrow sidewalks, mind you). But the piece-de-resistance were these 3 or 4 dudes who had a docked flat-bed boat upon which they set off these spectacular fireworks every 5 minutes for like a half an hour to 45 minutes. And these weren’t no kiddie fireworks, these were the super load, super high, even spiraling fireworks I had never seen before. And for it to be happening no more than just 100 meters right in front of me made it all the more brilliant.







When it seemed as if dudes were out of fireworks, and the thunderous roar of applause from all of the red light district’s residents and tourists had subsided, Kadija and I walked through the streets and alleyways of the red light district in its most frenzied of states…



About half an hour later we walked back to the hotel and called it a night.

I’ll leave you all with this stunning picture of Kadija’s silhouette.


Cheers.

Amsterdam Misc

• First and foremost, GET HEINEKENS OUT OF THE BROWN BOTTLE!

I don’t know if its that they save the good stuff for home, or if something happens to the beer when it travels overseas (or if the green bottle itself distorts the taste), but brown-bottle Heinekens don’t have the after-taste that green-bottle Heinekens have. It was so good that Kadija, who doesn’t have a taste for beer, was feenin’ for another. Matter fact, it was so good that we took a six-pack back to Frankfurt with us. Another piece of trivia: green bottle caps say “Heineken Bier” while brown bottle caps say “Heineken Pilsner.”

• If there are homeless people in Amsterdam, they don’t ask for money on the street. Yeah, there were street performers, but no one came up to us outright and asked for money.
• There are more bikes than cars (oftentimes, bikes even have their own lanes on the street)
  

(the red lane is for bikes only)

• There are ticket booths in the actual tram (sorry, no free rides here).

I can’t speak on the subways though, we never had the need to take one.

• “The Netherlands” and “Holland” are the same country.
• On some streets, trams in opposite directions share the same track and only have their own dedicated track at stops (those on the bridge over a canal).
  

H Street NE could learn a lil’ somethin’ somethin’.

• Stairs everywhere are SUPER steep.
• The ticket area at the Amsterdam Main Train station is like the DMV…100% serious. Going back to Frankfurt, Kadija and I wanted one of those 6-seat booths on the ICE (the high speed trains that run throughout Europe), so we went to the station to reserve one. Upon getting there, they gave us a ticket…our number was like a hundred numbers away. Still, thinking the numbers went super fast or skipped a bunch of numbers, we waited…it wasn’t happening. So we left, walked back to the hotel (all the while taking pictures), got our luggage, and took the tram back to the station…and we were still like 20 numbers away. Mind you, our trip to and from the station took well over an hour. To cap it off, when we finally went to the ticket counter, dude told us we could reserve one of those booths (for a price of course), but it probably wouldn’t be necessary as the train wasn’t that full.
• Everyone spoke legible English and was SUPER amiable. No one had a bad attitude or anything. I’m sure people would try to blame it on the usual suspects (i.e. their “lax” culture), but I really don’t feel that was the case. It was just a positive environment all around. Honestly, if I were to ever “retire” I would seriously consider making this the location.
• Walk-to-Wok – this is one of the “make-your-own-stir-fry” places I mentioned in the Amsterdam New Year’s blog. It was official…that’s all there is to it.
• Finally, they curse on commercials...
  

Matter fact…enjoy!

Cheers.

Whirlwind Weekend Round-Up (preview)

Cheers.

The Uno

For those of ya’ll still with me—yeah I know I’ve been off and on since December (and when I’m on I give ya’ll novel-length blog entries—I didn’t highlight the “Dr.” in front of Jonah’s name to be funny (see "Weekend at the Alps" if you don't NMTMBA...nmtmba?). In all seriousness, it was in admiration. I could talk about the qualifying examination he had to take going into his second year in the Ph.D. program at Stanford…but to make a long story short, it single handedly convinced me that I wasn’t gangsta enough.

Dude is doing the DAMN thang. Case in point, he pretty much was the source of the entire second half of this New York Times magazine article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/magazine/28wwln-consumed-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Uno%2C+Botta&st=nyt&oref=slogin

There’s a big newspaper/magazine/book shop in the Hauptbahnhof and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the only place where you can get the New York Times…even if it is a day late. Well, when he told me about the article back in October, I had to cop it…even if it was to the tune of 18 Euro (I’m not joking)...


A quote from the article (for those of ya’ll that are too lazy to click on the link and read)…

“Consider, for instance, the Uno, from Botta, the German watch brand. It has only one hand.”

Shortly after finishing the article, I looked up the watch online and fell in love (http://www.botta-design.de/en_uno_automatik.html). Not only was this watch different (as indicated in the article), but was designed to my liking and…it was a “German watch brand”. What better gift for myself to commemorate this overseas experience?! And it gets better…their headquarters are located just 20 mintues outside of Frankfurt. As far as I was concerned, it was a DONE-dadda. All that mattered from that point was logistics (i.e. how to get there).

I first made contact (via email) with the company in early November, and had kept in contact ever since. Well today, I finally had the car and a Friday where I had the opportunity to leave before 6pm (I was finished with all of my work and the normal 5pm Friday training session was cancelled). After a call to Klaus Botta’s cell letting him know I was on my way (yeah, I got it like that), I was on the Autobahn.

When I arrived at his design offices (not a store), he had the watches laid out for my viewing (and trying-on) pleasure. Oh yeah, the place was nice as well:


…replete with a Nespresso machine as well:


They both looked like what they looked like online:


…so the only question that remained was, white or black.

I probably contemplated this for about 30 minutes (seriously). He even left me alone to ponder (out loud) my decision.

In all truthfulness, I was immediately drawn to the black face, but the last two watches (prior to the Vizio I’m wearing now) had black faces and were reminiscent of this one (especially the big-faced Museum). The white face reminded me of the Vizio (which is a good thing in that its very clean), but it seemed like it was a bit boisterous without trying to be.

You know, actually typing this, I’m realizing this is one of those “you had to be there” type of things cause I’m sure this is very uninteresting to you all. All I can say is that I am a “watch-guy” and EVERY single one I’ve worn has gotten loads of compliments. So I took this decision very seriously (especially considering the cost and that I really would be stuck with my decision once I left).

And the winner…


Beautiful ain’t it? America ain’t ready.


Cheers.

Yesterday, It Happened...

Remember how I told you that the German subway system does not have turnstiles (meaning, you can easily get on the subway without having purchased a ticket)? Well, like a good little boy, for the months of November and December, I had purchased monthly Frankfurt subway tickets to the tune of around 70 Euro. After arriving back in Frankfurt for the new year, it wasn't until halfway through the month that I realized that I didn't have a ticket. And with my stay out here officially coming to an end 31 January, I didn't much see the need.

Well...I could get into how if I just happened to get off at my normal stop (Hoenstrasse) and not take the train one stop further (Borheim Mitte)--so that I wouldn't have to walk as far to the Thai spot from which I was getting dinner--then I would have gotten off the train right before the subway ticket-checkers approached me. Or how, if I wasn't so englufed in reading this report on the U.S. Housing Market by Wells Fargo, I would have noticed that the guy was approaching me and gotten off at my normal stop.

But it doesn't matter...


And for your information, telling them that you don't speak German or didn't know cause you're a tourist doesn't work. They speak English too. And get this, if you don't have the 40 Euro fine in cash on you, they walk with you to the nearest ATM. And if you can't get any money out from there, they call the authorities.

Luckily, I had enough money on me, and I paid the 40 Euro fine. But guess what, I'm still winning...you remember how much a monthly pass was?

Now all I have to do is be on guard for the remaining week I have out here.

Cheers.