Another trip to the Netherlands. Joy!
This time to Amsterdam which is strangely one of the places I have not visited, yet. Seen the Hague etc. but not Amsterdam. A gap in my upbringing to be sure. So, onwards…
Schiphol airport and the train trip to the city goes as always: effortless, fast and easy. Everything is connected and easily accessible. Now why don’t we have a railroad connection to the Helsinki airport in Finland, eh?
Since I’ve been to the Hague several times, I can’t help comparing Amsterdam to it. Amsterdam has a totally different feel (not necessarily caused by the stoned and drunk Brits and Germans staggering around the city centre mind you). Maybe it is the channels? I have to admit I love the narrow streets, cafes, shops, the nearness to water and most of all the extremely well functioning public transport. Feels like there are a lot less cars around.
On the way to the conference I grab a cafe and a breakfast, catch the whiff of joints from a nearby coffee shop and feel quite good even though I have a terrible flu. I can’t help but admire the cool alleyways and low architecture with the old and new mixed up (London’s Docklands springs to mind for some reason).
The conference venue is in an old gas works Westergasfabriek. Great place but the WLAN does not work. Shit.. After two days of surprisingly high quality presentations and work group meetings it is again time for some corruption. Nice wining and dining this time. Cold beer (Heineken, naturally *sigh*), decent wine and too much broodjes (damn but they DO serve a lot of various sandwiches here, not complaining though, too hungry).
Afterwards with some leftover beers in tow we stagger towards several interesting bars and some of us develop an urge to get some ”coffee” so we oblige them and find a cozy little coffee shop. While some browse the pre-rolled mild stuff a colleague of mine is a bit overwhelmed by the variety of produce and decides to go for some super skunk. A bad choice for the uninitiated and he spends the rest of the evening quite pleasantly spaced out while we have a blast. Interesting note: the prices of produce are 1€ higher than in the Hague. Damn tourists…
Next morning the flu is gone, no hangover and I still got still time to visit the Van Gogh museum before the flight back home. Though the museum is fully packed I still manage to enjoy the exhibition and actually spend two hours ogling Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Manet and Toulouse–Lautrec. For some reason I really like the impressionist style (ok, so maybe they are POST-imressionist but who cares). Expressionism goes too but I guess I’ll have to find another museum for that style.
A nice trip as business trips go. Though I still prefer the Hague, especially during summer when one can just wonder around aimlessly and end up at the Scheveningen beach. Still no reindeer spotted though…