Friday, November 4 - Amsterdam

Another morning in this terrific place! Woke up and skipped the hotel breakfast this morning. One thing we've come to learn is that the included-in-the-room-price breakfasts that you get throughout the continent get to be monotonous. Generally, they'll have a buffet of some sort (though not always), which will include some dry cereal, bread, sliced ham and cheese, perhaps hard or soft boiled eggs, juice and tea. That's not bad if you're on a tight budget and I don't mind eating the same thing every day at home, but it's kind of a drag when you fill up on that stuff and then, the moment you step out of the hotel, you find really good food EVERYWHERE. So, this morning it's a waffle at a place up the street. I got mine with the white chocolate frosting, and although it tasted really good, it's was also overwhelmingly sweet and I don't think I could make a habit of eating these. I'd be diabetic in about two weeks.

While we were wandering about, we also stopped back at the photo store for a sensor cleaning kit. Digital SLR cameras share one drawback with their film counterparts in that dust can get into them when you switch lenses. Unlike the film camera, however, the digital SLR has a CMOS sensor (a chip of sorts) that is used to record the image, and dust spots on that are both unavoidable and a major drag to fix once you've taken your photograph. The solution is to clean the sensor, which is a somewhat tricky job but one I'm getting tired of paying $50 for other people to do. So... now I have the implements, and it's just a matter of getting on the web long enough to print out a guide on how to get it done. Cool.

Next stop was the University of Amsterdam, where I needed to obtain some contact points for my project. The university is spread out among several buildings in the city, several of which - interestingly enough - are located in the heart of the red light district. It strikes me as a bit of a distracting place to study, not because it's all that dangerous, but because of the scores of tourists who descend on the place every night. Soon, however, I was able to get the information I needed, and we were able to move on pretty quickly.

Next on the agenda was to get to the museum of modern art, the Stedelijk. We're both fans of contemporary art, making this one a must-see. Speaking for myself, it's interesting because it serves as inspiration to be creative in whatever ways I do. One highlight here was an exhibit of short films by a Chinese filmmaker, Yang Fudong. They're very thought-provoking, but hard to describe; one that comes to mind used a total of 10 screens in a room, configured in such a way to make viewing all of them from one location impossible. On the eight outer screens, one or two musicians stood on rocks at the edge of the sea, playing long tones. On the two inner screens (which were on opposite sides of the same wall), one couple was riding a horse on the beach and a second had been shipwrecked. I'm so far unable to understand the message the artist wished to convey with this piece, but I normally have to ruminate on things like this for some time before I'm able to "get" them.

Once we'd overwhelmed ourselves at the Stedelijk, we decided to explore the wharf on foot for a while. Amsterdam is a city of canals, much in the same way Venice is, and most are navigable by boat. Canal tours are very popular, and houseboats, owned (I would assume) by local residents, line the waterways as well. Some boats at the wharf were designed more for channel tours, and one captain we spoke with said that his 9-passenger boat specialized in multi-day charters during the summer. Sounds like a neat way to see the coastline.

At this point the sun was setting, so we walked back to the hotel. After dropping off camera bags it was off to dinner, and this time we tried an Argentinean steakhouse. While I didn't like it as well as one we have at home, it was still a pleasant meal. Eventually, it was time to turn in, so one more walk back up Rokin Avenue, and soon were snoozing away. I'm always amazed at how tired one can get while on vacation...

More tomorrow,
Leanne