Day of the Dead

Working on little to no sleep, Ian, Jim, and I decided to take the little bit of spare time available on Sunday to play zombie tourists before meeting up with the folks from KVH Europe (KE for short). Some random, initial thoughts following day 1 of wandering Amsterdam and the surrounding environs:

Since it was too early to get into the hotel rooms, Ian debates falling asleep in this large shoe on an Amsterdam street

Everyone speaks English here and pretty well, too, along with probably several other languages. Despite 6 years of Spanish in school, I’m limited to asking for a beer and the bathroom so the multilingual denizens of the Netherlands are making me feel pretty inadequate. A perfect example of why kids in pre-school should learn multiple languages, I guess.

Walking through Amsterdam at 8:30 AM on a Sunday morning is a nice way to do it. Very few crowds, very quiet, and peaceful. Hardly any shops are open except the “coffee houses” which don’t actually sell coffee. All that changes by lunchtime, of course, when the crowds come out, even on a cold, grey, rainy November day. Even with the crowds and the traffic, I didn’t hear a single horn honk.

One of Amsterdam's canals, which criss-cross the city and are bordered by historic buildings.

For those of us on the east coast who take pride in buildings that are 200 years old, Amsterdam alters our sense of what “old” actually when you see a house built in 1608 or a gatehouse originally built in the 1400s. And drinking a cold beverage just seems to be more appealing in a tavern that is 335 years old and was apparently last remodeled 250 years ago (at least that’s what the bartender told us).

Jim George and blog author and communications manager Chris Watson toast their safe arrival in Amsterdam in the Der Hoppe, a 335-year old tavern, on Sunday afternoon.