Holiday - Amsterdam - Part I

The morning started off a little rocky. I was ready to roll before Tayar and Leslie so I went out to buy us coffee before we took a car to the airport. I asked the little old woman at the counter if they had take away cups (nobody knows what to go cups are in London...or A'dam or Dublin for that matter). I mean honestly, how can you NOT understand that. I understand take away cup. Why can't you understand to go cup. Irritating as hell...but I digress. The sweet little lady said 'yes' so I ordered the lattes. When she handed me the three small styrofoam cups I noticed the lids didn't have that little perforated peel back area to drink through. The lattes were cheap. It was early. She was old. I didn't have the strength to complain. I brought them back to my travel companions only to get an earful of shit about the lids. Leslie spilled 75% of her latte on herself, Tayar and the car on the way to the airport. By the time we arrived at Heathrow she and Tayar smelled like a Starbucks and were as sticky as a couple of barefooted kids at the Wrath of God HEB.

They got cleaned up, we made it through security and found our gate. We were perplexed to find that not only did our gate have doors, but said doors were also locked. We hung outside the locked doors for 30 minutes and scarfed down convenient store sandwiches (perfect for a hangover, disgusting if you're sober). Airline personnel in funny top hats finally let us in and we took a seat in the waiting room (which had seating for approximately 200 people - so why in the hell were we locked out for so long with no place to sit??? It was really strange.). Tayar and I sat down beside each other, Leslie across from us. In my peripheral vision I noticed Jesus' doppleganger approaching. (Jesus' doppleganger was headed to A'dam? I guess it only makes sense that Jesus' doppleganger likes to party. I wondered if we'd see him in a coffee shop later that day smoking hash. We didn't. Two thumbs down.) I knew Leslie noticed him, too. We had a conversation about it without saying a word. Those are the best, aren't they?!?
After a short 50 minute flight (power nap) we arrived in A'dam. Contrary to popular belief, the first item on the agenda was a trip to the Anne Frank House.

Anne received a diary on her 13th birthday where she began writing her deepest of thoughts. The profound insight that little girl had about humanity is truly staggering. She gave the diary to her father every evening for safe keeping. He promised to never read it...and he didn't until after her death. During the tour there was a video clip of Otto, Anne's father, discussing his feelings after reading the diary. He spoke of the wonderful relationship he always had with Anne and the discussions they would have. He knew she was a smart child and believed he was close to her, but upon reading the entries of Anne's diary he came to the conclusion that parents never truly know their children. The idea, of course, saddened him. I walked out of the AFH with tears in my eyes. In the grand scheme of things, I guess nobody ever truly knows anybody else. Those deepest of feelings, fleeting thoughts and crazy ideas that we keep to ourselves are part of what defines us as people. Sharing those things would make us more vulnerable than we already are. Hell, I censor myself on my own blog that I'm not sure anybody reads. The idea that no one will ever truly know me...all of me...feels lonely.

If you've never read The Diary of Anne Frank, read it. If you read it when you were in high school, I encourage you to read it again. Her thoughts and ideas are light years ahead of her time and wise beyond her years. That's powerful stuff.

It took a 20 minute, freezing-cold walk to shake off the heaviness of that experience and jump back into my party pants. The rest of my time in A'dam is a bit of a blur. I'll try to get a grasp of what happened via pictures and get back with you soon.