I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t believe that I’m getting to experience the wonderful things that I’ve always wanted to experience, so my mind defaults to seeing the cities and wondrous places through someone else’s eyes, through the eyes of someone who’s seen it all before and still has a pristine appreciation for what is all around them. By allowing myself to do this, I think I appreciate everything on a much more personally meaningful level than if I were to try to cram every tourist activity into an amount of time that will never be able to do justice to any city, except for a little hick town of which I have no interest in visiting in the first place.
My trip to Amsterdam consisted of walking the city streets until my feet began to curse at me, picnicking alongside a lovely canal on a beautiful spring day, strolling through the red light district as the playmates posed in their windows, dinner with a few Belgian guys, perching on a park bench to watch the sun set, a couple local indulgences, and of course, shopping.
All of the sights I took in were breath taking, all of the people I met were fascinating, and all of the places I went were magnificent. I’ve never been anywhere more fit for the spring season, and I don’t know if I’ll ever find anywhere so inclined to glimmer so beautifully in the sun, creating expectations for the city that I didn’t even know that I had. Granted the food was a bit heavy and flavorless, but I’m certain the locals don’t mind and the visitors are distracted by the lure of the Vegas of Europe to complain. I myself found that I could be kept quite happy on ice-ream and stroopwaffles alone.
The Netherlands have not seen the last of me.
No comments:
Post a Comment