Stop For A Moment
My Long Overdue Eulogy for Peter Zirschky
I have so much to write about in December. Too much to write about. Along with my end of year lists, which I have been digging into in earnest and sourcing suggestions from my friends, I have to close the chapter on my November traveling the North West hemisphere. Burdens I’ve placed upon myself, to be sure, but a burden that must be lifted. On top of that, our house needs some attention.
Illness stricken. It’s amazing how hard it is to soldier on in the face of fatigue when you’ve finally given yourself time to rest. Adrianne has forged on, going to work despite being hit harder than I was the second time around. Things are starting to settle and we’re doing much more sensible travel to end the year, going to my parents for a handful of days for Christmas and then returning to the Dice Tower cruise in mid-January.
Great new music has continued to stream in, so I’ll share a little playlist of some of my dark horse end of year surprises I’ve encountered. I’m also going to throw on some other songs I’ve found recently that I really enjoy. It’ll be a nice background as I take you on my guided tour of Amsterdam. There’s going to be context, because when is there not? First, the music:
We’re going to Amsterdam today, you didn’t think I would ignore Funeral Oration did you?
When I was a kid, I thought The Netherlands was a Nordic Country. Danes were essentially Vikings after all. They fought over England as well. Maybe I should have looked at a map when I was younger, but I figured it out. I knew Holland was the wrong name, but I didn’t know why. Holland is a region in the Netherlands. The Netherlands also sounds like a fantastic wasteland in a fantasy setting, not a fanciful country of clogs, tulips and windmills.
The Red Light District is world famous as well. Amsterdam, a city of “vice.” Legal Prostitution - women selling themselves in windows. Legal Weed - the Amsterdam Coffeehouse experience. Neither one of those feel taboo as an adult, but it certainly did in my youth. More data filtered in as I got older - World Famous Jazz Clubs. Bicycles run the world. Funeral Oration. If you asked me when I was 19 what I knew about the Netherlands, I would say Funeral Oration is the best Danish punk band of all time.
Adrianne, oddly, connected with them deeply and quickly. Early on in our relationship, a band that checked no boxes for her was something she fell into. Partying for me in my 20s, Amsterdam sounded like a place I could get into a lot of fun in the same was Las Vegas did. Partying was a way to create an illusion of happiness for myself. To keep my brain from processing the life I had and have.
Ted Lasso, of all things, sold me on the city of Amsterdam. The Red Light District’s other beauty. Art. Great Food and Whimsy. When the topic of places to visit outside of Belgium came up, I was excited to experience Amsterdam. Was it the experience I would have had, of my own devising? No, for better or worse, but it was a trip I’ll never forget. Memories that will last a lifetime.
Marina and Alexandros’ dropped their kids off at his parents and we were off via car to Amsterdam. We didn’t spend much time in a car, driving out to Maredsous and a round trip to Amsterdam. Amsterdam was one of the two things that I was most excited about. It was not a place that was anything like I expected.
I don’t know why, because touristy places have become homogenized in the Western World. Amsterdam has fallen victim to being a place people want to visit. The impact is more pronounced in less wealthy nations, but you see the same things anywhere rich but not wealthy people mingle. Food overpriced and generic. Kitschy souvenirs. It is a familiar sameness.
We stopped at the first hotel we were staying at and dropped off our bags. Oriented ourselves for a canal tour we had booked to ease us into our trip. We had a pitstop in a deli style coffeeshop and I got a space cake. One of the better ones I had in Amsterdam.
Adrianne loves the perspective of a city from the water and the historic intro into a city. I like being on the water. It works out and I do learn a little of trivia. This boat tour came with unlimited drinks and cheese. I was far more excited about the cheese. Especially with my Danish aperitif.
We learned about the leaning buildings, tilted forward with a hook so that they could moving things to the top floor without taking the ladder-style stairs. Houses were originally on stilts too.
Did you know how the houseboats came to be in Amsterdam? WWII caused a housing shortage and a surplus of cargo ships. There are ~2500 licenses for houseboats, meaning they are exceptionally expensive. And while the float, they are no longer transportation. Rather expansive as well.
Also, people that waive back are most likely tourists renting houseboats via AirBnB. Tourism and gig economy collide. I do think it is cool to have that option but I also understand what having a commercial property in a residential area is like. Drapes are historically kept open because you don’t have anything to hide. On the one hand, sure, but on the other, sounds a little…I think I’d deal with societal scorn for privacy in my own home.
The coolest part of the canal tour for me was a section where you could see a through line under what felt like an infinite number of canals. A shot out of a Nolan film. The pictures you’ll see here don’t do it justice:
When we got off the boat, I noticed a hole in the wall store called Comics Import Amsterdam - C.I.A. I had to go in, how could you not? They were mostly American Comics, okay that name should have been a dead giveaway, but they also had one of the greatest shop dogs in the world.
Hopped right up on the comics from the floor and immediately found any food we had in our pockets. That dog was really smart and super sweet.
Witness the assault on Adrianne. When we left to rejoin our traveling companions we saw them approaching with another dog. So the shop clearly has two perfect guardians. I failed to capture the joy of seeing both dogs, so you’ll just have to travel there yourself.
We walked to our hotel in a magical storm. The rain felt like ice pelting my face, a harsh wind. A good rainstorm can give you life and this was the right kind of perfect storm. Maybe I enjoyed it more than the others, but some moments feel right. That was one of them. Our hotel had very cool light fixtures and some of the worst candy I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. Adrianne took handfuls of it to ensure we could bring that bit home with us.
Our room was ready now, so we got settled in and agreed to try a place called Fulu Mandarijin, a Sichuan Chinese restaurant. Good storms, magical storms, cast a spell when they pass. Amsterdam was enchanting at night. The lights off the water. Standing on a canal bridge at night. Christmas has no Thanksgiving barrier in Europe.
Street art abounds. Adrianne has really found a passion for street art tours in foreign cities and it pairs well with my urban exploration tendencies. She didn’t want to take pictures, because we were on the move. I would have liked a little more time to shoot, but I also see the appeal in the frantic shots I caught.
It also gave Adrianne more time with Marina:
We stopped at coffeeshop before dinner, heavily influenced by 90s gangster rap. The music was good. They had really cool straws.
It was dinner time, so we started our walk to FuLu, so forgive the next little photo dump.
FuLu asked if we had a reservation. No, but they were able to accommodate us. A three story restaurant. It did have vegetarian options and good ambiance. Overall, I found the meal to be okay for the price. A little overpriced so a little underwhelming, I don’t mind spending more for a dining experience and this place certainly had its charm, but the food is always the most important part.
My understanding is that the meat dishes were exceptional, but I also doubt I’ll ever eat there again and I certainly got some great memories from that dining experience so I am glad we went.
Here’s a collection of videos, including two featuring FuLu’s wild cat companion. I would encourage you to check these out, as I think you’ll get a good feel for the memories this trip created:
We headed to Dam Square, which is home to the Dam in question in Amsterdam. A dam on the Amstel river. Which, if you’d taken our canal tour you would know, eventually faded into Amsterdam.
We decided to try a cocktail bar that Adrianne had found. We had to ring a doorbell and wait for an attendant to let us in. The bartenders had fabulous facial hair, the Van Dyke is more than just a beloved American actor after all. Our server gave us a great rundown of their menu and a local perspective on where to go in Amsterdam.
We had a debate about Van Gough vs Rijksmuseum, as day of tickets had come available for Van Gough and my vote was for Hieronymus Bosch at the Rijksmuseum. Spoiler alert, that won and did not have any Bosch. I did get to see Rembrandt though. His art, not him. He’s been dead for a little while.
I didn’t want to take a ton of pictures in the bar, mostly because I was just taking it in, but the light they had was very cool as well.
Our first night came to a close and we had tickets to a museum for tomorrow so off to bed.
Day Two
We decided to skip the hotel breakfast and forage on our own. We did have a cool view from the window though:
As you can tell, slightly clearer skies on the remainder of this trip. I did miss the rain, but appreciated the tempo change. Plus it is easier to get pictures. We had to do a hotel transfer first.
We headed over to our next hotel, the Hotel D’Europe. Marina booked our stay there as a birthday present for Adrianne and it is a very nice hotel. We were given a guided tour, which let us know about their four dining options including the two Michelin starred Flore. We had a different view from that hotel window.
We also had a lovely surprise waiting for us in our room:
Next up on the agenda was eating and seeing art. Guess what you’re getting? More pictures.
The museum was standard fare. Some parts I really liked, but I do wish we had done Van Gough. My voice weighs heavy on the scales, unfairly at times. And I am not infallible. It just means we haven’t had our final Amsterdam experience. That said, Rijksmuseum did give us a good tour of the history of Danish art.
And it also gave a good sense of the colonial history of The Netherlands. I respect a museum that does not deny atrocities, even if I wish some went more in depth.
Napoleon’s brother was also the King of Holland.
Ships are a huge part of Amsterdam, both financially and artistically.
The library at the Rijksmuseum is also something straight out of a movie:
Probably unsurprisingly, my favorite part was the modern art. They had some really cool pieces and an entire section on punk zines.
After the museum, Adrianne and I did a little solo venturing. I found a board game store I wanted to check out, as I had done all the record shopping I think this trip could handle in Belgium. The board game store was called Friends & Foes. The staff was excellent and I had a great chat with one of the proprietors. I mentioned how I really wanted to spend time in a European board game cafe.
The challenge, you see, is tourists in Amsterdam. They could not even host gaming spaces because of marijuana tourists. People would swarm any open seating and use it for smoking, even in non smoking establishments. The vice was more important than consideration for the locals. It made sense to me, but he had recommended a board game bar run by Americans of all people right down the street called the Armory.
Adrianne and I made our way there to check it out. As soon as we got in, we mentioned to our server that we might come back later to play some games and she said that she couldn’t guarantee us a table. That seemed like fair warning and we decided to have a snack there, some drinks and play a few games.
Adrianne rolled the dice in the Dice Tower, which selected a random drink for you based off a list. We played a game of Rummikub in a bout of nostalgia, had some finger foods and played a game of Cascadia. Unsure of how much longer we would be there, we started a game of Aquatica, but stalled out in the learning phase. Mostly due to time constraints.
We needed to reconvene with our traveling companions and have some food. But first a few drinks in the hotel bar. As their speakeasy was under renovations, we went to the library themed bar which had drinks inspired by Elvis Presley and Ernest Hemingway. I think I offended the bartender when I said that he was a great writer and a terrible man. The also set a spritzing of absinthe on fire over a glass of champagne. A Rebirth in the Afternoon.
I found a place called Vegan Junk Food Bar, which is a chain. A chain I am very sad does not exist in the United States. Our food culture is still so rooted in the meat industry that the idea of something so globally appealing would never take off here. A shame.
We also hit the Red Light District that night. The first rule of the RLD is no photographs and I think that’s fair. I would have liked more time to explore there, to see beyond the surface and find what spoke to us. Because we saw a lot of things that didn’t appeal to me. Prostitutes gyrating in windows and locking eyes to draw you in. Live sex shows that felt like something even less appealing to me than strip clubs.
Let me be frank, I have no issues with sex work and I think we need better protections and regulations to ensure that the workers are safe. In that sense, I have no issues with anyone who chooses that line of work, either out of desire or necessity. That also doesn’t mean the industry is for me either. Marijuana is also legal in Virginia and I don’t smoke. A live show would have been cool, but wasn’t really on the table.
On the bright side, I did get some more really cool shots of Amsterdam at night.
We turned in for the night. There was an excellent cake for us in the hotel room that I didn’t photograph either. RLD rules apparently applied there too.
Day Three
We did take advantage of the hotel breakfast this time, as it was complimentary. We also had a nice view:
We had a nice, leisurely breakfast before heading to a coffeeshop that felt very much like a coffeeshop. It was delightful. We had the clearest skies of the whole trip so I got another set of photographs and we drove back home. I also had a special space cake that was stronger than I am used to.
Back in Brussels.
We closed out our European adventure with a Beer Spa, which was a hot tub filled with Hops and Barley. Seriously:
We also went to a very cool food court that featured scratch made cuisine from around the world.
Somewhere in all of that, I planted the seeds of food poisoning that would blossom the next day on our flight back across the Atlantic. This is a bit of a flashback post, as a lot happened in November. I’ll try to squeeze in San Francisco later this week and then we can move to the end of the year stuff starting next week.
I did see three movies recently to help round out my top movies list - They Cloned Tyrone, Polite Society and May December. We’re going to see Killers of the Flower Moon tomorrow night, as my weekly D&D game was cancelled. Now I have to finish making dinner for tonight. Sorry for the longer post, but hopefully you enjoyed it. Or you’re getting the slideshow moment from an 80s TV show.
Boy, this really knocks my day trip to Mechanicsville in the dirt!