A few days in The Neatherlands

The time in the Netherlands was fun but intense. The train ride from Berlin to Amsterdam was relatively uneventful. I had a nice Dutch couple and a mother and pair of kids from Chicago sharing my car. During the trip I was able to finish the Book on Genghis Khan that Jon has passed on to me in Portland.

Tiemen and Jochem met me at the train station in Amsterdam and we set out for Jochem’s flat where I would be staying while I was there. The walk was short and made easier by the two of them taking a backpack each (thank guys). We wound our way through the narrow streets, crossing canals as we went. Thankfully Amsterdam is a very dense city and so the walk was only about 15 minutes.

We dropped off the packs and immediately set out for a place to have dinner. We stopped at the local pub around the corner from Jochem’s to have a few Heineken first to decide what we wanted to it. We decided on a Thai restaurant across town so we had a walk ahead of us. They saw to it that we passed through the red light district and down a narrow alley of which the name I didn’t recall. I have to comments about this: it was weird to see these women in the windows and though the sex trade is no less overt on Nelson it was really strange to see it indorsed by the institutions. Then we headed through the main square apparently where the prince proposed to the queen at one time.

Picture: Tiemen and his 4-month old son Diede

The next day I woke up at noon and had to quickly get under way to meet up with Tiemen at Leiseplein square where we agreed to meet for lunch at 1. The walk was fun and the place was easy to find. Tiemen was waiting there with his 4 month old sun Diede whom I had been looking forward to meeting. Tiemen was telling me he was the Zen baby and I could see why. In the crowded square of tourists he was just laying there sleeping.

We went to Vondel Park which was close by for lunch. Vondel Park is a big park in the center of Amsterdam where much like Stanley park or Central park but perhaps a bit smaller. There is lot of grass for people to picnic on and enjoy the sun. We had a quick brunch and then went back to Tiemen’s house as he had friends coming over to meet Diede.

I got a chance to spend some time with Diede, holding him and feeding him though Tiemen took over the honours of burping him. We spent the afternoon hanging out but I had to make my way back to Jochem’s because I had his keys. The way back to Jochem’s proved to be a little more tricky than I first anticipated. I manage to get myself lost on the way. It seems that, like Victoria, Amsterdam likes to make roads that are perfect straight change names at intersections so I walked by the turn off to get to Jochem’s house since it didn’t have the same name as the road I had turned on earlier that day.

Picture: Traffic Jam on the cannels of Amsterdam.

After realizing that I had over shot the turn off I double backed and decided to take a random turn off in hopes that I might intersect the road I was looking for farther down. The gamble paid off and I found Karthusier street at the exactly the spot where the name changed. I returned to Jochem’s place to find him waiting outside with slightly warm beer. I guess I should have started out from Tiemen’s a little earlier but c’est la vie.

That night Jochem and I spent the night in playing computer games, eating pizza and watching entourage. I know it never that good reliving the past but it was just like old times when they would come to Vancouver and visit during the summers. Good times. The following morning I was supposed to get picked up by friend from Vancouver who was visiting as we were going to go out to a party near Utrecht that night but the rides were synching up so we planned to meet at Utrecht at 9:00 PM. I coordinated meeting up with another friend from home who was living in The Hague for dinner in Utrecht at 7:30 so that we would be fed before meeting Jaap at 9:00.

Jochem and I decided we would go out people watching for the day, on our excursion we though it was rather amusing to get the some tourist sunglasses that were fully chauchie so that we would be a little less flagrant. The glasses were perfect, it was great because they were so bad it was amusing to see who noticed these horrible glasses, who pretended not to, and who was in their own space and didn’t notice at all. We made our way to Vonder Park again and sat on the grass there for some more people watching.

Picture: Jochem and I with our voyeur/people watching sunglasses.

The hours slipped by quickly and before I knew it I had to rush back to Jochem’s to pick up my packs to make the train to Utrecht. A hasty goodbye and then jumped on the train. It was a really good time reconnecting with my cousins in Amsterdam. Its been far too long and next time it won’t be 4 years before I spend time with them again.

Seeing Tomas was really great. We headed out for a quick bite after wondering around downtown Utrecht and then met up with Jaap. We went over to an industrial site where friends of his had an art studio. They were having a BBQ out front and we had a chance to meet all these friends who were going to the party that night. A friend of Jaap’s whom I had met in Vancouver name Roderick was there also. They were the most generous hosts, no sooner had we arrived than we had Heineken’s in our hand and were being introduced to everyone.

Once we had arrived at the party we got our first taste of the small underground parties that happen in Holland. The place was a small clearing near a boat lunch about 45 minutes out of Utrecht. We had arrived a bit early and setup for the second stage was still underway. We found a place to park and had a walk around to see what was around.

Picture: Roderick at the party outside of Utrecht.

The music was heavy and hard: welcome to Tekno – that’s Techno with a K. The sound was something of Gabber with more techno sounds and a slight melody to it. Not my cup of tea but it was interesting to listen to something new and see what I could make of it. Unforetunately, I had left my earplugs in my other bag which was being stored at Roderick’s house so I had to do without.

The overall sense of the party was aggressive and edgy energy about it. I would say it was a reflection of the music being played or perhaps the fact that there were far more men than women there (a pattern I had noticed in Greece when I saw Dave Seamen a few years back). I don’t know if correlation is causality but it was pretty apparent. There was also a darkness about the music and what people were wearing. It was almost a punk and also some Goth look about them, that having been said they were friendly enough. I was approached by a woman named Chantelle who introduced me to many of her friends and the party organizers. She invited me to come visit Rotterdam though refused the offer as I was pretty keen to get back to climbing. Not being a huge fan of the music and not being able to dance I spent the majority of my time in Roderick’s camper van hanging out and talking with his friends whom were really awesome.

Picture: Tomas and I at the party in Utrecht. Its colder than you think there in the summer.

I can also say they go really hard as the party continued till 10 AM at which point I had long since thrown in the towel. Jaap was generous enough to give me a ride up to The Hague and drop me off at Tomas’ place. I had a shower cleaned up and unloaded my gear.

Tomas, Jen and I spent the day wondering around The Hague picking up my train Ticket reservation to Switzerland for the next day and a few bike parts. The train ticket proved to be a bit more of a challenge then I wanted since I wanted to go to Lausanne and then on to Gryon where a friend Matt whom I had met climbing in Kalymnos had a hostel but the operator said all the trains were full. So instead I book a ticket to Basel where there was climbing as well but I had no connections.

After walking around looking for a while in the overcast day we settled on an Indian Restaurant right across from Tomas and Jen’s place. No sooner had we sat down then it started raining. We ate dinner then they went home while I walked up the street to do some research on place to stay in Basel so that I wouldn’t be completely lost when I arrived there. Then we went back to watch the Astronaut Farmer, said our goodbyes before heading to be early.

The train went shockingly early leaving at 7:06 AM so I would have to be up at 6:10 AM to make the walk over with all my bags. On the train to out of Utrecht I was joined in my cabin by a Dutch man who worked for the railroad service and he explained that reservations were not necessary on many trains and also explained that even if a section is full you can always stand if necessary on the train.

I decided to go to Gryon knowing it was only a few hours that I would be standing at works to make my way there. It was really an amazing journey, I didn’t have to wait more than 10 minutes at any station along the trip. As soon as I got off I would check the train board and was able to find a train heading to where I wanted to go on my route. The only mistake I made was getting on a train that indicate it stopped at Bex (my transfer point to Gryon) and then went past that stop and the following two before I was able to get off and double back on the next train. This is yet another advantage to of hanging a Eurorail pass since I would have had to pay for the train to double back to Bex if I didn’t have it.

I found my way up to Chalet Martin and met Matt at around 8:00 PM and got myself setup in the place. The sun had been shining and I had left the rains of the morning behind. The mountains were beautiful and I felt at home once more, I never realized how much I feel a part of the mountains. Now hopefully the weather will hold despite what the tram conductor told me on my journey up here.