The last few days (notes from Amsterdam)

Wednesday through Friday this week went by like a blur. Our whole team got together and had a sort of workshop to take stock of where we are at with our project. The great thing that came out of this for me and the family is that we decided my last week on the project will be next week, so when I return home April 5 I'll be home for good. At least, I'll be home from this project without any prospects for doing additional international travel in the near future.

Wednesday we worked until 9pm and then headed out on the Sneltram to Amsterdam Centraal Station. Sneltram literally means "fast tram" because it supposedly skips some stops, yet somehow it still takes 20 minutes to go 4 kilometers. I don't really get that. Anyway, my colleagues were staying at the KH Barbizon Hotel right next to Centraal Station, which had a fantastic lobby area. I heard from them later the rooms weren't so great, and for that I say "Welcome to Europe!" We asked the concierge for a recommendation on a restaurant and he recommended Het Melkmeisje, which literally translates to "The Milk Maid." It was just around the corner and had availability, so we went for it. It was right at the entrance to the red light district, so the area was full of people. The restaurant was typical Dutch style, in my opinion, in that it was small with a high ceiling and glass from floor to ceiling at the entrance. It was similar to the bruine café's we went to last time in the Netherlands. This place had a great wine list and I ordered a bottle of French Rhone that was something like a Syrah. I wish I could remember the name. It was tasty! I ordered a pepper steak to go with it and found I preferred it over German or Austrian pepper steaks, which are typically cream sauce based. This was based in something more like runny syrup. We wrapped up dinner around midnight and then Eduardo and I hustled back to the apartment, which was about a 15 minute walk. On our way back to the apartment we found the red lights extended far beyond the red light district. We were walking down a street a few blocks from the apartment and there were some red neon lights visible all over some windows on the other side of the street. To my surprise, there was a scantily clad lady flirting with some young men next to one of those windows. As we got further down the road, we walked past another "shop" on our side of the road and there was a woman standing in her bra and panties. I had to laugh, take one more look, and then walk on home.

Thursday my run started too early for my taste. After finishing dinner at midnight, I was up at 6am and with a mostly full belly still went out for a run. Needless to say, I took it nice and easy. This morning I noticed it was garbage day. Ordinarily, that would be unremarkable, but in Amsterdam they just throw their garbage bags onto the sidewalk rather than into a trash can. With trash bags strewn about, it made it a bit difficult to stay in the pedestrian lane, so I went out into traffic, which is mostly bicycles, but is actually a bit more nerve wracking than automobiles because you can't hear them coming along. There weren't many of them at that hour, so it wasn't too bad.

At work on Thursday we had another long day, wrapping up at 9pm again. This night the local folks from our project joined for dinner and our project Principal took us to one of her favorite restaurants, Blauw aan de Wal. This place was really in the heart of the red light district, so on the way to the restaurant you have to pass by all of the dirty little shops that make up that district. Somewhere between a porn shop and a peep show was a particular graffiti filled alleyway and at the end of it, to my sincere surprise, was the restaurant that was extremely civilized. It had a fantastic wine menu of high-end European selections and a menu crazy enough to justify it. I have been to a lot of really nice restaurants and have learned about a lot of foods that you wouldn't find in many places, and I'd say this place prided itself on having the most obscure gourmet creations possible. If only I had taken a copy of the menu I could share it with you, but as it stands now I can't even remember what the names of things were. Just think about obscure varieties of fish, vegetables, meat and meat derivatives, and that would be what they would have. I decided to skip a starter since I felt I had eaten rich foods already on that day and plus I saw some desserts that seemed more worthy of my calorie budget. I went for veal on the shank, along with the marrow from the bone, which was a first for me. It was served with a side of something I thought resembled a potato croquette, but I'm not actually sure what it was. There were also a couple other things that I have no clue what they were, and then some vegetables that I can't recall now. Everything was magnificent. For dessert I had some kind of chocolate cake-like thing. I don't know what the name for it is, but let's just say it was good. I would highly recommend this restaurant, and you have to be prepared to spend about 100€ per person if you choose to go there.

Thursday night ended around 1am, and I still managed to drag my tired self out for a run that morning. The day was mostly uneventful and we finished work by 8:30pm (On a Friday! In Amsterdam!) and then Eduardo and I went back to the apartment. We decided to stay in for the night and cook. I suggested Mexican food and so we went to the Albert Heijn grocery store and put together the best mix of ingredients we could get to make tacos. We made soft shell tacos and refried beans and it was great. I finally went to bed before midnight (barely, but still…) and slept until 9:30am the next morning. Life is good again.