A Note from Nick

Well, on our third day in Amsterdam we headed off as a group to take a boat tour of the canals and part of the harbor of Amsterdam. We saw a great deal of the city from the boat, most notably for me The House of Cats, a shelter for the stray animals that wander the city. I was also struck by the abundance of houses on the water. We found out that the water is flushed out of the canals five times a week as to bring in clean water, but it still looks pretty dirty. The only comparison I can think of offhand with the states is road construction, which may not be quite the same, but it made me realize there is a lot of heavy maintenance in maintaining the city and sanitation.

After getting off the boat a few of us wandered back to the hotel and visited the Van Gogh museum. Not knowing much about art, as in words I would use to describe what I saw without seeming pretentious and flaky, I must say I breezed through most of the exhibits, deciding that my personal favorite was 'Two Women Embracing'--perhaps because I prefer surrealist work like Dali.

I don't know what it is about museums full of paintings, but it seems I always end up having strange visions in my head of Angie Dickinson in "Dressed To Kill" or Jeanne Moreau from "Jules & Jim" making me think that something exciting or murderous could happen at any cinematic second that I stare at the still life of eggs, but instead I run into someone I graduated high school with.

Back to reality, we head to the Rijksmuseum and see all kinds of neat stuff and paintings that I don't remember, though there almost seemed to be an air of apology that "Girl With a Pearl Earring" was not part of their collection. Writing so soon after the expedition is overwhelming, and as to not dismiss the life work of any great artist, I stand down and realize that in the end I do not have the tools to critique or correctly analyze what I looked at.

The day is far from over, and as to what concludes my third day, I am not sure, and most likely, would not be able to post. Whatever it is, Amsterdam would be my residence of choice for the next decade. Coming back to the states will be difficult after being in such a progressive country.