Low-cost midlife crisis

The first place we went the first time I went interrailing was Amsterdam. Obviously this was not a random choice. I have very good memories of that experience (and also some significant gaps in my memory. I have no idea why). Yesterday we went back to Amsterdam.

First problem was that we discovered that to get into the Van Gogh Museum you have to book your tickets at least a week in advance (this is not an exaggeration). So that was an experience I was unable to repeat from the first time (yes we did actually go to museums that time. It wasn’t all hashish and Heineken and chips and mayonnaise). We did manage to get into the Rijksmuseum though, which was worth it. I love the way the museum essentially presents a history of the Netherlands through art.

Anyway Amsterdam didn’t feel like it did back then. Back then we discovered Amsterdam, it was cool and edgy and we were pioneers exploring the promised land. There were two tourist cities existing in the same space simultaneously (like in China Mieville’s The City and The City, a book which I heartily recommend). One city had middle aged tourists on canal cruises and the other had young tourists getting high. Oh.

Oooooh

At one point I needed to find a coffeeshop. You don’t need to know the reason for that, but I just did. We walked for ages before finally I saw one. At one point I was beginning to wonder if I had reached the point where I was no longer able to find a coffeeshop in Amsterdam. Possibly a worse sin than being unable to organise a piss up in a brewery.