Delft Elf

Well, here's what we've all been waiting for. Abbichka Special Edition: European Vacation. I am writing from our Amsterdam hostel, the Hotel Annemarie, right on Museumplein. What can I say except everything you've heard about Amsterdam is true, but that doesn't even explain half of what's great about this city. It is so incredibly beautiful at every time of day and every part of the city. It's so warm here that we've rented bikes and spent all our time rolling around on the canals and cobblestone streets. Lauren brouight portable speakers for our iPod, so we just ride around playing tunes for everybody. The bike culture is probably the coolest thing about this city - everywhere you go there's bike paths and clumps of biked chained to racks/pipes/eachother. Amsterdam's architecture makes it so clear that New York was first colonzezd by the Dutch; the streets look like Wes Anderson's Brooklyn while stately homes and gardens call to mind all those Hudson Valley homes. We've gone to great museums, especially the Rijksmuseum, which illustrates that the Dutch has always been fun-loving people. Tomorrow, we're going to the Van Gogh Museum. My favorite way the museums here are so different from Russia is that they're informative and well-organized. Imagine. And instead of shooing you out at right closing time, a little bell begins to ding, like the bike bells on the streets.

Here is, I think, the main difference between Russia and the Netherlands: Dutch people are happy, friendly and not suspicious! Public services here are so fair and reliable, we're in shock. To buy train tickets, we just had to give him the money (passport and exact amount not required), then the train was right there at the airport! And you know, on the train and tram, they never even asked for our tickets. Dutch people smile!

Here's how we know we've all been somewhat Russified: we all brought travel silppers; we drink tea every time we come inside, 4 degrees celcsius feels downright tropical. The only area where Russia has it up on Amsterdam is the all-night access to groceries, including large quantities of cheap beer. We all got normal bottles of beer here, only they felt so small after getting used to liter bottles of Bochkarev. Also, Amsterdam is of course super-liberal, but I realized they still rely heavily on euphemism. Want some weed? Go to a "offeehouse"(not a cafe or a bar, there's no smoking there). Prostitutes? They're in the "red light district." I'm also coming to appreciate what it means that English is an international language, and training myself to not to say I'm from America, but the States. But lemme tell you, it gets us much more streeet cred to say we've been living in Russia since Semptember.

So Weils (etc.), Abmans, Bliumins, Cieplies (that's the plural of Cieply), Nelsons and anyone else who may be reading this, we are safe, happy, healthy, well-fed, exhausted and turning out to be a great team. Tomorrow is Lauren's birthday and we're having a Russian blini party in the hostel. Oora!

Next week: from Berlin.