Blast from the past: Amsterdam

''Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin,

but in truth it is a city of freedom. 

And in freedom, most people find sin.''

John Green

Three years ago, when Truffle and I were dating only for one month, he asked me: '' I need to drive my friend to Netherlands, wanna go with me, we will stay for the weekend? '' Umm , dddd , YES ! Sex, drugs, how can I possibly refuse? Okay this last sentence is a joke. Prostitutes do not interest me, they are basically causing me stress, because when I start to think of them, I start wondering about philosophical questions such as: Why is this world so strange that such things are even happening? Drugs .... oh, I know that you'll laugh if I tell you about a personal goal that I have in relation to drugs. Many people find it funny. My goal is to go through life without trying drugs (and yes, weed is also a drug). I'm not an uptight cow, but I have absolutely  no need, curiosity, let alone the courage to try it. On the one hand it seems to me that the easiest way in life is to be curious about drugs and just try it. My stubbornness is to blame that I do not want to be like everyone else. Yeah, that and the fact that I read the book We Children from Bahnhof Zoo in the seventh grade, which traumatized me for life. And because I am addicted to sweet delights such as cookies, brownies .. I am very worried that one day someone will slip me that special brownie, just so that person will laugh at me saying: '' Ha ha, now you tried weed, your goal is washed down the toilet!'' Ugh :/. But I do feel that I will probably 30 years from now toss my stupid rules out the window and start doing everything I’m now saying NO to. Maybe I will have on my bucket list- get high like a horse. Well, we’ll see. Amsterdam .... It’s true that I wasn’t there for a long time, but enough time, that I felt it, and enough to be impressed by it. It reminiscent me of Ljubljana (capital city of our little Slovenia), well just a little bit. But I think that’s just because of canals ( we have river Ljubljanica) and narrow town houses. The first thing I noticed, were bicycles. Bicycles everywhere! It gives you such a feeling of relaxation .. Everyone on their pretty bicycles, feeling and breathing Amsterdam. In general, everyone  there appeared to be much more  relaxed and open. The funny thing was when we were having a drink at this little cafe on the street and every little spot was used for a sitting area .... even at 40cm wide wall between the door and the corner of the building was placed a small footstool on which a girl sat and read a book. Not to mention the fact that the cat seemed to be in a package with the café, because she casually sat on our table. Amsterdam is not famous only for Red-light district and Coffee shops ( where the emphasis is not on the coffee ;)) but also for many museums, but to be honest, to me, museums are not interesting. Not because of ignorant reasons. Museums are not something that would make me happy on a trip and something I could hardly wait to see when I arrive to some foreign city or country. I don’t think that I will say to myself 10 years from now, when  I’ll remember trips: ''Oh, how nice it was when I saw those pictures in the gallery, etc ... '' It means more to me, to walk around the city, to observe the city vibe, eat a croissant and sit on a bench. Quiet, romantic city full of canals, bridges, bicycles, museums, Belgian waffles, historic buildings, floating homes, marijuana, tourists, prostitutes, freedom, dreams, narrow Dutch houses, tolerance, short rain showers, men who have good taste in fashion and Anne Frank and Van Gogh are in between. Photo of Amsterdam from above is really interesting, all those canals… I have the biggest laugh when I remember an event that happened when Truffle and I went to the store. We were walking and a few meters away were three Dutch girls and Truffle said: ''Look, pretty Dutch girls,'' and right at that moment my legs got  tangled in the branches on the ground and I looked like a total clumsy elephant and he continued: ‘’aaaaaand I have this one ( meaning this clumsy goofball).'' We both laughed at this like crazy =). What can I say, I’m clumsy. 13 -hour drive home was imbued with a CD of Pete Murray on repeat, Dutch profiteroles and emotions that smell like fresh love. With love, Neja

Tri leta nazaj, ko sva bila s Tartufijem šele en mesec v zvezi, me je vprašal: ''Frenda morm pelat na Nizozemsko, bi šla zraven, za čez vikend?'' Umm, dddd, JA! Seks, droge, kako bi sploh lahko zavrnila? Okej to zadnje je hec. Prostitutke me ne zanimajo, v bistvu mi povzročajo stres, ker si ob misli na njih postavljam filozofska vprašanja kot npr. : Zakaj je ta svet tako čuden, da se kaj takega sploh dogaja? Droge….oh, vem, da se mi boste smejali, če vam zaupam osebni cilj, ki ga imam v povezavi z drogami. Marsikomu se to zdi smešno. Moj cilj je, da bi šla skozi življenje brez, da bi poskusila droge (in ja, sem štejem tudi travo). Nisem zategnjena krava, ampak reees nimam nobene potrebe, firbca, kaj šele poguma, da bi jih probala. Po eni strani se mi zdi, da je najlažje biti firbčen in probat. Moja trma je kriva, da nočem biti firbčna kot vsi ostali. Ja to in dejstvo, da sem v sedmem razredu OŠ prebrala knjigo Mi, otroci s postaje Zoo, ki me je zatravmirala za celo življenje. In ker sem odvisna od sladkih radosti, kot so piškoti, browniji..me najbolj skrbi, da mi bo kdo podtaknil tiste, ta posebne brownije, samo zato, da bi se mi lahko smejali  v glavo: ''Ha ha, zdej si pa probala travo, tvoj cilj je šel v wc školjko!''  Grrrr :/ Čeprav imam občutek, da bom čez kakšne 30 let svoja neumna pravila vrgla skozi okno in notri prinesla vse, čemur sedaj pravim NE. Mogoče bom na bucket list-u imela tudi alinejo: zadrogirej se ga kot konj. Amsterdam…. Res, da sem bila tam zelo malo časa, ampak dovolj, da sem ga začutila in dovolj, da me je impresioniral. Po eni strani me malo spominja na Ljubljano. Ampak mislim, da samo zaradi kanalov (mi imamo Ljubljanico) in ozkih mestnih hiš. Prva stvar, ki sem jo opazila, so bila kolesa. Povsod, kolesa! To ti da en tak občutek sproščenosti.. vsi lepo na kolesih, čutijo in dihajo Amsterdam. Na splošno so se mi vsi tam zdeli veliko bolj zrelaksirani in odprti. Najbolj smešno je bilo, ko smo bili na pijači v enem lokalu na ulici in je bil res dobesedno vsak kotiček izkoriščen….še ob 40cm široki steni med vrati in robom stavbe je bil postavljen majhen tabure, na katerem je sedela punca in brala knjigo. Da ne govorim o temu, da je bila očitno v paketu skupaj z lokalom tudi mačka, ki se je ležerno usedla na našo mizo. Res je, da je Amsterdam poleg Rdeče četrti in Coffee shopov (v katerih ni poudarek na kavi ;) ) zelo znan tudi po številnih muzejih, ki pa mene, če sem iskrena ne zanimajo. Pa ne iz ignorantskih razlogov. Muzeji niso nekaj, kar bi mene razveselilo in bi komaj čakala, da vidim, ko pridem v neko mesto/državo. Ne zdi se mi, da bom čez 10 let, ko se bom spominjala potovanj, pomislila :'' O, kako fajn je bilo, ko sem videla tiste slike v galeriji, itd…'' Ne vem, več mi pomeni, če pohajkujem po mestu, opazujem mestni vibe, jem rogljič in sedim na klopci. Tiho, romantično mesto, polno kanalov, mostov, koles, muzejev, belgijskih vafljev, zgodovinskih stavb, plavajočih domov, marihuane, turistov, prostitutk, svobode, sanj, ozkih holandskih hiš, tolerantnosti, kratkih  deževnih ploh, moških, ki imajo dober okus za modo pa še Ana Frank in Van Gogh sta vmes. Slika Amsterdama je iz višine res zanimiva, vsi tisti kanali prav dobro izpadejo. Najbolj se nasmejim, ko se spomnim na dogodek, ki se je zgodil, ko sva šla s Tartufijem v trgovino. Hodila sva proti trgovini, par metrov stran so bile tri Nizozemske in Tartufi je rekel: ''Lej, čedne Nizozemke,'' ravno v tistem momentu sem se zapletla v veje na tleh in izgledala kot totaln štorast slon in on je nadaljeval: ''…iiiiiin jz mam pa tole (češ tega štora).'' Oba sva se temu smejala, kot zmešana=). Kaj naj rečem, nerodna sem. 13 urna vožnja domov je bila prežeta s Cdjem  Pete Murraya na repeat, nizozemskimi profiteroli in občutkov, ki dišijo po sveži ljubezni. Z ljubeznijo, Neja

Pete Murray - Opportunity