Amsterdam
Rotterdam
It's time to pack things up here in Copenhagen and hit the road for The Netherlands. Yes, the country uses "The" in their name, because... you might confuse it with some other imitation Netherlands? I don't know, but since I have only been to Amsterdam and not Rotterdam, the preview will focus a little bit more on the city I have been to. Both of the cities have prospective employers to visit, and a very interesting circumstance - completely coincidental - is that I will be arriving to The Netherlands the same day as my brother, Kevin. Crazy, huh? The last time I was in Amsterdam, it was Summer of 2011, and I was with.... you guessed it, Kevin.
The last time we were in Amsterdam we did a little biking, both on a city tour and on our own, as we discovered some of the city's history and realized just how difficult it was to bike over all of the bridges - my knees still cringe at the thought of going over the steep ones from a dead stop or at very low speed. We also discovered how culturally creative the city is, not just from artwork but from the amount of street performers who seem to make an okay living by performing live in plazas, parks, on the streets, wherever. Performers range from musicians, to comedians and even variety shows that combine humor with circus-like performances with props and even audience participation. Last time Kevin got picked from the audience to participate in a street-show as he had to hold a torch, throw swords, and some other activities as instructed by the perfomer. I'll see if I can dig up that video, it's quite amusing.
I'm sorry about getting behind with the Travel Blog reviews of each place I have been to, it's just really a lot of work to go to these places, do what I need to get done, enjoy myself a little, and on top of that get everything I've done organized and onto the blog. Sorry about the excuses, but I should be able to get caught up when I take a bus from Copenhagen to Den Haag (The Hague). Fourteen (14) hours of bus should be plenty of time to get work done, right? Certainly, as long as the websites claim that this bus has internet and power plugs on board, then I should be good to go. Why am I taking a bus? Great question, it was $200 cheaper than flying, a train journey would include multiple transfers, I can get work done along the way, I don't have to stop in Amsterdam and transfer to Den Haag, plus I haven't done a long distance bus ride before, cross that off the bucket list, finally!?!? It could be fine, could be the worst thing ever, I have no idea, I'll let you know when it's over.
I mentioned Den Haag as the destination and that is because my brother is staying at a hotel in that city which is closer to Rotterdam than Amsterdam - hotel is paid for by his work, and I'm not turning down free accommodations! My plan is to get all of Rotterdam taken care of, and maybe a little of Amsterdam until Kevin leaves on Friday, then I will head over to Amsterdam and do some business and sightseeing on my own. Below is the picture gallery of our previous shenanigans in Amsterdam. How many times can you spot the red-headed-stepchild?
