*DISCLAIMER* There is a thing called “romanity”, which can be roughly translated as “sarcasm”. If you aren’t familiar with it, you might not want to watch this vlog ;)
Read more about my life in Amsterdam!
Category:
Netherlands
“Wait, keep the door open!”
“Sorry?” he says, holding the industrial sliding door with his skate.
“Keep the door open, please, I have to get in.”
“Ah,” he sighs “so you do belong here.”
I can tell he just received the ‘keep off’ warning from my colleagues inside the warehouse. His expression clearly shows the aftereffects of the proverbial Dutch directness.
“Well, yes, I do” I look over at him, as if coming out of a dream “I work here.”
When they first asked me to join a cycleseeing tour through the Amsterdam Area I was still wearing a knee support after falling on King’s Day. Being able to join the local influencer tour was, indeed, a great motivator. Biking is – without a doubt – the best way to explore Amsterdam, both the city center and the wider metropolitan area and I was eager to try two new routes developed by Cycleseeing Amsterdam, one heading towards the Amsterdam Beach and the other exploring the area where I live and work, the glorious Amsterdam Noord.
Once upon a time, or –actually- just one year ago, a crazy German guy wrote me an even crazier email. He identified himself as the curator of Urban Art Festival Amsterdam. He also stated that he was producing a mural in Amsterdam Southeast and wanted me to write about it. I was already planning to head to Northern Europe to attend the Belgian street art festival The Crystal Ship, and I had to fly to Nuart Aberdeen festival one week after that. So I figured it would have been at the very least convenient to spend the days in between in Amsterdam.
What could possibly go wrong?
All I ever heard about this harbour city is that, after being bombed flat during WW2, Rotterdam was completely rebuilt by some visionary architects who made it the modern and out-of-the-way urban jungle that it is today.
Crossing its wide, busy roads feels like walking through a city; the water surfaces (which are usually so large I won’t call them ‘canals’) reflecting the skyscrapers blinking lights at night look like the open sky dotted with stars.