amsterdam’s midnight wander that cost me 20 euros and a sanity
woke up at 3am and realized my laptop was on fire but i still managed to get to the cafe because i forgot to charge it last night. the place smelled like old books and regret. i ordered a coffee and it was good. not amazing but good. i asked the barista if they had a map and they handed me a napkin with a doodle of a cat wearing sunglasses. i never found the real map but the cat map is now my main navigation tool.
i checked the weather and it's...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. -2.63 degrees feels like a freezer but the sun was peeking through the clouds like it was trying to apologize. the temperature min and max were 0.57 and 1.75. i didn’t care. i just wanted to walk.
the map thing? i put it in my phone and forgot about it. now i’m walking in circles near a building that looks like a giant frozen yogurt cup. the neighbors? if you get bored, the nearest zoo is just a short drive away. i heard that from a guy selling sausages on the street. he was probably drunk. or maybe he was just trying to sell me a sausage. who knows.
someone told me that the street art here is so good it could make a therapist cry. i saw a mural of a cat with a guitar playing in a library. it was weird. i tried to upload a photo but my phone died again. i had to use the library’s wifi and it was so slow it felt like i was uploading a thesis. but i did it. the photo is of a cat with a guitar in a library. you can find it on unsplash.
i saw a guy with a camera taking pics of a wall. he looked like he was in a museum. i asked if he was a photographer and he said no. he said he was just trying to capture the essence of the wall. it was strange. i later found out he was a freelance photographer. maybe that’s why he was so serious.
i tried to find a hostel using a tripadvisor link but the page kept loading. then i tried yelp and it was the same. finally, i just asked a random guy on the street. he said the hostel near the canal is decent. it was. the people there were loud and smelled like fast food. but it was cheap. i paid 20 euros for a bed and a bag of chips.
the reviews? i heard that the coffee shop near the train station is owned by a guy who used to be a chef. some people say he’s a genius. others say he’s a vampire. i don’t know. i drank the coffee and it was okay. not amazing. but okay.
if you want to avoid crowds, go to the part of the city where the houses are painted pastel pink. i saw that on a local board. it’s probably a lie. but i painted my backpack pink just in case.
the weather is still there. i checked again. -2.63. i’m not sure if that’s a good thing. maybe i should have worn more layers. or maybe i should have skipped the whole trip. but then i wouldn’t have seen the cat with the guitar.
someone warned me that the streets are dangerous at night. they said there are people who follow tourists. i didn’t see anyone. i saw a lot of pigeons though. they looked like they were judging me. maybe they were.
i ended up at a park where people were playing frisbee. it was nice. the frisbee was white and the sky was blue. i tried to join but my hands were too cold. i sat on a bench instead. the bench was old. it smelled like decades. but it was warm. i thought about how weird it was that a bench could be warm in a place that feels like a freezer.
i posted the photo of the cat on unsplash and got 12 likes. one was from a person named 'travel_monkey' who said it looked like a dream. i don’t know if that’s true. maybe it was. maybe i was dreaming the whole time.
i left amsterdam at 1am. my bag was full of weird stuff. a empty cup, a napkin with a cat, and a frisbee. i hope someone finds it. maybe it’s a treasure. or maybe it’s just trash.
the next day, i’ll probably forget about this entire trip. but for now, i’m writing this while sipping coffee that’s still warm. it’s 10pm. the weather is still there. i don’t care. i just wanted to share the chaos.
check out the map if you’re curious:
. and if you want to see the cat with the guitar, it’s on unsplash. also, the hostel near the canal is worth a look. it’s on tripadvisor. or not. who knows.
tags: travel, amsterdam, human, vibe, messy