Have you heard of “I AMsterdam card”?
First I flew to Serbia and picked up my sister; together we set off for our trip to Amsterdam. It supposed to be a simple, ten-minute ride via train from the airport to the centre of the city, where the “I AMsterdam cards” and all the city passes, were waiting for us. As we boarded the train, a lady who spoke Serbian, overheard our conversations in the same language and asked us if we needed any help to get around. Apparently she had been living there for years. I thanked her and with confidence said that we were doing just fine, showing her my guide book. She got off the train on the very first station. We continued. There was no sign of Amsterdam. Way past ten minutes. Way past any city-like scenery flashing through the train windows. Just fields. We got off at Utreht… Not Amsterdam.
We took another train BACK. Got off again at the station called Amsterdam something, something… It turned out NOT to be Amsterdam, but the suburbs of it. Changed the train once more, in all these Ons and Offs off the train, we forgot to get the new train tickets, of course. We ran into a train conductor (fines there are pretty hefty…).
Eventually, some TWO hours later, we arrived at our destination, collected our I AMsterdam cards, and for the next five days, continued having A BLAST.
WE LOVE AMSTERDAM!!!
Hey, play this short video:
You must come back to read more about what happened, to live all the hilarious moments (cuz that`s how it is when I`m with my sister). Sure, I`ll get all “museumy” on you as well, we`ll talk about artsy ones, and more fun ones, and some really serious ones. And the one that left the strongest impression on us – the Anne Frank House.
We met really cool people in this city, like this beautiful lady who wore a T-shirt with “Serbia” written up front and the ENTIRE Serbian national anthem on the back, and she didn`t even know it! We were like: “hey, we like your T-shirt!”, and she was like: “oh man I don`t even know what that SHIT says!” offering a big smile. Yep – that was enough to ask her to be our friend and pose for a photo. (She told us she got the T-shirt at some bazaar and she just liked it. We told her then what it said… we all had a good laugh.)
The other side of Las Vegas
It was exciting being in Las Vegas, even though the “setting” of it all was a kind of a little too tacky for my taste, and the general idea of it, well, not so much my cup of tea either; I really did not have a desire, not even once, to test my luck in any of those casinos. (I guess I always believed in hard work only.)
I figured, it will be enough excitement for me just to buzz around the town during the conference days, during any intermezzos, to check everything out. But here’s what I did do- I planned to come a weekend earlier, arranged extra stay on my own and went to visit what I really wanted; the “other” side of Las Vegas – THE GRAND CANYON! I booked a day trip with an organized tour, and headed out in search for the Joshua trees. Incredible scenery, fantastic experience, plus I met some new friends within the tour group.
The spare time I had left, I chose to spend on what was less likely for me to see anywhere else, or at least in the near future. I went to see the Pop Art exhibition and Andy Warhol’s work, and then (drum rolls please) : the “Crazy Horse Paris” cabaret! I mean I was surprised to see that this legendary show existed anywhere else but in Paris, so; For sure I’m gonna watch it! – I decided.
(Spoiler alert – I will be providing no pictures to enrich the writing about this experience)
Soooo…those Joshua trees… yes! I will be writing more about that, AND, the amazing dancing fountain in front of the Bellagio hotel where I was staying. Be sure to subscribe and not miss the new post about it.
I`ve always dreamt of the New York City
Every trip was memorable for something special, but I think the first one was the most impressionable one, because it was the first and there was a lot to soak in. And then, there was one other time when I arrived to NYC, on the back seat of a motorcycle. Yes, all the way from Toronto. Sport type of a motorcycle! (Yamaha MT-01, look it up.) Of course; went back the same way.
I know – crazy!
But did it stop me from doing this again?! Hell no! In fact, I wanted more and I did it again and now I want my own rider license.
I loved the first trip. I was lucky to experience it with one wonderful person with whom I shared the same pleasure of discovering places, its culture and history, and NYC in particular – well, we were both completely crazy about it. So, you can guess – we had a plan. Research ahead of time, savings for the trip ahead of time, bookings done ahead of time – all ready for when we land, to hit the ground running, to do and see as much as we possibly could in some six days or so that we had in front of us. That is exactly what happened. And I kid you not when I say that I actually lost weight that week just because we were literally running up and down the 5th Ave to manage to arrive to all the museums, and see the exhibitions before the closing time.
We hardly used any cab there, maybe once for the trill of it. We really wanted to feel the city, so we went through its underground, walked the streets, parks, buildings, stores. Walked every day, all day long. This was definitely the way to see the life here, among all those people around us. All kinds of people. People being rough, being cool, being loud, being fast, being free. And then; we were them. First time in New York, but also quite fresh to North America, this was a real big experience.
I think it was when the night came down on the first day, and we were on the streets of course, when we both stopped being tired and became so alive suddenly, actually realizing where we were, because the scenes around us were like in Hollywood movies. Or in a “Seinfeld” show, which we loved watching back home in Europe. The lights on the skyscrapers, large yellow cabs finding their ways around, restaurant garbage scooped up on the sides of the streets, and those tall orange and white stacks on the asphalt from which you could see the steam coming out from the underground. All that was SO incredibly exciting. We have arrived!!!
I wouldn`t be wrong if I`d tell you that the museums were our top interest for sure, so we did see a lot; from Guggenheim, to MOMA, then American Museum of Natural History, Madame Tusond`s, and of course the Metropolitan, which is the one I simply have to visit every single time when I`m in the city. I could spend hours in front of the paintings exhibited there. (Picasso being my ultimate fave!)
But there is one other museum that woke up special emotions in me, and for that, perhaps remains my favourite, it`s the museum at the Ellis Island. Being an immigrant myself, I couldn`t help but to strongly connect to that place, to which ships and ships from all over the world, were once docking in, carrying people in search for a better life. I could not but to reflect on how so much incomparably harder was for them then to leave their homes, cut the ties, and go to unknown. And then even worse; as per their arrival, they would be examined first, and should anybody be declared not fit or healthy enough, they`d simply get sent back home. Heartbreak was when that happened within one family where members get forcefully separated in such way.
There was something very touching about seeing where these people slept, what they ate with, what they brought with them, to which advertisement they answered to in their home countries. I even spotted an old paper money from my country when it was still called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes back in the 1920-ies.
Of course, in the city like New York, lots of fun as well, good eats, places to go out, shows to see, tours to take, shopping to do and sights to photograph. Some of the best ones I took were, perhaps at the Ellis Island and definitely from the Empire State Building. I mean I`ve decorated one room around the photo I took from there. Still much to share with you folks in the coming post.
The trip on a motorcycle, well, that one almost deserves a standalone story. It was a real adventure; everything that you can imagine that could have gone wrong, it did. From a flat tire while riding over the bridge at the beginning of the trip, to a serious downpour and no place to hide in the middle of nowhere. From having a motorcycle to overheat AND DIE in traffic on 42nd and 5th Ave, to encountering some real characters while trying to deal with the consequences of everything that happened. But oh boy, was that some experience of arriving on a bike to the heart of Manhattan! Everything was worth this feeling. All in all, it was tiring, well, no – it was exhausting, and it was soooo wonderful at the same time.
I must tell you about it. Leave your email, don`t miss a word.