Amsterdam and the road to Reality

We arrived in Amsterdam from Madrid a little nervous as our visas had been expired for 6 months. We had originally planned on taking the train from Madrid through France to Amsterdam, but after an unexpected border control encounter between France and Spain, during which we were sure we were going to be deported (we were not), we decided to stay in Spain until just a couple of days before we were scheduled to head home. At least that way if we had another issue we could show that we were leaving in a couple of days anyway. There are not supposed to be any border controls between Spain and The Netherlands as they are both part of the Schengen area, but then again there were not supposed to be any between France and Spain either. Thankfully there were no problems and we got to Amsterdam as smooth as possible.

It was kind of shocking going from what Madrid calls “Winter” to the freezing ass cold, dark at 4:30 Winter they have in The Netherlands. Our style of just wandering around and picnicking is less practical when it is 20 degrees with 98% bone chilling humidity. We still did our fair share of walking all over the city, but we walked much faster and took lots of coffee breaks (yes actual coffee, not coffeeshops).   We also went the the Anne Frank house which was very interesting as well as sobering.

Amsterdam, along with Venice and Prague made it into our top three favorite cities. Even though it is a big city, it feels very quaint. There are about 10 bikes for every car, canals lined with canal houses from the 1600s and hundreds of bike lined bridges. Of course there are also hookers in backlight lit lingerie and porn filling the windows, but that’s only in the red-light district (well mostly). The red-light district was seedy but on a very touristy level. It was interesting to walk around but the novelty wore off fast and we were eager to head back into one of the quaint residential neighborhoods.

Coffeeshops are as plentiful as Starbucks are in America, but sell a slightly different product. While you could get coffee, they are really there to sell pot. While it is not technically legal, the Netherlands government makes a distinction between hard and soft drugs and allows licensed coffeeshops to sell marijuana as well as allows people to smoke it anywhere. This just means that a good chunk of the city smells like a Grateful Dead concert.

We were only in Amsterdam for three nights. Time flew by and before we knew it, we were at the airport on our way home. Of course first we just had to get through this whole expired visa situation. When we went through the border control to leave they asked how long we had been in Europe. We did not want to lie and get in over our heads so we answered an honest nine months. The agent explained that we were only allowed three months and said we would have to go with his colleague. His colleague, a Dutch cop, led us into the airport police station and told us to have a seat. Of course we were shitting bricks. Our fears eased up quickly as all the Dutch police in the office were our age, laughing and joking with each other, putting ungodly amounts of sugar in their coffee and whizzing around in their whirly chairs. They were also chatting us up about our trip, and when they found out we entered Europe through Amsterdam, apologized that no one told us of the three month limit to our tourist visas. As it ended up they said they had to write a report on us. It was not up to them whether it would get filed or not and if someone (we are not sure who) does file it we may or may not get put on an unwanted alien list for 3 years. So worst case we cannot go back to Europe for three years. A bummer but totally worth it and no regrets! I would be shocked if we had the money to return to Europe in that time anyway!

We have now been back in America for one week. Lisa is in Michigan visiting Family until the new year and I am living with the parents in Arvada until we can move back to Boulder in January. It is defiantly an adjustment going from seeing a new, foreign place every couple days to living in a very suburban suburb. The thing that has annoyed me the most is being able to understand everyone else’s dumb ass conversations. I’m sure they are talking about the same stupid things in Europe, but at least I can’t understand it. Of course the hardest part is being away from Lisa as we had not been apart for more than an hour since May! We have plenty to keep us busy though, both starting businesses, planning a wedding and finding a place to live! Back to reality.