AmsterDAM!

Last wednesday it was off and away to Amsterdam and other assorted parts of the Netherlands with my Jazz and Blues music class.
This meant that 14 American college kids (4 girls, 10 boys), one professor and his wife, and one student activities coordinator were thrown into the city where just about everything that can be legalized, is.
We arrived on wednesday night, and trotted off to a jazz concert in the main music hall of the city. it was, to say the least, not at all what we were expecting. the lead trumpet player was in lederhosen, his drummer was in a neon spandex shirt, and they played a song inspired by the sounds their neighbors made while having sex.
let's call it "alternative" music.
on the bright side, there was free wine.
on thursday we went on a canal tour of the city, followed by a visit to the van gogh museum. it was interesting, but to be honest i can't stand museums for more than about two hours. after that i get hopelessly tired, and can think of nothing but how nice it would be to sit down on one of the strategically placed leather couches and take a nap.
we had the afternoon free, so after a few rounds of pictures at the "I AMsterdam" sign, we wandered over to a diamond museum and then made our way to a place to have a drink, then dinner at a tai restuarant. the whole gang gathered there, which was really fun (great ribs), and then we went to Bourbon Street.
kick ass jazz bar.
we had a beer with our professor, then just spent the night sitting around and listening to what i would call proper jazz music. the main guitarist started seriously hitting on me, which was pretty entertaining seeing as how he was about 50. we had an interesting conversation though, and garcia (my professor) was getting a kick out of watching it happen.
the guy was actually from america, which was really cool. i asked how and when he got to amsterdam and he said "20 years ago, because i followed a pair of legs". hm, interesting.
at any rate, once he found out we were from ohio he actually played 'hang on sloopy' which absolutely rocked our socks, so of course we all added the O-H-I-O.
friday was probably my favorite day. we went to the anne frank house in the morning, and then took a bus into the countryside and visited a cheese factory and a shoe factory. it was pretty awesome to actually see the little wooden shoes being made, and we even stopped by a real "dutch windmill".
after that we went to the little seaside town of Volendam for an hour or so, just to shop around and sight-see. it was breathtaking. quite possibly one of my favorite places on earth - the boats, the architecture...everything just seemed so perfect.

that evening we went to what can only be described as the worst musical experience of my life.
the place: Bimhaus, a jazz venue.
the band:(someone's name) and the chicago tentet.
the sound: eleven people. eleven instruments. and every single one was playing a different song. it's called 'collective improvisation' or some such nonsense, and it was absolutely painful. eleven different songs. not even garcia could handle it. halfway through the second set my right eye started twitching. absolute nightmare.
at any rate, saturday eventually rolled around and we found ourselves in Delft, the town where Vermeer lived. Being a huge fan of the book "Girl with a Pearl Earring", i was thrilled to death. there was even a little outdoor market, so we all did some shopping and just had a generally good time. it was nice to forget that it was valentine's day for a bit. stupid holiday really. totally comercialized.
we had the rest of the afternoon free when we got back to Amsterdam, so a group of us went shopping and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up (and have a few drinks) before going out again (to have more drinks).
we ended up at an irish pub that we'd found the night before when they lured us in with sparklers. we got a 3 euro discount on all drinks, and the bartender absolutely ADORED us so he kept pouring us free shots. then, because we were american, he started playing this fantastic medley of songs - including cotton eyed joe and grease. we about died. later on that evening we met a few irish boys, who insisted on buying us a few rounds. all in all, a fantastic night (though i wasn't feeling so hot the next morning).
and so sunday came, and it was back on the bus to come home to luxembourg. of course the trains not running on sundays due to construction meant that it took a few of us about 3 hours to make the 25 minutes trek from the chateau back to noertzange (it involved a bus, an hour's wait, and two trains), but we made it.
i survived amsterdam.
and it rocked.
tomorrow it's off to venice and stockholm for carnival break!
love,
me