AMSTERDAM - PARIS - AMSTERDAM
PART-1. AMSTERDAM.
I was pretty sad to leave Herman & Jolanda, but I could not made Doezum-Amsterdam-Paris in the same day (almost 8hours of journey) but a great moment was waiting for me in Amsterdam this time. For the short story : Two weeks before the beggining of my road trip, I began to send request to find host in Amsterdam and Frank were the only one to answer. But during my stay in Doezum, Joren wakes up and send me a new proposal to stay for the night right before my return in Paris. I felt a free spirit and a common love for music when I sent him a request the first time so I accepted, following my intuition. And I have to say that my intuition was, once again pretty good. I was impressed : he didn’t mentionned on couchsurfing.com that he talks an almost fluent french (because of his French mum). He came back from his football practice around 11:30pm but he bring me to a Live blues club near the flat and it was just perfect : watching a young drunk couple dancing together, teaching Joren what is « Une personne improbable » as we say in french, drinking 1,2,3,4, (well nevermind), beers and get drunk, a little bit. PART-2. PARIS.
So weird... I had to came back in Paris because my friends were organizing me a surprise evening for my birthday (wich was in October), with a special theme : Harry Potter (so if some of the words look weird in this article, you can check the vocabulary on google !) . Thierry and Madeleine knows me very well actually because one of my big regret in my life was to never had my own owl bringing me a letter to go to Hogwarts... (yes I was living in a special world in my head). They have done amazing things to put the magic in the evening : lots of candles, lots of wine with weird names (dragon’s blood, love filter, and unicorn sperm - !!- ), and they painted by themselves the fourth Hogwarts’ homes emblemas, have made a wonderful Sorting Hat, and they sewed my own Invisibiliy Cloak.
The next day, I decided to go with Thierry at Republic’s square. Few minutes walk to the attacks points of Friday the 13th. Because despite the military and police presence everywhere, I still don’t know if I realise what happens in my city the last week... Even after I eard my friends’ version of the events, with their own point of view of their evening in Paris, or their own loss... The few pictures I have taken let me speachless : The republic statue on an amazing winter’s evening sunlight, ocean of flowers, candles, draws and notes at the feet of the statue... And a lot of people, surronded by the police. Because of the emergency state, we are not allowed to gathering anymore. Wich is for a French a deep attemps to our rights and liberty.
The atmosphere were stronger in front of « La belle Equipe », one of the attacked bars... (wich is at 5 minutes walks from a friend flat...). Bullets impact and again : 3x12 meters of flower candles and others supports’ testimonies.
EndFragment
PART-3. AMSTERDAM.
Back to Joren's home, I had an entire day to figured something new to do alone in Amsterdam before my train for Enkhuizen at 5pm.
I decided to go in the Rijksmuseum ! We can properly talked about the EXPERIENCE of the Rijksmuseum : you can download an Audio-Guide app (Free wifi in the museum of course) and choose wich tour you prefer (with the time indication for each).
They propose a tour for the masterpiece collection, the building itself, the medieval area etc... I only had three hours to spend in the museum (wich is no enought considering the building size and the ticket price !) so I decided to follow the masterpiece tour ! And between Rambrandt, Vermeer, Gabriel, my heart emotions and feeling was disturbed ! With the audio-guide, they have recreated sound atmospheres, which transports you literally into the painting... They put you in little worlds and you almost forget the spacetime around you. So many things to see... Even the renovation of the building is a masterpiece ! In the medieval area for exemple, the walls and the ceiling are grey, copying old bricks, ending above you in keystones... You will have to spend 17,50€ for the entrance but really, if you have a rainy day in Amsterdam, don't only stay in the coffeshop. Go to the coffeeshop, then go to live the Rijksmuseum experience ! Enjoy your trip !