Don't laugh but this aging hippie cannot stay up late enough (past 8 o'clock) to partake at a local coffee shop. I haven't done this sort of thing since my twenties but it's a goal. Did I really say GOAL?
I am in Amsterdam. Or as they say here, IAMSTERDAM. A Smart Shop sells drugs and hallucinagens; a Coffee Shop sells dope.
Van Gogh Museum has been a highlight, and believe it or not, the Diamond Museum. We met a woman Diamond Polisher who is in the Guiness Book of World Records for polishing the smallest diamond. She's polished diamonds for 24 years, is head of the department, and enjoys her work. She developed fine-motor skills early, loved to cut with scissors, wrote very tiny as a child. One teacher suggested she hire a tutor to correct the problem. She thought, why change what I'm good at.
Hostel is better in Amsterdam than London; we splurged for a private room with a double bed. No twins available. We scoot the chair out of the bathroom to move into the living area to back into the bedroom. Pivoting in place to get out the door. It's a hoot. Very few people our age travel in such a way. Our peers stay at REAL hotels with stars.
We meet people in amazing ways. A fellow traveler from Golden, CO who works at Coors. We saw him for breakfast and lunch in the city (without planning ahead). We joked for an hour with two guys in their late 20s (American and Dutch) about being their moms. One was waiting on a date, his 4th with a Russian girl. We actually waited until her arrival so we could meet her.
We separate in 3-5 days. Transitions are tough. Traveling together opens up opportunities to meet people. Traveling as an individual forces me to bud wide open in a self-reliant sort of way. Both ways of travel are good. Both challenging in their own ways.
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