Stepping Foot on the 7 Continents of the World A Step at a Time

I woke up to a wet Tuesday morning. It was definitely much colder today than when I arrived. I still wanted to curl up in bed but I was too awake already. I really had a good night sleep, with a little help from legalized cannabis. I decided to hit the road early, with Anne Frank's house and the Van Gogh museum as my itinerary. It would be my first ever cultural immersion in a city. After breakfast I was walking the still empty streets of Amsterdam. A few locals were already on their bikes heading for work in this drizzling morning. It was definitely much colder. And the rain didn't help. But considering the kind of hot humid weather we had back home at this time of the year, I'd take this cold wet weather anytime. Doing my homework on where my destinations were on the map, I thought that navigating the city would be easy, given that the streets of Amsterdam were sort of a quadrant. I later found out that I overwalked and missed the house. Or maybe I got too engaged seeing the canals, the houses with those strange trolley contraptions hanging from the roofs and the still closed sex shops. I had to navigate my way back to a church that should have been the landmark of the famous house. There was already a line when I found it. So waiting in the rain wasn't really a nice way to start my day. But after a fifteen minute wait, we were let in. One had to wak four floors up to start the tour. It felt creepy walking around the exact same house 2 families lived in hiding for 2 years. What was amazing was how they were able to survive those 2 years without being found, by living in total darkness and silence. Seeing the pictures that Anne posted still intact sent shivers down my spine. As I walked towards the end of the tour, I saw a full display of all the books which had the different translations of her story. Too bad, there was no Filipino version. I then headed for the Van Gogh museum. I rode the tram which wasn't really hard to learn. It took me much farther than where I was staying. Again, there was a long line outside. The rain had stopped but it was colder than a few hours ago. So waiting in line sort of became a little unbearable. It didn't help to see loads of Japanese tourists skirting the line because they were in a group tour. A few minutes more of waiting, I was inside. There were lots of Van Gogh's work. About 4 floors of them. However, the collection was not as impressive as I expected it to be. The only famous pieces were the Irises and the Sunflowers. Too bad Starry Night was not there. That could have capped the collection. And for it to be in Amsterdam would have been something for the Dutch. What stood out for me though was this collection of Van Gogh's wherein he did covers of a few of the masterpieces. Imagine a masterpiece done Van Gogh style. Nice. By about lunchtime I finished the museum and headed for the park nearby, where the city slogan 'I Amsterdam' was located. It was freezing cold to just sit in the park. After grabbing a bite, I was back in the hotel dozing off for the rest of the afternoon. I woke up with the sun still up, but realized it was 8 in the evening already. I just went out to force myself to have something for dinner. I hardly finished my food as for some reason my metabolism has changed. It may be because of the jetlag, my changed mealtime schedule or just coping with a new environment that's causing me not to feel hungry and eat as much as I could. Or could it be my appetite has shifted from food to just absorbing the different sensorial experiences that were right before me, I thought.