| adom | welp, i leave tomorrow for my trip to Netherlands for work. | 01:54 |
|---|---|---|
| adom | be there for two weeks. | 01:54 |
| adom | get to be in Amsterdam for Queens Day. | 01:54 |
| adom | THE LAST QUEENS DAY MIND YOU | 01:55 |
| adom | so psyched | 01:55 |
| adom | any last minute tips/reminders for me for the trip? (this is both the first time i've flown and the first time out of the country) | 01:55 |
| * adom blushes. | 01:55 | |
| waltman | Why is it the last Queen's Day? | 01:58 |
| adom | this year she succedes (correct word?) to her son, whom will become the king. The Netherlands has had a queen for a long time and from next year on, they will have a king instead. and "King's Day". | 01:59 |
| adom | i believe that from next year on there will always be kings rather than queens | 01:59 |
| adom | [insert hilarious gay night-club joke] | 02:00 |
| waltman | A few years ago I got to be in Amsterdam for Gay Pride Day | 02:00 |
| adom | that sounds like fun | 02:00 |
| waltman | I was conferencing, but I got to see some of the fringes of the festivities | 02:01 |
| waltman | Heineken and Amstel are fine, but the best thing about beer in Amsterdam is that Belgian beers are everywhere and they're dirt-cheap. | 02:02 |
| waltman | Another tip: If you order Osseworst, you might end up with this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85201403@N00/3770405706/in/set-72157621790558673 | 02:03 |
| waltman | Amsterdam's a pretty easy place to start if you've never been to Europe before. It's easy to walk around, everyone speaks English, and aside from osseworst the food isn't too crazy. | 02:06 |
| waltman | You'll walk by places everywhere where you smell pot smoke coming out of them, but you don't have to partake if you don't want to, but apparently awesome if you do. :) | 02:08 |
| waltman | The two big museums, the Van Gogh and the Rijksmuseum, were both closer for renovation when I was there, so I mostly did walking tours from my travel guide. | 02:10 |
| waltman | closed. Well, there was a tiny bit of the Rijks open, and I did that in about an hour. | 02:10 |
| waltman | I didn't go to into the Anne Frank house, even thought I was right outside it. I forget why. | 02:11 |
| waltman | Is this helping? | 02:12 |
| waltman | Also you can generally get a better conversion rate by withdrawing money at an ATM than you can at a bank or exchange place. | 02:13 |
| adom | yes | 02:13 |
| adom | oh thats helpful too | 02:13 |
| adom | i get perdium (spelling?) weekly but i think that goes in my bank account | 02:14 |
| waltman | You should be able to pop your ATM card into pretty much any machine and withdraw, say, 100 euros. | 02:14 |
| waltman | per diem | 02:14 |
| adom | nice | 02:14 |
| adom | per diem | 02:14 |
| adom | thanks | 02:14 |
| waltman | oh, and depending on your hotel, don't be surprised if breakfast is just rolls, cheese, and cold cuts | 02:15 |
| waltman | they have trams that go all over the city, sort of like above-ground subways. Depending on how long you're there and where you need to go, it might be a good deal to get a pass. | 02:17 |
| adom | meh that's cool. im a bagel with cream cheese and a banana kind of guy usually. | 02:17 |
| adom | yeah they say it's like 3.90 euros to ride into Amsterdam from my location. | 02:17 |
| adom | im just outside Amsterdam in Haarlem. | 02:18 |
| waltman | They have good Indonesian restaurants there, since it was a former Dutch colony. | 02:18 |
| adom | and my hotel is like a 10-15min drive to the office | 02:18 |
| waltman | oh, and LOTS of people ride bikes there. to the point where you have to watch out for them when you cross the street. | 02:19 |
| adom | apparently my grandpa apparently hails from The Netherlands (he was some part Dutch) so im supposed to "look into" his heritage while im there | 02:19 |
| waltman | cool! | 02:19 |
| adom | yeah im excited, im a bicycle enthusiast, so im half-planning on renting a nice road bike while there | 02:19 |
| adom | i just dont like those "casual touring bikes" that everyone there has | 02:19 |
| waltman | most people in town ride junkers | 02:19 |
| adom | smart | 02:20 |
| adom | $$$ | 02:20 |
| waltman | It's flat, so you don't really need a fancy bike | 02:20 |
| adom | true, i just prefer single gear road bikes | 02:20 |
| adom | like a fixie but single speed coast. i dont like fixed gear. | 02:20 |
| adom | too much work to enjoy the ride. | 02:21 |
| waltman | so not a TOTAL hipster :) | 02:21 |
| adom | exactly ;) | 02:21 |
| adom | alright well, if you'll excuse me, i have to finish packing my carry on bag and then play xbox for 10 hours so i dont sleep now so that i can sleep on the plane and not be that jet lagged | 02:22 |
| waltman | have fun! | 02:22 |
| adom | thanks and thanks for the tips! | 02:22 |
| waltman | I did eat all that osseworst btw :) | 02:23 |
| adom | is it weird that i dont think they look that bad? | 02:23 |
| adom | i mean, they look like sausage, and sausage is the cousin to bacon. | 02:23 |
| waltman | it looked like raw hamburger | 02:23 |
| adom | oh | 02:23 |
| adom | yeesh | 02:23 |
| waltman | it usually comes in little tubes, and I think it's kinda more like liverwurst. | 02:24 |
| waltman | oh, they have very good cheese there, too | 02:24 |
| adom | i heard that too | 02:24 |
| adom | plannign on researching that as much as possible ;) | 02:24 |
| waltman | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouda_cheese # Those categories are listed on all the cheese | 02:26 |
| waltman | and it generally won't tell you the difference between, say, "oud" and "extra belegen" :) | 02:26 |
| rmg51 | Morning | 09:32 |
| JonathanD | Morning. | 10:21 |
| teddy-dbear | Morning peoples, dogs turkeys and everything else | 12:10 |
| InHisName | Mornin | 13:14 |
| InHisName | Mornin' misc | 13:15 |
| ChinnoDog | morning | 13:56 |
| teddy-dbear | o/ | 13:57 |
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