Overcast In and Out

Another overcast, sometimes rainy, day in Amsterdam. Jet lag’s arms are around me; my energy is waning. I’m the only woman in the city without cool, hip boots. I thought about getting a pair, but backpacking them to Rwanda seems silly.

Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is off for exhibit elsewhere, and the Rijksmuseum exhibit is a fraction of its usual size while they remodel. I visited the Van Gogh museum only to realize that except for two or three paintings, I really don’t like Van Gogh, the crazy coot.

My image of Amsterdam in winter is of skaters on the canals. But the weather is temperate, and I can’t imagine them freezing. I amuse myself by walking, past restaurants and “coffee shops” (a ridiculous euphemism for grass bars and hash houses). Jumping out of the way of moving cars, bicycles and trolleys. Dreaming of living here for a few months sometime in the future, of buying flowers and bread and cheese on the corner, and bringing them home in the basket on my bike. Riding next to the canals, my scarf flapping behind me, and right up to my front door.

Tonight headed to the Melkweg (the starry Milky Way music venue). Tomorrow night on the plane to Kigali.