Living Life Like It's Golden

I'm not a history buff. And I don't think mama is either. But what we are, is curious and open. So we took a beautiful canal cruise today where we were able to see the city from another angle. This is seriously one of the most breathtaking cities I've ever visited. The canals, the buildings, the people, the tolerance, the air of care-free-dom. It's all so cool! We got off at the Anne Frank House Museum, but unfortunately the line was too long so we decided to save it for a future visit. After exploring that area and window shopping our way through De Negen Straatjes (The Nine Streets), we were on a mission to find the Royal Palace.

Once we discovered that it was just steps away from our hotel and that we'd been walking past it for a couple days, Mama was determined to get inside before we left the city. So after our boat tour, we found our way back toward the city center (Centrum) and there it was. And wouldn't you know, it was open for visits today. Excitedly mama went in, me following, all because she'd never been in a real palace before. Boy was it a site to behold. Really beautiful, ornate fixtures, breathtaking art pieces and lots of history (we got to walk through the same short doorways that Napolean did when he turned this building from city hall to a palace).

We didn't stay too long, because, again, we're just not so into history for history's sake. But we can now say we've been to a real palace and how pretty it is. And how royal and high on life we felt. And how the entire day felt like such a blessing. Like we were living the words of Jill Scott's song "Golden," especially "I'm taking my freedom, putting it in my stroll, I be high-stepping ya'll, letting the joy unfold."

Indeed, we are feeling golden. So grateful for the experience and freedom in Amsterdam and ready for our next adventure.

P.S. If you've read my blog, you know I love to look at the demographics and make up, from my eyes, of the places I visit. Admittedly, I've had a hard time putting my finger on who's from here and who'e visiting. At first it was frustrating. Then I decided that I kind of like it. Mostly because it means that I don't feel out of place. And can actually be one of the locals if I wanted...well, until I open my mouth. Well played Amsterdam, well played. 

Beautiful, sunny view of the art and history museum, Rijksmuseum.

I totally forgot what the curator said this is. But the picture's nice out of the roof of the boat, huh?

The Anne Frank House. We were excited to go inside, not really to stand in the two-hour long line. And online tickets were sold out. 

It's the palace ya'll!"

One of the many rooms in the palace.

The King and Queen were busy. We left them a copy of this selfie and told them to call us when they want us to come stay at the palace with them. 

We found a Mexican restaurant. We were curious. And oddly enough, not at all disappointed. Good job Amsterdam.

Amster-dammmmmmmmmmmmmm

Day two in Amsterdam was...HILARIOUS!

HI-

-LAR-

-I-

-OUS!

Yummmmmmmmmmmm

I AMsterdam

Today, Mama and I toured the city atop a double-decker hop-on-hop-off tour bus. This city is gorgeous. PERIOD! Here are some highlights from today:

- Canals, canals, canals

- The weather is tolerable, even with the rain, it's all good 

- There's a lot of character and charm jam-packed into this small city

- I could live here...except the deadly windy narrow Dutch stairs would take me out on Day 1

- Today I felt like Bubba Gump as I listed all the types of bikes we saw: slow bikes, fast bikes, old bikes, new bikes, short bikes, tall bikes, rude bikes, nice bikes, 10-speed bikes, motor bikes

- Shopping here is off the hook - seriously awesome, so straight forward

- Similar to Sweden, some public restrooms cost money

- Dr. Atkins must have been from Argentina because eating at Restaurant Argentinos San Thomas was very low-carb!

- We met an interesting former military guy who's originally from North Carolina but has lived in Germany for 22 years mostly as a civilian (I was secretly tryin to fix him up with mama...she didn't bite)

- I thought I lost my phone for a few split seconds and was totally ok with that... Who am I?! 

- We saw a Tesla taxicab today...so you ballin' like THAT Amsterdam?!

- I'm coming down with a sinus infection...not TODAY Satan, not ta-day! 

Day three, where you at? 

Just beautiful!

Some of this stuff I don't remember whether it's a landmark or just a building I thought was pretty...clearly, I am SOOOOOO Amsterdam! LOL

A snap of a my favorite shopping spot...talk about the Magnificent Mile!

Again, pretty or purposeful? I'm not so sure.

AHA! It's the Heineken experience. 

There's not many of these, but the one gas station we did see is a Texaco. TEXAS REPRESENT!

This scene is so indicative of the way people just get in where they fit in here in Amsterdam. The bike was as big as the car.

Smoke, Eat/Sex and Ride

Scientists report the universal side effect of smoking weed is a medical condition called "the munchies." The second leading side effect is "copulation" (doing the nasty, humping like bunnies, doing grown folks things). Well, Amsterdam has an eternal case of the munchies and there's something to help with whatever nature of side effect you get after a long night of "puff puff pass."

There's a waffle/crepes, ice cream, french fries, burger joint every 100 feet. And restaurants with cuisine from all around the world including Tibetan, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Italian that are open until all hours of the night. Seeing this many restaurants makes total sense to me, knowing what I know about the side effects of weed smoking and the fact that it's legal here. What is stumping me is the reason why I have not seen ONE fat person walking around this place. And then it hit me...literally ALMOST hit me. "It" being a person on a bike.

That's it. The life cycle here is smoke, eat and ride. I mean, seems weird, but I think it's really working for lots of people here. Seriously, this little city is single-handedly keeping Schwinn and Huffy in business.  

Oh and for those who can't keep your hands to yourself after smoking a fat doobie, head on down to the Red Light District. There you can get lucky with one of the dozens of ladies standing in display windows offering up the goods. Or if you are low on cash, there are plenty of sex shops along the way where you can get a toy to get you there. And if both of those fail, there's always a waffle place on every corner until your luck changes.

WOW at this list of inventory and curiosity over what possibly could be in the "much much more?!" LOL

A range of emotions including "Huh?!" "Yuck" "Maybe we should try it" and "Who is Dr. Greenlove and was he high when he created this?"

When I tell ya'll this burger was AMAZING, it really was. It was made with Wagyu beef from Japanese cows. Lord, now I'm going to be at Whataburger pissed off from now on!

What do you do when have the munchies from a day full of "contact" highs? WAFFLESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Getting a Weed-ucation in Amsterdam

The minute we stepped out of the airport in Amsterdam, we were greeted by the not-so-faint aroma of marijuana. As we made our way to our little Hotel Luxer in the Red Light District, we got a hint here and there from the groups of people we passed. If I'm honest, I feel like I had a little bit of a contact high by the time I checked in at 9 a.m.

And inevitably, each time we did make "contact," it tickled us. Laughter as if we were getting away with something (and so were they) combined with admonishment for the U.S. that insists on regulating a drug that safer, happier countries are letting people roam the streets with.

So after the 50th "smoke" or "seed" shop I passed, I couldn't help it. So I took my American self into SensiSeeds in Centrum (central point of the city) to get some questions answered. Biggest one: What sorcery is this?

So, Vicki, the "seedologist" kindly gave me a "weed-ucation" tonight on growing, smoking, average cost, what's legal, what's illegal and even encouraged us to visit the Cannibis College a little way down the road for more information. There's a WEED COLLEGE?! She also told me that if I see a "coffee shop," that's a place where you can smoke. But don't get greedy, they only sell up to 5 grams per person there (that's a lot of joints y'all!) 

Man, this place is amazing. No seriously, do our lawmakers know that people are living like this? Oh wait, they're all probably too stoned to give a damn about anyone but themselves.

It is all truly so interesting and really part of the charm of the city. There is a certain sense of freedom and acceptance in the air. Oh no, wait, that's just marijuana. HA!

This is fun ya'll, day two, here we come.

Escalators

Yesterday, while mama and I were rushing to catch the airport train to our connecting flight, we came upon an escalator. A really tall one. And, as I always do, I uttered under my breath how they freak me out and how non-sensical the fear is while pausing slightly to choose the exact right step. All of a sudden mama pipes up: "Oh you've always been scared of them, since you were a little girl!" I've always been convinced that something terrible happened on an escalator when I was a little girl. When I mentioned it, she said "Nope, you've just always been scared. I always stood in front of you so you didn't lose your balance." Then, as real mothers do, she walked up two steps to stand in front of me on yet another escalator.

I am a deeply sensitive person. I often read too much into things. And am more often than not led by my emotions. So, it's quite natural that this touched me on levels deeper than she would have expected. It's because often our fears can be paralyzing. Noone understands them because of their view of you. That often means that we try to yank people away from that fear, prop them up with compliments, encouraging words and scripture. I'm guilty of doing this (a lot). And this reaction isn't the wrong one. But sometimes we just need to get in front of them, stand in the gap and protect them through that fear. Whether or not we understand it and no matter how ridiculous we think it is. Instead of saying "Girl, you're too old to still be afraid of the escalator," mama just acknowledged that I'm still struggling with it and stepped in to cover me in the moment.

So I want to reciprocate. This is mama's first trip out of the country. A trip where she will see and touch things that she's seen in books and on TV for years. And I feel that's it's my job to protect her and this experience. While I don't think she's afraid now, she initially had fear coming here. And getting her here (especially to Paris) after all of the terrorism and unrest in the world was some of my best PR and persuasive work to date. It also means that my sense of responsibility is heightened.

Today, while walking through Amsterdam, I found myself being very overprotective of my mama. Telling her to watch her step on the cobblestone streets...like every five steps. She kept saying "I got it Kim, I got it, I'm not that old!" Or how I nearly yanked her away from the gap between the platform and train when she refused to stop walking so close to it (my blood pressure was rising). And it's not that I want to have it my way. I just want to cover her. I want things to be perfect for her. I kinda wish my daddy was here to see this (I know she does too). His mind would be blown, he would be so tickled, so proud to be here with me just like she is and so in awe of their blessings.

So I start my trip by thanking mama for protecting me even in the times that I can't remember. For letting me have fears and just doing her part. For being more open-minded than I thought she was. And for letting me be me...stupid fears and all.

On our way...do NOT judge me for the way my hair looks. I worked so much in the hours leading up to vacation that I just didn't have time to tackle. It gets better, I promise.

Me and mama in the air. And yes, I AM twisting my hair on the plane. 

Amost there! I think we were somewhere over London at this time. 

So CLOSE to first-class, yet so far away. LOL

Europe, Here WE Come...Wait, WE?! WHAT?!

So getting to this year's spectacular European adventure has been...well...AN ADVENTURE! If you're new to my blog, let me catch you up. 

Hi, I'm Kim and I'm addicted to traveling (Hi Kimmmmm). Long trips around the holidays are my particular weakness, but short jaunts to New Orleans, the beach, getting lost on the tollway, really whatever, does it for me. Most of my travel is solo and that's most of what I document on this blog. 

Well this year, I'm being bold and bringing along a travel buddy - MY MAMA! She's never been out of the country and her passport is burning a hole in her pocket. So I'm breaking her in by taking her to one of my favorite places on earth - Paris! But first, we'll discover Amsterdam for the first time together and then end the trip in London. 

Now that you're all caught up, back to this year's adventures. It's been a whirlwind of a year (head spinning craziness) so this vacation is much needed. 

So in the spirit of Christmas, I've summed up life since my last vacation in song "12 Days of Christmas" style:

**** Sing along very loudly like a six-year old and REPEAT ****

On the (insert number) day of Christmas, my good Lord gave to me: 

• A brand new job Downtown
• Two bathroom renovations
• Three inches of new growth (I still haven't taken the leap to loc my hair)
• Four new nephews/God babies
• Five weeks without puppies (during bathroom renovations - sad times)
• Six grad school hours completed
• Seven months until my birthday (I'm running out of stuff to include, this was harder than I thought it would be)
• Eight new hairdos (I've done them all myself)
• Nine months until my first CASA-versary (volunteer stuff)
• Ten months of marriage (again)
• Eleven days in Europe
• Twelve months until my next adventure 

I'm t-minus 36 hours from a beautiful vacation and am not even packed. Let me take that back, I don't even have what I need to pack. But, much like the rest of this roller coaster of a year, I'll get there. I mean, I'll probably skid in sideways, afro cocked to the side, french fries in one hand and wine in the other, with a big ass grin on my face. But I will get there dammit!

So hold on mama (and the rest of ya'll). Vacationing with me means you're going to get into some crazy situations, meet some crazy amazing people and do some serious self-reflecting. Ready?

These bathrooms were a labor of love, so I'm showing them off. This is the master. From the time I moved in, I've wanted to do this...so there.

The guest bathroom. In total renovations took about 5-ish weeks...the puppies were at mama's house that whole time terrorizing her...so I kinda owe her this trip to Europe! LOL