tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1306019904812126009.post-71688538174204139692008-05-05T05:32:00.000-07:002008-05-05T05:33:38.477-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_mBfzFxQTX-I/SB7-mDAY4xI/AAAAAAAAACM/cz-q_qOrpIE/s1600-h/100_0006.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_mBfzFxQTX-I/SB7-mDAY4xI/AAAAAAAAACM/cz-q_qOrpIE/s320/100_0006.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196870949627552530" /></a><br />I never thought travel essays made any sense as they are written by the person traveling almost for the same person. I did this, I did that and then the girl in the traditional outfit brought me a rose with my tea, etc, etc. I only have a few notes about Amsterdam, the rest remains for you to find out. And since I have already left and am in Zagreb now, I will still write it in the present tense, that should make it more genuine.<br /><br />I am staying at a former jail. My room feels like I should be guilty and I feel guilty. In fact, I am guilty. Thank you for this opportunity to confess, retreat and rehabilitate. Shared institutional bathrooms remind me of my boarding school days and that's good. I liked boarding school. I liked it a lot. I spent 7 years there. Most of western Europe has merged into the same notion of the western European cosmopolis and no that's not because of the EU. It has become hard to distinguish between Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona and so on; not in the way they or their people are or look, just in the daily routine of things; the coffee, the trains, the so-called global intellectualism which bores me to death. I miss when you could sit at a cafe in Barcelona and not feel like you are sitting at a cafe in Paris and vice versa. I guess this sort of strict difference is brought upon by war. War always brings us back to what we believe we rightfully own or have invented. If there was a war between the Dutch and the French, the French cafe cup might very well disappear from the Amsterdam cafes and get replaced by the Dutch goblet in a matter of days?<br /><br />Two more little notes and I will leave you alone: <br /><br />a) The main difference between America and the rest of the world is renting vs. owning one's life. In Europe and the Middle East, for instance, one rents his life from the history and the tradition that owns it. In America, one buys, makes and owns one's life. More on this later..<br /><br />b) I have discovered why prostitution is legal and over-marketed in the Netherlands; the local girls do not wear skirts. They really don't. Don't ask me why.<br /><br />Bye.Bruno Kracklitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975668450379257524noreply@blogger.com