Day 3

Today's highlight: this cat (ROAR!)
I realize that I said yesterday that I would be doing a lot of shooting today, and I'm sorry I lied about that one. Instead, I bought a bike! Now I am a true European. So, i did a sort of self guided tour (with my friend Alex) of a few areas in the city. We cycled through Vondelpark, which is one of the largest parks in the main park of the city. There were people everywhere. I mean there wasn't even a 4x4 piece of grass to sit down on. Where there weren't people there were people's bikes; like a limb or at least a dog. Bikes laid next to their people on the grass, or in some cases on them for lack of space. It was like a holiday atmosphere, which I guess makes sense, since Holland is in the middle of almost a week of holidays. On Monday is a celebration of the end of the war when Canadians (woo!) liberated the Dutch, and May 1st was Queen's Day (which judging based on the beer cans and garbage still lying around the city was one hell of a party). I hear that Queen's Day is a lot like Mardi Gras, except that everyone is wearing the national colour, Orange! Actually, when I met up with Alex today he still has orange polish on his nails, which was very becoming I must say. Biking in Amsterdam is a little bit scary, but not because of traffic. Bikers have the right of way here, over everyone else on the road. So the only real threat to cyclists is other cyclists. A lot of people ignore the rules and shoot out past me into the street while I wait for the signal to change. I'm sure I will be doing that soon enough (don't worry, it's ok Mum), but it will take some getting used to. I also got a cell phone, so as soon as I start smoking I really will fit right in here. OH that's the other thing, cyclists talk on their phones, smoke, eat or whatever else they feel like doing while they're biking. It's crazy! safety concerns aside, the Dutch have amazing balance.
Tomorrow I meet up with Judith to do some test shots for an advertising campaign, so I have to get up early and make sure I find my way there alright.
I think it will be hard to leave here... but I promise I will come back
with love
Emma