DIScourse - Antwerp

Today is my last day in Antwerp.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone by!

I spent Thursday in Bruges and on Friday evening I went to Bristol, England to visit friends for the weekend.  I'll write more about this when I return to the US.

Yesterday I returned to Belgium at 10:00 only to run into a baggage handlers strike at the airport.  I ended up not leaving the airport until 17:00!  After six hours I finally filed out the lost luggage forms and was going to leave but it was 16:10 and the bus to Antwerp leaves on the hour.  So, I sat down and after about ten minutes the words "THE HOUSE OF DIS" caught my eye.  I couldn't believe it.  My luggage had finally made it out of the basement.  It was supposed to arrive on Belt 2 but ended up coming out on Belt 7 so it was pure luck/fate that I happened to sit down across from Belt 7 (in a completely different part of the terminal).  

Today I'm at the office for part of the day to mail out a box to clothes to the US, check my mail, say my good byes and clean out my desk.  I'm still not sure what my future is going to be at Theo but I am hoping that I can at least continue to do some freelance work with them.

Tomorrow I have to catch a train from Antwerp to Schiphol in Amsterdam at 07:00 for my 10:30 flight back to Portland.  I'm glad that it's a direct flight because I'm not looking forward to hauling my luggage around.

DIScourse - Amsterdam

It's been awhile since my last journal entry and a lot has happened so let me start with what went later in the day after my last entry, June 6. After work I rode my bike to the salon, STAN, and got my hair dyed. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it other than making it darker so I let the woman doing my hair sort of do whatever she wanted. We ended up going for a dark reddish-purple with the front part dyed black. It pretty much looks black unless I'm under a light or out in the sun. I was worried about missing my train to Amsterdam but I ended up getting out of the salon early.

I rode my bike to the train station and got my bag out of the locker then went to a cafe and had a beer before getting on the train. The train ride to Amsterdam takes about 2 hours and goes by pretty quickly. I just listened to music and watched the scenery go by.

When I got to Amsterdam I got a taxi and told him to take me to Hotel Europa 92 and showed him a print out I had. I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen but the driver seemed nice so I just got in the cab and looked at the city. We finally got to the hotel but it looked different (nicer) than the photos on the internet, so I asked if it was the right hotel and it turned out that he took to my Hotel Europe which is a different part of town. He reset the meter and we left. When we finally got to the correct address I paid the driver and gave a good tip and got my bag and as I was going into the hotel he said that I owed him another 10 euros for the ride to the first hotel. I refused saying it was his fault since I showed him the print out and he obviously didn't look at it, then went into the hotel.

I checked in, put my things in the room and walked to the Paradiso, hoping that I wasn't going to be late for the show. In true Dustin form I got a little lost and what should have taken me ten minutes took me about 30, but I made it in time for the show, in fact I was early. The Paradiso is a legendary venue and I was glad to finally see a show there. When I arrived there was a dj playing music and a few people milling around, but it wasn't as crowded as I was expecting considering it was premier of a new Ryoji Ikeda piece. After about an hour Ikeda was on stage and I was surprised to see that he looked younger than I was expecting. The music and video projections were fantastic! It's amazing how loud something can be and not damage your hearing when the sound quality is good. After Ikeda played Olaf Bender (aka BYETONE) went on stage and played an almost equally good set. Once the show was over the dance party started. Some of the crowd left while more showed up. I wandered around the venue a little and found another dance party going on the first floor (second floor) which I danced at a little. Getting back to the main floor I danced on and off for awhile and then headed back to the hotel.

In the morning I got up and dressed and went down stairs for breakfast. I then headed into town to finally do some shopping and sightseeing. I found my way to the 9 Streets (a famous shopping part of town) and wandered around until the stores opened and took some photos:

When the stores opened I made my way to Van Ravenstein which opens a basement sale room on Saturdays. I tried on some great Demeulemeester boots but the pair I really wanted was too large. In the end I got a black tank top with the AMOUR print on it. I talked to the sales associates and they gave me some ideas on other shops to look at, including telling me where the Droog shop was, since I couldn't remember from my last trip. They also told me about another shop, Frozen Fountain, which turned out to be great.

So I walked and walked and walked...

It is amazing how many bikes there are in Amsterdam. Tens of thousands of bikes and all kinds of bikes: delivery bikes, bikes with kid baskets, old bikes, mountain bikes, tandem bikes, recumbant bikes, etc...

I ended up going to a shop, Ennu, that was recommended to me by the women and Van Ravenstein and found a new bag (my white leather bag is falling apart) and a scissor pendant that I had been wanting since the beginning of the season. The people in the shop were really nice and one of the owners was wear the Theo Brainwear frame, so I told them I was working there at the moment, to which they said "great, but you should move to Amsterdam." I've been told and I've noticed there is a lot of rivalary between Netherlands and Belgium.

After going to the Droog shop I stopped into a Smart Cafe and purchased my evenings activity, Philosophers Stones. I then did some more walking and eventually found my way to a bar called the Chaos Cafe, where I sat on a bench outside and enjoyed a La Chouffe while looking at a canal. I then headed back to my hotel and ate the Philosopher Stones along with some chocolate. The next 6 hours is hard to describe, but it was a trip.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling a little more tired than usual but got dressed, packed my things and had breakfast. I checked out, leaving my bag at the hotel, and walked around the city for about 4 hours, taking in the scenery, taking photos and finally stopping for a beer, Kwak, at a Belgian pub. I then caught the 2pm train back to Antwerp.