Amsterdam: Final thoughts

Amsterdam wasn't as great as I'd remembered it being. How could it have been? The last time I came I had just turned 21, just handed in the last final of my semester abroad, and it was May and beautiful. I went by myself then too, and did much the same thing I did this time: wandered aimlessly, met a few people, and let myself be charmed by the city. The city is no less charming now than it was then, it's just easier to be charmed when you can do your aimless wandering in short sleeves.

This time around I was also coming from Japan. I noticed the trash on the ground more, the sloppiness with which a pint is pulled. I was ready to move on to my next destination. But then I turned down a street I hadn't been on yet and it's like Greenwich Village has met Venice and it's just perfect. When I took this picture there was someone, as if on cue, playing violin in a nearby house. A tall woman whirred by on a bicycle and I was sad to be leaving.