Back in "the States"

So, I returned to "the states" on Tuesday (3/11). My taxi left the hotel in Amsterdam at 4am. This would be the beginning of another long day of travel. Amsterdam to London, 2 hour layover in London, London to Dallas, 1 hour layover in Dallas. Then back to Austin.

Interesting topic for the return trip: In Amsterdam, I ran into a group of guys. They were clad in black tees, tight-ass black jeans and black hats. Run of the mill emo band gear. My immediate though was that these guys were taking the exact same route I was, and heading to Austin for South by Southwest. Low and behold, the group practically followed me from Amsterdam to London to Dallas to Austin.

I ran into them again when I picked up my bag in Austin. They seemed as surprised as I was. The entire London to Dallas plane seemed to migrate to Austin. This seems to qualify the fact that SXSW is a pretty big deal internationally. The Airport was packed with noticeable band members and A&R types.

A few minutes later and I was on a Supershuttle to my apartment. I assumed that would not be an ordinary Supershuttle ride. My suspicions were validated when the driver stopped at a convenience store to pickup a 12 pack. The riders which included myself, a chick from Alberta in town for SXSW, an old dude from Austin and a a dude from Japan in town for SXSW. We all drank and chatted until we reached our destinations. This seemed like a fitting end to an interesting trip.

Interesting to say the least.

Another day in the Dam

Not much to report on the last day in Amsterdam. We did some sight-seeing. It rained, but at least I had this oh so fabulous umbrella courtesy of the hotel counter staff:









Oh yeah, Red Light District. Ho-hum.

Dude...It's Amsterdam.

So, to preface this post: I did nothing in Amsterdam that is Illegal in the U.S.

With that said, we reached the Amsterdam Dock, Hoek Van Holland (that's just cool to say) at about 8am. A train ride later and we were in Central Amsterdam. To say the least, at this time of year, Amsterdam is cold. Damn cold! It was colder and rainier than London (and that's saying a lot). Unfortunately, our hotel was outside of the city center. Once we arrived, we pleasantly surprised by the contemporary but spacious accommodations.

If you look closely at the pic above, you will see something that is not customary in hotels. Yes, a glass bathroom. The shower, tub and sink were in a glass room. The toilet was in a room off the side of the bedroom. Strange, but very nice.

On the first day, we headed to Anne Frank's House.

It was nice to see how she and her family lived, but the house had no furnishings. It just kinda felt like an old empty house.

Ferry to Amsterdam???

I was skeptical, but we decided to take a ferry from London to Amsterdam. One train ride to the The Harwick Docks and we were on our way. We left port at about 11:45pm and got to Amsterdam at about 8am.









Harwick Port









Our Ferry









Bar/Restaurant
















My own room!

Clubbing in London

On my last night in London, I broke away from the pack and went to Pacha. Pacha is a huge club in the central London area. It was an easy tube ride and the club was right outside of the station. The main room DJ kinda sucked, but the upstair DJ was nice. It was a good night, but 5 pound jack and cokes suck.

Here are some pics:









Main room









Upstairs









No, I don't know these people
















Boots wit da fur!

Last Day in London

On the last day in London, we went to the London Gallery. I would provide pics, but pics are not allowed in the London Gallery.












The gallery is an extensive collection of art from the 1400s to today. Most notable from the museum, is the original Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

After that, we went to the British Library. The library also has an extensive collection of works. Most notable was 2 of the 4 original copies of the Magna Carta. It was interesting to see this in person and to see how much copy the exhibit had about it's influence on the American Constitution.

The library also had some other works like a Guttenberg bible, the original Canterbury Tales and some of the original writings of the Beatles (Hard Day's Night, Yesterday and Help! to be exact).

London, Day 2

So, on day 2 in London, we went to the British Museum. This place has a great deal of of history (aided by the fact that Britain invaded nearly every part of the world in it's heyday. The museum takes up a great deal of space. You could walk around this place for days and not see everything.

Here are some highlights: Museum Atrium














MUMMIES!!!














Rosetta Stone