Tuesday, July 09, 2013

TFIOS and Amsterdam


I've been traveling throughout Europe the last couple of days, and I read The Fault in our Stars by John Green two nights ago on my overnight train to Amsterdam.  While the rest of my fellow travelers couldn't sleep out of discomfort in the tiny, hard train beds, I was busy staying up until 2 AM to finish this magnificent book!  Crystal has already done a review, but I have to say that John Green is the man! He creates genuine characters that sparkle and are very witty, placing them into a Nicholas Sparksian book that has a meaningful and thought provoking message.  And who can not succumb to the charm of Mr. Waters?

So, I am currently in Amsterdam.  Ill admit that the city is pretty in that old kind of way.  I guess I'm a weirdo because I had no interest in seeing Anne Frank's house.  I started reading her diary, and I only like it to put me to sleep.  Anne is very immature and annoying, but I feel like I can't say that about her, that she has to be seen as a hero, because of  the guilt or sadness that everyone feels knowing that she was a Holocaust victim.    Why is she so famous?  What did she do to merit her being the most famous victim and seen as an inspiration?  Didn't anyone else write a diary that wasn't as painfully boring to read? And just a note, she didn't die from the gas chambers but of typhus The line was massive, and frankly, John Green's descriptions sufficed.

This city is crazy trying to get places!  I can only imagine Hazel and Augustus running around the city now that Ive seen  that the cars, trams, and bikers don't stop for pedestrians or use turning signals.  The basic rule seems to be to make sure you don't get run over.  There are bikes and motorcycles flying in the pedestrian lane!  
Plus, the coffeehouses sell marijuana so you get that lovely smell walking down every street.
And the people here!! They are so indifferent!  They speak English, but don't offer help.  I've been given the **** you attitude all day.  Yeah people in the tram, thanks for watching me repeatedly press the button to get out when it wasn't possible that way, and then leading me to miss the stop, and then push over an old man in order to shove my way out to avoid missing having to walk back from the next next stop!  You spoke English and told me that you can't get out the entrance after that debacle!  
Yeah, not a fan of the people here.  I have no intention of getting high or interacting with prostitutes so I don't see me returning.  But the tulip museum was pretty!  Ahh, nerdy me.  

No comments:

Post a Comment

I love to hear your thoughts, but please no spam! Thanks for sharing with Lis Les Livres :) Have a lovely day.