Across the Pond
Andy, 21 November 2006
It’s been three weeks since I returned from my trip to London and Amsterdam, and, although I’ve been overdue in posting a recap here on Duolab, not a day goes by that I don’t think back fondly on the sights I saw and adventures I had over there. Both cities were spectacular, and, after finally getting a minute taste of the comfortably similar yet keenly refreshing European flavor, I know that I must have more. Exploring London was both easy and efficient thanks to my sexy, hospitable tour guide—thanks again, babe—and Amsterdam is gorgeous and even more quaint than I had thought possible. At one point, while we wandered around the canals, I watched a young mother and father, each with a bundled-up youngster on their bicycle’s auxiliary seat, pedal casually by as if they had no idea that they were the cutest goddamn family on the planet.
Without a doubt, my visit was the best vacation I could have wished for, aside for the whole ‘limited duration’ thing. What a bummer it was to depart.
Of course, I’ve posted photos from London and Amsterdam to Flickr so that you, the faceless reader, may validate my experiences with your quiet voyeurism.
I’m very serious when I say I need to return to Europe. I think living in a city with a vast and reliable public transportation system and a few hundred additional years of maturation could go a long ways towards silencing the pessimist that lives inside me. I’ve always carried with me a vague dissatisfaction concerning America, and now I understand more clearly how the grass is greener on the other side. This is not to say that I’ve made up my mind to move or that such a move may even be possible, but the seed has begun to germinate, I suppose. (This country’s slide towards totalitarianism, however, may soon provide obstacles beyond a general ill-will towards Americans throughout the rest of the world—the Department of Homeland Security has moved to control not only who can enter the United States but who can depart as well.)
Oh, and I returned in time to do a little Halloween thing at Livewire.
