April 16th: Goodbye Iceland, Hello Amsterdam

This series of posts will chronicle, as faithfully as possible, our recent trip to Iceland and Andalusia. Comments and thoughts are most welcome! Photos from Iceland are courtesy Gireesh, Anchal and Janani and the ones from Amsterdam and Andalusia courtesy Gireesh. :)


After having heaved a sad goodbye to Iceland, we took an early morning flight back to Amsterdam. Anchal and Tannu were flying back to Singapore later in the evening, while we were staying on for the night before taking another early flight, this time down south to Malaga. It took us a long time to get used to the city -- the air felt a bit polluted, the streets seemed littered, traffic felt very noisy and those ubiquitous symbols of globalization -- Starbucks and McDonalds -- seemed alien. And so many people! Walking, cycling, hailing cabs, hopping on to boats, talking.. the crowds were jarring against our senses. And to think, we live and work in Hong Kong -- finding our way through hustling, busy masses of people is second nature to us, so much that an empty road almost feels eerie and unnatural. And here we were turning our noses up at one of the most iconic cities in Europe -- ohh, what snobs one week in Iceland had made of us! 

Pretty maids in a row

Bicycles galore  

Anchal and Tannu had only a couple of hours to spare, so we decide to do the usual touristy run and take a boat ride around the canals. The slow rocking motion of the boat was definitely not what the doctor advised for the sleep deprived, tired lot that we were. It was quite a struggle to keep our eyes open, and it was only after some much needed 'chai' at Dam Square that the energy finally picked up. Or maybe it was singing 'My Girl' along with that garrulous old man in front of our cafe that snapped us out of our languor.  By the time it was time to see Anchal and Tannu off, Gireesh and I were all charged up to explore some more of Amsterdam. And the city played its part well, gradually unveiling its charm as we let our feet lead us wherever they wanted -- colorful narrow town homes with hooks on their roofs (to help the folks on the top floors to move their furniture in, stairs apparently being wide enough for one person only), cycles parked willy nilly all over the place -- next to shops, tied to trees, lining the roads, adorning the sidewalks next to canals, even falling into the water! -- locals BBQing on boats all around the canals, impromptu music pulsating through as we walked by, colorful paintings being sold on sidewalks, happy happy faces waving at us.. I guess probably every major city in the world presents similar quirky, artsy and throbbing facets to its visitors, but sometimes familiarity does not breed contempt, it just evokes peaceful contentment -- we were just happy to be in Amsterdam on that day, at that point of time and would not have wanted to be anywhere else.