All of a sudden we’re leaving. I got the arriving part, and now the leaving part, but I’m not really sure what happened to the Half Year in between. So the last couple of days have mainly consisted of packing, cleaning and saying our goodbyes. My suitcase almost closes, and I’m thinking that if I sit on it, we might manage to zip it up and bring all the stuff with us. But the zipping isn’t the hard part, even if there is way too much stuff in the suitcase, the hard part is the leaving.
Because somehow Amsterdam is our place by now. It’s not our only place, Bergen is also our place. But not all the places one lives in become one’s own. I love this city, it’s so wonderful how it brings me so much peace, although it’s the biggest city I’ve ever lived in. I love the original second-hand shops that pop up wherever you go, the canals, the people, the cafés, de Jordaan, the way people treat dogs down here (there’s one in almost every shop, and they’re allowed to roam free everywhere), the huge trees that grow everywhere within the city, and Andy, who sells “Z-magazin” (the Dutch equivalent of “Megafon” or “=Oslo”) outside our grocery store and who is always amazingly nice and kind. I love the bikes, I love biking in Amsterdam, and awakening to the sound of accordion music at 10 am. And the mix of wonderfully different people from all over the world (half the people who live in Amsterdam weren’t born here). I love the free feeling and the tolerance. So Clichéisly enough, I will leave a part of me in Amsterdam, and the city of Amsterdam will always live in me.
I think that is more than enough emotional babbling, here are the last pictures from Amsterdam.
Kevin (taking the pictures), Cathie and me met Anne in the garden at the Prinsengracht dorm to say our goodbyes. We had Chablis and chocolate truffles, but it was kinda sad in spite of these delicious things.
Kevin and I said goobye to Franziska at de Magere Brug, which was also very nice, but kind of sad.
And finally, a couple of Amsterdam night roses for Amsterdam.
