Amsterdam: 2) Bright night over Vondelpark

I didn't go on any major trips out of town since the weather was cold most of the time. I stayed at the library until closing time (10 PM) the last evening, thereafter I had to leave the area quickly because of the freezing wind by the open water area, the library building being situated just between the Oosterdok and het IJ/the IJhaven, the vast waters just next to Centraal Station.
Back at the park it felt less cold, and on the way there, riding my MacBike, I still took in the beautiful sights of the city at nightfall.

Is this Sparta or is this cheese?!

View from the 6th floor library window where I sat reading
"Leven tussen geesten".

De Waag (Old Weighhouse).

Bike tires on the bridge reflecting the flash of my cam. :)

Nearly midnight at Vondelpark.
This is how bright the sky still was.

The next day would bring the best weather... but then it was nearly time to go home.
As always, I left with considerably more baggage than I'd arrived with, although most of my souvenirs consisted of food, and also incense sticks, and a candle snuffer I had found at Waterlooplein Markt. I've used it since, and it's a great help, enabling me to extinguish my sacred ritual candles without getting all the wax covering my long nails.

No, this ain't how I traveled back home - too
big to go up the Rhine river, it wouldn't fit
through under the bridges!

Stuff I brought home. Incense sticks, spelt noodles (at a bargain),
deodorant, peanut butter, granola bars, energy drink, orange/ ginger
jam, hemp seeds (you can add them to granola, and no, you can't
get high from it), & the brass object in center that looks like a
pipe is a candle snuffer.

,

This book was for me to buy & keep, unlike
the one at the library.

Cute calling card from Magic Mushroom Gallery.

Amsterdam: 1) Spirits Among Us

On Sunday, June 17th, I set out to visit Amsterdam once more, and once more the train journey wasn't without complications. The train supposed to go from Dusseldorf to Venlo only went to a town with the unpronounceable name of Monchengladbach, which was full of annoying German soccer fans, from where bus service was provided to the next available railroad station on the route.
As a rule, I nearly always arrive about an hour behind schedule due to some delays & stuff, and the weather was extremely cold for the season and also rainy, so the ride was a bit depressing.

But once I'd made it I found the hostel to have been newly renovated and the interior quite a bit changed, but in a nice way.

"Stupid rain..." LOL

Greetings!

After putting the sheets on my bed and storing my stuff in the box rolling out from under the bed, I walked into Vondelpark once more that night, although it was freezing. Beyond the pagoda-shaped cafe with the many colored lights, there's a sort of theater stage in the vast park. Young people had gathered there and put up colorful disco lights too and using the stage as a dance floor. I settled in the bleachers positioned around the stage, enjoying watching those lights while trying to meditate a bit and connect to my Master. I stuck around until it definitely got way too cold.

Cookie monster on a bench. LOL

My bed - top bunk (as requested), as can be seen from the angle.
I was standing upright when taking this photo.

The first night I slept until noon, and thereby through most of the rain. It was only drizzling when I eventually left the hostel and would brighten toward the afternoon. Passing by a cosmetics store, a very nice lady chatted me up, trying to sell me some products. I guess she was bored due to lack of customers, so I talked to her for a while even though I don't use such products, let alone expensive ones. I'd have bought from her if I had more money though, just for how nice she was, but I guess 40 € is to me what 400 is to most other people. But of course, the Magic Mushroom Gallery was far more interesting to me...
I was still on foot then, walking to Waterlooplein where there's the market and also a MacBike rental.

Police office #14 - formerly. Now a coffeeshop. :)

Canals with boats everywhere.

Look at my hair, my jacket, and the parasols behind -
it was very windy indeed.

Knuffels. Knuffels are what you can find at this store -
I bought my first shark there 10 years ago.
(Knuffels are plushies.)

Ducks at Vondelpark ain't shy of people - only from
dogs they'll run.

Sitting at Dam Square, eating an orange & stuff.

I rode to my favorite bridge once more to take photos, and also went to the public library. A young man of the staff who helped me find the esoteric section asked me about the skulls on my backpack - what do they mean? I was puzzled - those skulls are brightly colored, and I once saw a little boy with the very same backpack as mine, he was probably using it for school. This is a regular sort of backpack even children use, it ain't Goth or anything - you see, I was wearing my battle jacket all this time, with the metal band patches, Warlock "The Armageddon" pin, and the large Watain patch on the back on which it says "Fuck the World" - and this guy asks me about the innocent backpack? LOL
I told him I'm into metal music and that skulls are quite ubiquitous in it, and then I even told him that I'm a Satanist. In the end he gratefully told me I was the friendliest Satanist he had ever met. Which made me really wonder how many he had met already... LOL

I found a really awesome book there by an author who was presented as a very famous medium, but I hadn't heard of him before. He's American but the book was a Dutch translation, "Leven tussen geesten," which translates as "Life among spirits," but the original title was "Spirits Among Us." I found it surprisingly easy to read though. I went there once more the next day and found it back to read another chapter. I'd have bought that one, even in Dutch, but sadly it wasn't for sale, of course.

Check out this cool roller coaster...

...it's a bridge!!!

The book I read at the library.

Last sign of life before leaving...

...(got my nails) ready for the great adventure!

That haram box...

...it's working! That haram box? Inside joke, LOL! Not the one I jumped again at the gym earlier today. Doing this quick update as a video today - because I can!

Last run before Amsterdam

Everything took a lot longer than expected. There was no way to get the WiFi running with the old connection, they're gonna switch it up tomorrow between 8 AM and 5 PM, during which time I'll have no internet at all, so I was told - which doesn't matter because I'll be at the gym first, and I rarely get home from workout any sooner than 5 PM anyway.

I do hope the new router will finally work after that - because if it doesn't it will mean no more internet at all (because I was told the old modem won't work any longer with the new connection), and at a particularly bad time because on Sunday I'll be leaving for Amsterdam, and I'd prefer to do that without such trouble on my mind. And when I get back I'll want to post photos and all.

 What's worse is, it would probably mean not only no internet but also no phone, because my phone will also connect over the new router. I'm a bit apprehensive regarding my phone anyway since it's basically 1970s tech, this phone is from a fleamarket and is certainly a lot older than myself but it's the only kind of phone I've ever had and ever wanted.

Also, back to freezing my ass off. We had some really nice summer days so far, even pretty unusual for the early season - 80s, and you rarely get better than 80s in Germany, even in July & August - but as usual, intermittently. Today I'm sitting at home dressed in a sweater & fleece jacket once more because it's down to 70 F in my room, like back in winter (then with the heat on). And as everyone knows, being a monstertruckin' warrior and otherwise very hardy I'm very poorly equipped for dealing with cold temperatures. 70 F or less is cold temperatures in my book. Outside it was no better than 60 today, at least after it started raining, so I even wore gloves on the bike.
Earlier when I went running, and before the rain, I wore only a top & shorts. 14 K in 75 minutes, including steep hills, mountainbike ramps, & all the mud & puddles & shrubbery. Last run before Amsterdam. LOL