May 1, 2008
My overall trip has been very insightful. While, yes…I did a lot of work and met with amazing companies…my blog can’t just be about work. I need to blend a bit of personal and general observations. First observation…in comparison to U.S. cities where I feel I never see babies….wow…so many people in Amsterdam have babies. Maybe it is just because they are not in a car tired down in the seatbelt, but out and about with their parents on bicycles so you literally, physically see them. I must say—I like it. A population of people that work, play, create families and go out on the city streets.
Another observation…people of all ages go out. I feel like in San Francisco, one only sees the 20 or 30 something crowd. While in Dublin, the cutest group of lady friends (I say in their 50s) were out on a Thursday night having cocktails. Yes the 50 something woman right next to the 20 something woman. And, the same goes for men. I am not saying that people are cloistered in their home in the US, I am just saying I se more ages mixing in mingling in the same places.
While this trip has been predominately work, yesterday I did enjoy Queen’s Day. It was wonderful. First – what is Queens Day? It started as a day when the Queen lifted all tariffs from goods. And, people could sell anything without a license. So, in essence, we are talking about a giant flea market or garage sale. Now, in modern day, keep the garage sale, but add in thousands of people from all over Europe landing on the city of Amsterdam for a fun, hedonistic day of partying, dancing and running around—DJs on every street corner, canals filled with party boats—young, old and the like as well as different—parading the canal. It was amazing…