8 March - Amsterdam

Arrived in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport bright and early. The air was cool, crisp and fresh after the stuffiness of the plane. Hopped on a cab (think black Mercedes E something) and was very impressed with the GPS system. If I could drive and if I owned a car (both highly unlikely) I would love a GPS system. Ugh, everything was cold and snowy though. Dutch architecture struck me as being very neat and clean. Everything was very box like with huge picture windows. Sort of Scandinavian/Ikea vibe to it. Managed to get to Jason's apt in Amstelveen without any problems and handed over 25 euros to the evil cabbie.

No jet lag, so I bummed around in Amsterdam while Jason slogged at work. Hit the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum for an amazing exhibition on Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Rembrandt's so much softer while Caravaggio's more stark and defined. There's definitely no grey area with him. I think my taste in art is a little weird. I like very defined, almost dramatic art. There's this modern artist I really like although I have no idea what's his name; he draws all his subjects as rotund, almost comic figures.

Anyway I'm just going to bum around Amsterdam till next Monday, then I'm leaving for Frankfurt.