He's Made The Ultimate Jump

Evel Knievel
1938 - 2007

My Little Brother Does Amsterdam: Part VIII

The epic journey continues and this week Patrick journeys into Belgium and finds a small bit of solace on Thanksgiving.

Tuesday the 20th of November, Patrick took a 2 hour train trip to Antwerp, Belgium. There he spent a couple days exploring the inner city and wandering a couple art museums. Here's his general impression of the city: "Lets start with I loved Antwerp-but I have never felt so alone. This huge glorious ornamental city that is so worn, aged and gray nobody is out on many of the streets, primarily just on the main shopping street that runs from central station to the main Cathedral. Cars rule here-hardly a bike except on a few streets, and cars will come just flying through squares that have no markings that I could of sworn were a pedestrian malls...RRRRROAR! a car would just come flying thru from nowhere. I didn't see one police officer compared to Amsterdam where I see police every few blocks along with mothers and children. Here In Antwerp no children and hardly any families-just expensive, exotic cars driven by wealthy richie riches. Unbelievable homes in the heart of the city-huge glorious mansions with incredible sculptures on every corner."

He returned to Amsterdam in time for Thanksgiving and found a place called ABC Treehouse which was having a Thanksgiving dinner for those with no place to go. "Was fun, everyone was really nice and kind-but all the talk was in dutch and I found myself sitting alone just listening and with all the groups and families I kinda felt out of place, so I had a really good meal then rode my bike home, I like riding my bike again." He phoned our sister Kitty on Thanksgiving to say "hello" and wish us all a great day. We missed him terribly at the dinner table!

Finally, Patrick found a new club to hang out in and listen to music, well-and to check out cute rocker girls. It's called OCCII and appears to host both rock bands and dj/club music. Here was his description of the club and the evening: "I was early and ended up sitting at the bar with the owner who was way cool-about my age, I was the oldest person by far when the place filled up. 100 or so young adults and we all just had a ball. I drank for free all night, and saw 4 amazing bands, hard rock - I fell in love at least 4 times and it was the best cure for my lonesome blues. I'm still grinning this Morning - no I didn't get laid...didn't even try, was so fun. The 1st band Patterns from Colonge, Germany had the most amazing drummer and a lead singer who looked like he was a ambercrombie model. Steph[a singer from one of the bands]; I got her attention 'cause I was just hootin and howlerin after all her songs and she gave me a big hug after the show cause I got her so pumped up. Small venue-very intimate. One of the best things about Amsterdam."

Just two more weeks left in Patrick's journey, I know it will be hard for him to come home...but we miss him greatly and look forward to his return. Here are his pictures from Antwerp and a picture of the very cute "Steph."

Thanksgiving 2007

Happy Thanksgiving To You & Yours! Relax & Enjoy The Day!

My Little Brother Does Amsterdam: Part VII

Well our sister Deborah's visit came to an end last Wednesday and they spent her last few days in Amsterdam biking around the city and doing, in Patrick's words, "endless amounts of shopping." In the end Patrick was in awe of Deborah's shopping abilities; "she is a mystical shopper, one minute she's standing next to me-the next she's on the second floor way in the back of the store..." He was indeed impressed and enjoyed every single minute he got to spend with her. Being the concerned brother he is, he even road out to the airport with her and made sure she got checked in and on her way. Then he was back to his daily routine of biking around the city seeing all he could see.

This past Sunday, Patrick was able to witness the arrival of Sinterklaas (Sint Nikolaas in Dutch)-which is a giant city-wide celebration. Legend has it that Sinterklaas was assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colorful outfits, they are called Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes.) Unfortunately many still take this legend to heart and walk around during the celebration in black face make-up and afro wigs. Thus, Patrick saw the whole thing as simply racist and pompous and was greatly disturbed by the whole celebration. He isn't the first to view this depiction as racist and in 2006 attempts were made to change the "Black Petes" to "Coloured Petes" who are colored blue, red, yellow & green. The explanation for the new "Coloured Petes" was that Sinterklaas's boat had passed through a rainbow along his journey. Obviously tradition is a hard thing to break.

This Tuesday, 11/20, Patrick will be taking his first long distance train journey-when he travels to visit Antwerp for a couple days. Hopefully we'll get a full report on his journey next week.

Enjoy this weeks visual journal and a happy Thanksgiving to everyone!