Jared's Travel Blog

In retrospect I should have put the little guy out of his misery, but I wasn’t trying to get bat guts on my shoes.

Literally. To celebrate Queen’s Day (April 30th), the area of town known as Dam has been overtaken with cotton candy vendors and carnival rides. This is a city that is never lacking for energy and with the country’s biggest holiday approaching, the city is in full celebration mode.

Amsterdam offers up a slice of all parts of humanity. It is a famously international city with a festive spirit that is matched in few corners of the earth.

While making my sandwich, the waiter asked if I was there for the cheese market.

“It is stupid. All these people come just to see the men…” He searched for the right phrase and gestured as if he were picking up a wheel of cheese from the ground and chucking it on a wagon.

“Toss the cheese?”

“Yes. Toss the cheese.”

I agreed, but said that it was a good show. He couldn’t disagree with that.