Amsterdam - the third stop of the trip.

In Amsterdam we stayed on a boat that was docked in the harbor. It was not, as Rachel suggested, a houseboat. In fact the owner seemed to take great offense at that. She corrected that it was in fact a ship and was sea worthy. Think of it as a cruise liner for 7-8 people. Cabins were nice, though cramped. The lady who owned it made us breakfast every morning. The best part of the ship was the deck, which had lots of chairs and tables. It was enjoyable to sit up on the deck, feeling the nice sea breeze, drinking Heineken. Which, in fact, is brewed in Amsterdam. That was my favorite thing about the city, as Heineken is my favorite beer.

The city itself is very neat. There are canals going everywhere, with residential structures lining the canals. So when you want to travel to a friend's house, you can go by bus, car, bike, or boat. For the most part, I found the city to be fairly clean.

Many drugs are legal in Amsterdam. Because of that, there are a lot of people that I might describe as 'professional potheads' that sell things along the streets. Things like T-shirts (with 'edgy' anti-Bush, sexual, or pot-related themes), pipes, shoes, and tons of other random stuff. I dunno...walking through these shops was interesting. But in retrospect all of their wares are exactly the same, and I think they really cheapen the atmosphere of the city in some places.

We went to a really expensive Chinese restaurant one night. It was 30 Euro or so per meal, which is maybe 40$ American. We were all served a collection of different dishes; shrimp, beef, pork, duck. I'd never had duck before, and really liked it. Its always a great experience to try something completely new and discover that it is very tasty. So, overall I thought it was a pretty good meal, but the girls all felt really sick to their stomachs after and said they never wanted to eat Chinese again. Apparently their stomachs couldn't handle the spices as well as man stomachs can; Ted and I had no problems. We didnt complain; we got to eat all of the leftovers.

We did make it to the Red-light district one night, with the infamous girls behind the windows. It was basically a strip, with girls standing/sitting behind windows. Most of the people there were gawking tourists, laughing and pointing. Every now and then you'd actually see a customer; either some shady old guy trying to sneak in a brothel unnoticed, or some tourist who thought his friends were laughing with him. It was ok at first, but then you notice that a lot of the girls are forcing their smiles, and you notice the despair in their eyes. Then it becomes kind of depressing. Oh well, its the world's oldest profession, who I am to judge?

Overall Amsterdam was definintely a city that was worth seeing and spending a couple of days in. However, as I'm not into the drug scene, it didn't appeal to me as much as it might to other people. Something to keep in mind.

I'm home.

I travelled for 42 hours straight. Wow, that sucked. But it feels great to be back in America.

My Slovenian sausage from the Klemen farm got confiscated at customs. But, they didn't notice that I had a bottle of Slovenian plum brandy; 120 proof. Fools.

Anyways, I will continue to update this blog. Even though it will be obviously after the fact, Ive got lots of notes from each place and will post until the whole story is told. I actually had a whole thing typed out about Amsterdam (3rd stop) but the comp I was on in Dublin crashed and I lost it.

I'll also probably include pictures eventually.

First I would like to apologize to my mother for needlessly putting myself in harms way. And I promise I wont do anything else that is stupid.

Here is my experience running with the bulls. I will include as many details as I can so the reader can imagine what it was like from my perspective. Enjoy.

The day starts off very early. You fight the crowd and get in position somewhere along the running path. If I remember correctly, the run route is about a kilometer. I had talked to locals, so I knew to position myself somewhere in the middle. Apparently, if you start at the back where the bulls are released, they pass you too quickly and theres no fun. If you start too far in the front, you can actually beat the bulls to the stadium. And then everyone in the arena boos you for being a coward. So its best to be in the middle, so all of the bulls can pass you by, but not so quickly.

The track itself is just an old cobblestone road that they seal off. It is actually very slippery, from beer and piss from the night before...and the hosing off they give it that morning. At some parts, there are buildings on both sides of the track - nowhere to hide, except for a few nooks that are alway occupied by other runners. Other times, it will open up with fencing and barricades where watchers gather. Then you might have a little more breathing room.

There is one turn, a very tight right turn, called dead mans curve. The name stems from the fact that when the bulls try to make the turn, they slip and slide to the outside. And given that they are very big and moving very fast, if you happen to be on the outside of the turn, you might get squashed. Or gored by an angry bull as he gets up. So I started just before that turn, because that way I would be past it before the first bulls ever got to me. Hey, I ran to experience it and so I could say I did it. Not to genuinely tempt fate!

So we stand around and talk for an hour somewhere along the route. And by we I mean hundreds of people packed in these streets like sardines, no room to move. Most of the runners are foreigners. The vast majority even, Id say. It was really unsettling when Id ask local older men about the running, and theyd tell me absolutely not to do it. And when young locals were asked if they were running, they would say "yea, straight to the bar!". Tons of Aussies, Americans, Brits, and New Zealanders. Maybe 30% were locals, or at least from Spain. Couldnt tell.

So everyone is packed up so tight for an hour, and then it gets closer to 8:00. And your heart starts beating a little faster, and people start walking to the stadium slowly, spreading the crowd out. And then you hear the first rocket, and that means the gates are open and the bulls are coming. And you hear a second rocket, which means the bulls are all out of the pen. And people start jogging down the path. And just 5 minutes ago everyone was laughing and joking, suddenly the atmosphere gets a little...tense.

I wont lie, I was a little tired. I had gotten hardly any sleep the night before. I hadnt eaten breakfast. Just before the running I had a red bull...and I thought about the symbolism. Red...the color of blood. And a bull. Interesting. So I start jogging, and am going up this hill with the crowd between these buildings. The road is very narrow. Two american cars could barely pass each other Id say. Anyway, as I said I was kinda tired, and am out of shape, so I start getting exhausted as Im jogging. Not good. But my slow pace didnt last long. The adrenaline...

As Im jogging up that hill, I suddenly hear some commotion. I turn around and I see everyone start screaming/yelling, panicking, and sprinting. Thats when it starts getting really dangerous, as everyone is looking backward and not forward, so collisions between people result in lots of people on the ground already. I had heard about this though, and was ready for it. Im fairly heavy, maybe 205, and have good balance, so I was at less risk of being trampled by the crowd. When I collided with people, and it happened many times, I didnt ever go down, and that was crucial. But I am telling you, this is every man for themselves. You see people go down hard, and your instinct is to stop and help. But you cant, otherwise you become a target for the bull, or you get trampled by everyone else. When you go down, you are supposed to stay down until you are absolutely sure its clear to get up.

So everyone is panicking, and thats when I see the first three bulls come through. This is a scene that wont leave my head. The sound of the incoming bulls. The crowd of people in their path letting out a collective yell that gradually increases in intensity until it reaches the point of a collective scream. The bulls come and almost shake the ground as they run by....these things were enormous. The bulls were almost roaring as they ran by. I realize that bulls dont roar, but it was a loud scary sound, and I dont know how else to describe it. They seemed pissed. They were actually running in an upside down V formation, just absolutely clearing out anyone in their path. Which was a lot of people. I was lucky that the first three ran by on the left half of the road, while I was running on the right. Others werent so lucky. I saw an older guy get knocked down by the crowd, only to get trampled by the bulls. Another guy got absolutely smoked with a bull horn as he tried to hug the wall on the left and let them pass. Lots of other people were trampled. Mass chaos. People going down left and right, either getting trampled by bulls, trampled by people, slipping on the street, whatever. 15 seconds later, the first three bulls are past.

Other bulls would run by, there are maybe 9 total, but the first passing was what sticks out the most in my head. Another bull that left an impact was this huge black one. He ran by without incident, and we all were running behind him, excited to be running with a bull but relieved that the business end was going away from us. But this thing stops suddenly, and on a dime, and turns around to face us. So we immediately put the breaks on, and sortof jump back, forming this arc in front of the bull. It charged, but again I was lucky and it picked the side I wasnt on. Some people were trampled, gored, etc. Then there are a few guys with sticks that poke the bull to keep it moving, they came and turned it around and sent it to the stadium.

You see its actually not the running along the route itself where people seriously get injured. Sure you might get trampled, but if you go down just get in the fetal position and dont get up, and the bulls will keep running. Where you hear about people getting seriously injured, it happens in the stadium. And after all the bulls had passed, we went into the stadium to a large and cheering crowd. That was a cool scene, because all of the runners are relieved to be alive, and we all start yelling and raising our hands. The big bulls from the running are herded out of the stadium (sand bottom), and we hang out for a couple minutes. I hadnt used my disposable camera during the running itself bc i was told it would be confiscated. But lots of people in the arena were taking pictures, so that was when I got mine out. I have some cool pictures of what follows.

So then they let out the little bull. And when I say little, that is a relative term. True it is much smaller than the ones that run the route, but it is still a very large, very agile animal. People underesimate it. So they let out one little bull in the stadium, sometimes a second when nobody is looking. And basically, the runners all tease the bull. Think about that for a second. Tease a bull. Sound like a bad idea to anyone? Everyone chases the bull and gathers around it. Then it charges, and everyone in its path runs away. The fast ones anyways. The slow ones get gored and trampled.

I hung around in the arena for a while, even though thats where everyone gets hurt. At first I kept back, and that is pretty easy to do. Ever see those discovery channel documentaries with sharks chasing schools of minnows? We were minnows, and its really pretty easy to stay away from the bull if you want, because you just stay behind the crowd. And alway be ready to run faster than the guy next to you.

But I had to be stupid, at least for a bit, to experience the whole thing. So after a while I started going up with the teasers too, getting in the front row not far from the bull. And that was fun for a while. And then, the bull charged directly at me and 5 or so guy around me. We all take off the other direction, and I was one of the faster ones so I got away unscathed. The guy next to me got trampled, but he was ok. After that I stayed back again, deciding my temptation of fate had gone far enough.

The day before we ran, an American was paralyzed. Another person, New Zealand I think, was killed. Ive heard the account of the American (Asian, New Yorker) getting hurt by multiple people. What happened was that he was teasing the bull with everyone else. The bull charged, and this guy made the poor decision of running off -by himself. A smart minnow moves with the crowd, and doesnt get isolated. Now the bull singled him out, and ran after him. The bull gored him and hit his spine, and thats all she wrote. The guy went down, and was dragged out of the arena by some Irish guys. He was screaming, "I cant feel my legs!", and the Irish guys were trying to protect him. But just outside of the arena is extremely crowded. And then the bull charged more people, and some jumped over the rail to escape the bull, and were landing on this American guy who couldnt feel his legs, no doubt making a serious medical case even worse.

I saw another guy get isolated and the bull charged him. It almost seemed like this guy froze in his tracks, crouching a bit and motionless, maybe hoping the bull wouldnt hit him. The bull ran directly over him like a freight train, completely flattened the guy, didnt even slow down. The guy was pancaked on the sand and not moving. I have a pic of that. I dont know if he was just knocked out, paralyzed, or dead, but his body was dragged out of the arena by a few people, and I didnt see him move at all. I think he just got knocked out though.

See there is a reason you hear about foreigners getting hurt and not locals. Because there are things you do, and dont do, and they are extremely important. If you go down, stay down. Dont get isolated - its safe to move with the pack. Another thing you dont do, ever, is touch the bull. The locals get really pissed off when people touch the bulls. Its a cultural thing...the bulls are sacred or something. This one foreigner tried to tackle the bull. The crowd started booing him, and cheering for the bull, and, Im not 100% sure, but almost sounded to be calling for his muerto...death. Maybe I heard wrong. Anyways, one of the herding guys with a stick hit the foreigner who tried to tackle the bull with it hard. And a mob of locals started just beating this guys ass. One guy was in his face, yelling at him. Other locals would come up behind him, give him a hard punch to the kidney or whatever, and walk away. This foreigner had no idea what he had done, or why there were so many people pissed at him all of the sudden. I felt bad for him, a little. Not bad enough to not take pictures of him getting his ass kicked though =P.

Anyways. I dont know if Id ever run again, even though it was a great experience now that I pulled it off unscathed. Even though I feel like now I know the ins and outs of it, its still too risky. There were just too many times when my fate was left to luck, and not smarts. When those first bulls plowed through, they could just as easily decided to run on the right side where I was. Or, decided to charge me for whatever reason. Or the big black bull that turned around suddenly and charged. It didnt charge in my direction, but it basically had a 50% chance of doing so. Its like drawing numbers out of a hat. The bulls are just too unpredictable, and im not sure I would want to again tie my fate to something beyond my control. All it takes is one horn to the spine and you are paralyzed for life.

So in conclusion. It was the most fun that I dont really care to have again. But in retrospect, as I said, Im glad I did it.

Update! July 20th. Currently in Munich. Sorry to anyone who cares that I havent been keeping up with this. It is problematic because whenever I get to a computer I first and foremost have to check my medschool loan crap and make sure thats going. Then I get on news sites and blogs to keep up with whats going on between Lebanon and Israel, waiting to see if WW3 pits the US and Israel vs Hizbullah, Hamas, Iran, and Syria. Lets hope not. Also, the fact that keyboards are slightly different makes typing a lot a hassle.

So I suppose Ill start back a few weeks ago. Paris, France. To some extent, I sympathise with Parisians. After all, they get more tourists than any other place on earth. It has to get annoying to have your city flooded with tourists who mostly dont speak the native language.

That being said, I was absolutely unimpressed by Paris. I went into it with an open mind, at least I tried, not believing any of the stereotypes Ive heard. But let me give my own concise summary of Paris: it is a very superficial city. There is no soul behind it. Its almost hard to put your finger on, but after a while I sortof got the feeling that it was all a big show that meant nothing.

For one, the natives are obnoxious in a really unique way. You will try to be polite as possible. Walk up, smile, and say bonjour in your best French. Then you ask kindly if they speak any English. They will just give you a blank stare, pretend they dont. And the fact of the matter is that 90% of them do, and everyone knows it, and they know that you know it.

They have cafes in the streets with the chairs facing outward. You see, when I go to lunch with a person I sit across from them and focus my attention on them. Parisians at lunch sip wine and watch everyone else and causally chat. Its almost like they think they are this super-elite, and they pass judgement on all those who walk by. Its just such an arrogant, pompous way to sit at a cafe, and Ive never seen it done anywhere else.

When I speak of superficiality, I mean both the city and the people. The people of course are obsessed with fashion, design, etc. Even the men, and its really creepy. You know, as a male I will naturally pay attention to, and size up other males that I may pass in a city...instinct. And everywhere in the world there will be other males that I might think, man it would suck to get in a fight with that guy, cause he looks pretty tough. In Paris, I did not encounter one single male that gave me that impression, and I was there for four days. A few foreigners, maybe. But to be really blunt and uncultured about it, Parisian men are absolute wusses. Which is fine, who needs muscles anyways. Its just an observation. But when they also are seemingly more concerned with their appearances than women, I have to wonder if there isnt something in the water that lowers testosterone levels.

I dont remember if I had been drinking, but I was talking to Heather and Ted when we were in Rome admiring some monuments. And I had this to say. You know when we were little and played sports, and we all got trophies even if our teams sucked? Thats kindof like Parisian monuments. Yes, they are monuments, but what for? The French really only had one good run, and that was with Napoleon, and it ended in some of the worst defeats in military history. So what are all the rest of those monuments commemorating? An empty victory here, a stalemate there? You contrast that with London, which was the capital of the largest empire in land and people in recorded history. A hundred years of global domination. You are gonna have a lot of monuments after that sort of thing. Same thing with Rome. You have an empire that dominates the known world for hundreds of years, that sets the stage for the West and Christianity to follow, and you have a lot of things that you need monuments to commemorate.

So like I said, the city is superficial. Its got a pretty face, but its soul is ugly. You have the tower, the Lourve, some arches, etc; beautiful. But the rest of the city is dirty, the transportation inefficient. Economically Im not sure its a happening place. Parisians arent pleasant, and seem bored with life. They just seem uninspired, like spoiled children almost. And there are a lot of very angry, very unemployed, very unintegrated young Muslim men living in the suburbs. Apparently, even the police dont go out there. That problem will need to be addressed eventually, or it will consume the whole city.

Would I ever go back? Maybe if, in a decade or so, a significant other wanted to. I do think Paris might be more redeeming for couples, especially ones with enough money to do things right. I might not have done Paris right...who knows.

Next we went to Amsterdam. Then to Interlaken. Then to Pamplona where I ran with the bulls. Then Nice, then Rome, then Florence. Now Im in Munich, and soon going to Slovenia. Dublin after, and then back to the USA. I will write about these in more detail later. Dont have the time right now. And if anyone is dying to hear about the running with the bulls, email me at nklemen@indiana.edu and I will respond as soon as I can.

Cheers.

Sorry for no updates. I rarely have an opportunity to get good computers. Here is a brief summary, and I will update in more detail when I can:

-Went to Amsterdam after Paris. It was cool.
-Went to interlaken, switzerland after. Went canyoning and mountain climbing. Awesome.
-Went to Pamplona and ran with the bulls. I was unhurt. It was really intense...something that should be done once, and only once.
-Going to Rome next.

-Mom, I promise I wont do anything else that is dangerous while I'm here. So dont worry about me.