The Birth of the Cool

Continuing on the theme of how Amsterdam is a magical place, a little anecdote from last evening... Everyone knows that Amsterdam is something of a party city, what with its lax drug, alcohol and prostitution laws, vibrant night life and compact geography, but unlike most of the "cool" places I've been, the funk goes all the way to the top. Last night I wandered into my foofy conference hotel (the Lloyd Hotel, for those interested) at about 2am, and stepped into the elevator only to hear and elevator music version of Dr. Dre's "Bang Bang". That's right, these never forgot about Dre.
Another example of cool had to do with today's adventure, involving a homemade composite boat, a public dock and public transit. After drawing an amused crowd on the shoreline as we paddled around in the ocean with our cotton-fiber contraption, we proceeded to bring it onto the the train, whereupon the conductor started giving us a hard time (while trying hard not to laugh). We called his bluff and pushed back, asserting that it was lighter than a bike and not any bigger than the largest person that might get on, resulting not only in our admittance, but also his insistence that we didn't pay. Conclusion: Amsterdam rocks.

Possible mission for today: homemade hovercraft...