I'm going to see you soon in Amsterdam

Nelle and I arrived from Berlin on a Eurolines bus at 4.40am. We killed a few hours until we could store our luggage, and then we walked off down unknown cobblestone paths, narrow streets winding in unpredictable directions, crisscrossing quiet black canals, the sky still dark and streetlamps swinging in the chilly morning breeze, everything feeling like a shanty town of long ago, half expecting drunken sailors to fall out of alleyways, yet nobody around but bakers and early morning bike riders, red lights still glowing over doors and in basements, an occasional glimpse of posed and exposed women who shift quickly to natural stance as the faces of two travel-weary girls peer curiously into windows, and then slowly the colour changes in the sky above the tall, narrow apartment buildings with black, red, yellow window frames and tasteful brickwork, and the signs of life come in the form of bicycles shooting over the bridges, one, two, threefour, five, six, and the people are old, young, male, female, hipsters, mothers with children in wooden prows that make the bikes resemble the small boats now moving about on the canals, and Nelle and I are exhausted, hungry, cranky, starting to clutch at fraying edges, when finally we find a buffet breakfast and gorge on beans, toast, eggs, muesli, yogurt, fruit, coffee, tea, juice, chocolate milk, and we even sneak some apples, oranges, gingerbread and a boiled egg, still shelled, into our bags for the long day ahead. and it was a long day. we walked for 15 hours, mostly mapless, saving our euros for food and warmth, completely without a plan except to meet our couchsurfing host from Utrecht at 9pm. everything was hilarious. reaction time was slow. no drugs were needed, except caffeine. we watched some ducks for quite a long time. we discussed what was insane, including ourselves. we bought hats at a flea market. and finally, we ate expensive thai food - delicious, expensive thai food - as a celebration of our friendship and what we've seen and done. living in central europe, travelling east, travelling west, and between us north and south as well, and now we are just a few days away from saying goodbye for now, not forever.