Introduction to Amsterdam

For my 30th birthday, Peter gave me a fully-upright arcade video game (Operation Wolf, complete with gun), accompanied me to the DuPage county fair, and took me and my brother Patrick on a 4-hour fishing charter on Lake Michigan. For Peter’s 30th birthday, he got to pack up our house in Wheaton, all by himself. Clearly, some restitution was in order and I told Peter we would go wherever he wanted for his birthday. (His present, which I’ve picked out, will have to wait until we have our own house.)

He selected Amsterdam and absolutely forbade me from doing any planning (other than the basics) and also issued a blanket-ban on museum passes. He made it perfectly clear that he wanted to have a nice, easy, relaxing sort of holiday. Yeah, I knew it was going to be a struggle to slow my pace down to his, but if that’s what was required, that’s what I would do.

I figured it would help that I’ve already been to Amsterdam. In 1994, I was doing a work experience/study program in London and took a weekend trip there by myself. Since I’d already seen what I absolutely had to see (the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank house), Peter could dictate our agenda without interference from me. Peter had also been to Amsterdam, but he was 11 or 12 and so not able to fully enjoy all of the city’s charms.