When I first posted our tentative Europe itinerary, a lot of people questioned why we were spending so much time in Amsterdam. Well, there are only so many countries from which one can easily play on PokerStars.com, and we found a pretty sweet apartment in Amsterdam that we could rent for the full two weeks. It was a touch outside of what we’d budgeted for lodging, but a couple of key points sold us on it:
1. Washer/dryer – This may not seem like a big deal, but we’re carrying virtually everything we’re going to use for three months (minus a few items mailed ahead to our penultimate destination in Germany) on our backs, which means very limited clothing. Nearly everything we have with us is quick drying non-cotton, for ease of washing in hotel sinks, but it’s nice not to have to do that.
2. Monitor – The owner of the apartment agreed that I could use his computer monitor while we’re here, which of course is tremendous for playing poker. It’s especially helpful since the computer I have with me is extremely small. I love how lightweight it is, since remember I have to carry it everywhere on my back, but the small screen does make poker tricky.
3. Rooftop terrace – This was the real selling point. Check out this view:
There are, however, a few drawbacks:
1. Weather – It’s not actually that warm here. The other day I spite-shivered through twenty minutes of reading-on-the-terrace time before throwing in the towel, but truthfully it’s not all that pleasant to sit up there right now.
2. Stairs – Only the top units in the building have rooftop terraces, naturally. So getting to the apartment requires walking up five flights of stairs. And these aren’t just any stairs – they are classically Dutch, meaning narrow and extremely steep.
3. Nationwide Internet Outage – I arrived home about a hour before the scheduled start of Monday’s SCOOP events to find that the internet wasn’t working. After unplugging and re-plugging the modem and router a few times, I called the landlord, who’d apparently been doing the same thing at this apartment. He looked into it further and realized that there were problems all across the country. So I didn’t end up playing the $5, $50, or $500 rebuy events.
Haha , wow- Just now, as I was in the midst of typing, “Here’s hoping for better weather and no more outages!”, all the lights went out in the apartment. Going to investigate now…
OK, turns out it was just a blown fuse. Crazy timing though!
Dutch are rigth when they complain that people get the wrong impression of their country. They are more than just narrow stairs, windmills, clogs and tulips.What about outages!!.
I feel sorry for you shivering on the deck with that beautiful view, like I feel sorry for you bicycling through the tulip fields with that beautiful view. Enjoy!