Saturday Morning:
I’ve come to the conclusion that Amsterdam is New Orleans, or New Orleans is Amsterdam. Both cities embrace excess, both are dirty, and both have side streets which are littered and smell of piss in the morning. When I am in good health I can handle either for about three days. On this trip I have unfortunately not been in good health, so my tolerance for the lifestyle conducted is much lower. I have either been fighting the Cruise Crud, allergies, or some other ailment which my body is finding difficult to defend. I sneezed a lot Friday, and woke Saturday morning with a runny nose and unsettled stomach.
I’ve also discovered Amsterdam to be a late-starting city on the weekends, finding it hard to locate a breakfast restaurant open before 9am. As I type this I am having coffee and apple pie in the shop in which I did the same thing a few weeks ago. This is also an attempt to kill the two hours I have before I board my train to Rheine, Germany. I will have left this destination by the time you read this heading back to Amsterdam where I will overnight before flying out tomorrow “afternoon”.
Destination: Rheine, Germany
Reason: none
Imposed Motto: “The Quiet City That Never Sleeps”
Saturday Post-Morning:
My train rolled into the small city of Rheine a little before 1:00pm. Luckily for me I caught the tail end of their Saturday market and bought some cheese and rolls for lunch. Score!
To add to my luck on Saturday afternoon there was some parade whose theme I didn’t understand. Something about shooting clubs coming together as explained to me by a young man whose English was marginally better than my German.
Because I didn’t follow my own rule to make sure every room you book has a goddamn air conditioner! I nearly purchased a 23cm desk fan for €15 to use in my hotel room. Were it slightly smaller I would have purchased it because it would then have fit into my backpack for the walk back to the hotel.
When I chose to come here I had no idea that little Rheine, Germany was also having a street party on Saturday night. Music stages were erected and bands played different styles of music. Of course I gravitated to the stage nearest Scum Bar (you know I had to drink there) which was rock music. I felt like a complete fish out of water as everyone else belted out lyrics in German and I could not; oddly I knew all of the music played behind the lead singer, but wondered if completely different lyrics were sung to the familiar tune.
Sadly my gimpy hip reared its ugly head and limited my mobility on Saturday. From the sounds I heard through my open window until 2am this quiet little city knows how to party.
Sunday:
Rheine in the 2020s reminds me of Queens in the 1970s.
Yesterday I discovered that the local soccer, um Fußball, team was playing a home match in the afternoon. A little research told me that FC Eintracht Rheine is currently in the fourth division of German Soccer and that the stadium in which they play is within walking distance (1.9km) from the town center. Guess what I did next! Spoiler: I went to the game. It was as much fun as could be expected for a fan with no rooting interest, even though I caused a bit of an incident as I tried to look around the seating area and was stopped by “security” and asked for my ticket. In broken German and English explained that I bought the ticket at the window this morning, two other “security” agents were consulted about my ticket and all was okay. Out of concern that I’d have to explain myself again I wound up sitting in a different area. The beer I bought was €3, the Coke €3.50.
After the game I walked back to town, went out to eat dinner, and bought two beers at a liquor store for my wild night in of packing and doing research. I fell asleep after finishing the first bottle, it may have been 9:00pm.
Wordle: four, my starter was CHASE
Connections: perfect, Blue > Green > Purple > Yellow