Episode 14: The elephant in the room

So, the car was allowed into Amsterdam, it just wasn't a good idea to take it there. Like most cities, it wasn't built with the automobile in mind, but unlike most others it seems to have made little effort to accommodate the car. Mostly I think that's great. The place looks so beautiful and mostly that's because it's unspoiled by the passage of time and I love that. I think that's what people mean by living history. It's what I mean by it, anyway; the place still looks and feels like it did a hundred, two hundred years ago but you can mostly go about your 21st century existence with no problems (car enthusiasts may find that a struggle but most people seem to bike around over here). We didn't get a lot of time, unfortunately, to explore the city but we've been there now. We've seen it with our own eyes. It's a start. Some might call this trip "going to see the elephant." It's kind of a you go just to see what's over the horizon deal, no great plan, no worries about we have to do this or that thing, you just go, you see what's there, you come back. Or in our case, you go somewhere else and see what's there too.

And thus we come to Doesburg. Yes, those amongst you who had access to our planned itinerary may have expected us to be in Doetinchem tonight and so did we, but apparently the hotels there were sold out when we booked and we are in fact in a tiny town a few miles away. Not that it matters, the only thing in Doetinchem of interest to us was the football game this evening. Having said that, if we were to do this again, I don't think we'd stay here next time. The town is beautiful and in fact boasts some interesting sights and attractions, such as a restaurant that claims to be the oldest in Holland,* but the few people we've interacted with didn't seem very welcoming to tourists and there are no actual hotels here. I'm not writing this blog to put anyone off visiting anywhere we've been on this trip but if you prefer a traditional hotel over an airBnB-type arrangement and your Dutch is anything other than spot on, I would advise you to make Doesburg a day-trip, not a stop-over.

I don't like being in someone else's house. Our host may not live here so we have the place to ourselves but I still have the feeling of intruding. The room is ok and the people who look after the house have been nice (of course; guests like us are paying their mortgage for them) but there's an indefinable awkwardness to sitting on a person's terrace or using their bathroom that you just don't get in a hotel. In a hotel it's a company's services you are using and I prefer that. That's just me, I guess; I don't even like staying at friends' houses, so throw in the stranger element and the fact that I'm basically paying for the privilege of having my social awkwardness active at all times and it's easy to see why this isn't for me.

I've mentioned occasionally to Chris that this holiday was not really ideal for a couple of introverts. The extrovert personality types are far better suited to this kind of venture. I wouldn't want to change who I am for the world but if I could have suspended certain parts of my psyche for a few weeks, that would have been helpful. But it makes you learn and grow, to do things like this, it's good for the soul if you try and see the world a different way.

In the end, we came to see the elephant and we did, almost literally; there was a big copper one stuck on the side of a building in Hamburg. I don't think we have a picture, unfortunately, so if you want to get a looksee, you'll have to go and see the elephant too.

-----

*I don't know if that refers to Holland as in the Netherlands or just the province of Holland but either way, it was opened in the 1400s so I think the claim is a strong one