I wish I could tell you that all I did was walk along the river and think deep thoughts. I wish I could tell you I went back to the hotel, read some more of the novel of the evening and had an early night.
All these things I wish I could do. But that wouldn't be the whole truth.
I crossed the bridge into the seamier part of town. I went to a coffee shop and hooked up with a couple of Dutch guys who knew where there'd be jazz. We dodged the herds of Japanese tourists and passed through the red-light district where ladies of every shape and size waved and pouted and tapped on windows (the Dutch are nothing if not inclusive.) We stopped at coffee shops and bars on the way.
We listened to great music.
Eventually I bade farewell to my new best friends, knowing I'd never see them again and made my way back to the hotel. In the morning I drank in a champagne bar while I waited for my taxi to the airport.
I can't fully explain it, but I've fallen deeply in love with this city. It isn't particularly beautiful, nor is it perfect in every way. But it seems more at ease with itself than other places I've visited, and I like that.
Home again, home again.
