To celebrate my recent completion of 26 laps around the sun, Kate arranged a trip to Napa for us and some friends.

Craigie on Main from Dave Grijalva on Vimeo.

My parents, for example, don’t talk about my bowel movements. There are other ways that I can interact with them.

The way I see it, they have it right. All of these vices exist pretty much everywhere in the world. Locations that legalize, tax, and regulate these activities instead of standing on a moral high horse and trying to stop them, appear to have far fewer problems stemming from them. I’m not trying to say I endorse these activities, but I’m also pleased to be in a place where the government does not stand in judgment of those who do. Marijuana use is so common place here that the only people I noticed abusing the privilege were americans or otherly tourists.

The incidence of violent crime here is insanely small. Being pick-pocketed is the biggest worry. People here are more tolerant of race and sexual orientation than any other place I’ve been to.

There are a few things I didn’t like about my visit here. The largest complaint is that people smoke everywhere, though I hear this is going to be changing in the coming summer. There’s too much mayonnaise. Everything is served with mayo. It’s gross. And this last complaint may be specific to people with large feet; the stairs are too small. This place is the land of tiny stairs. They’re über steep and half the depth of the stairs I’m used to. I can only fit the front third of my foot on a step.

Amsterdam is a beautiful, quiet, and safe city. Most everyone here speaks english. I would highly recommend anybody traveling through Europe set aside a couple days to visit Amsterdam.

Spent most of the day working. Got out for lunch and a couple of beers. Heineken seems to be the only thing you can get around here. Not surprising, since the factory is just a few blocks down the canal.

Grabbed a quick dinner at Wok to Walk on the way to the bars. It was a Sunday night, so there weren’t too many people out. Got back to the apartment around 4am.

Most eateries I’ve been in to are cash only, which meant I couldn’t eat until one of the exchange places opened at like 10:00. When they did, I had a croissant and a cup of coffee. We passed by a McDonalds and decided to go in and see what’s different. We had the McKroket, which is essentially a breaded and fried patty of beef gravy. It’s then slathered on mayonnaise which looks like it’s got whole mustard seeds in it.

Worked through most of the day. My throat is still a bit sore from the few hours we spent in a “coffee shop” doing some brainstorming. I only had actual coffee, but the room was thick with second hand smoke.

We had dinner at some miscellaneous place that we ducked into because it was freezing out. I can’t believe how much butter and mayo they have on everything here. I ordered a plate of these tiny pancakes that were maybe 1 inch across. They were served with a hearty dose of powdered sugar and about forty-thousand calories worth of butter, which had been haphazardly slapped onto the plate. Everything we had was very good, though I didn’t try the fries that were swimming in mayo.

We walked through the red light district on the way back to the apartment. It’s a very bizarre area. It’s got about as much foot traffic as any other area of the city. Most of the people seem unfazed by the goings ons. Other than some very graphic advertisements on the street and the red glow coming from most of the storefronts, it’s really that different from the rest of the city. That is, unless you walk down one of the alleyways where prostitutes stand in the windows in their skivvies and beckon you to come in and join them. A very unusual kind of window shopping.

We were supposed to go out tonight, but I fell asleep around 8. I have no idea if anybody else went out or even if they’re here now.