La vita è bella and Birthday in Amsterdam

Just got back last night from a week driving around with my parents. It was a really good week. They're on the plane right now headed back for Toronto. Here's a recap of the week with pictures.

Milan was short, but amazing, I will be definitely going back. Not only did we manage to stay with some great hosts, but I had a great time in my brief visit. Their place was perfect, it was inside the city, yet green and closed off from the mad world. Of course, the food was fantastic. I tried to pinpoint what makes Italian food just so good. And, well, as i haven't been to the south yet, I cannot speak for it; but for the north all I have come up with is it's "simple, yet delicate". There's not much to it, but it's just prepared, or cooked, or whatever it is that they do, perfectly. We had some pizza the first night (of course) and had some great buffet the second night.

We then proceded to get lost in the Swiss Alps. Very daunting for the driver (moi!) but a great experience. It never occured to me how difficult it must be to builds roads and connect the towns amongst these huge mountains. So if the major highway is closed (as it was in this case), there is really only ONE way to go.

It involves many tight turns on a tiny road, climbing the alps, the tour buses gave me a chill as they gave about 5 cm clearance while passing. I would have liked to take more pictures, but i was driving, and i had bigger things to worry about, like death.

We stayed the night in Cologne, and had dinner with my old German exchange student, Kurt. My mom hadn't seen him in maybe 8 years, so she was most excited about it. But in any case, he's a premium dude, and it was great to see him.

Of course, Holland was great. Our first stop was in Sint Michelsgestel, the town where my dad was born (just a hop, skip, and a jump from Boxtel, my namesake). We went back to the house he was raised and just chilled out. I've been there before 9 years ago or so, but it was nice to go back. Then, as all trips to Holland demand, we hit Amsterdam. We rented some bikes, saw some sights, ate good food, and enjoyed the great nightlife. I even had my birthday on Wednesday in the A'dam. No better place to be on your birthday.

Well, Amsterdam was a mixture of chill and odd. We rode bikes through the park and up the winding confusing streets, saw the World Press Photo Exhibit at the Old Church, and I partied with a whole bunch of random people (to name a few, a couple Danes explaining that the Danish are good at nothing, except shipping; two groups of american first-timers in the coffeeshop; a persian dwarf named 'dada' --not kidding--, and some cool Dutch people). I would have liked to stay longer, but time did not allow.

A couple notes on travelling with parents:

--I think you're old when you stop always seeing your folks as lame, and just enjoy the company.

--It's nice to have all travel costs taken care of, Ive conditioned myself to be a cheap bastard on trips, just to make them feasible with my budget, but you can really put your feet up when the price of something isnt as big of an issue.

Oh yah, the World Cup starts today....oh dear lord...