Just a regular rainy day in Amsterdam, as usual, with crowded streets, bike lanes, rail stations, and bursting sounds of transport and people everywhere. For more than a year I have been staying in the Netherlands and still I haven't seen the entire Amsterdam yet. I think this sounds familiar to many people that you never get the chance to explore actually where you live for a long time. I had a scheduled meet-up with someone, in Amsterdam. I was going to meet her in person. I was excited because I have known her for a while through blockchain, Hive blockchain. So, I left home without seeing the actual location, well I was overconfident because I knew that the location was in Amsterdam, what could go wrong?
After taking the train, I looked at the location once again and realized, I had taken the wrong train. LOL... Well, surprisingly I was not panicked because this happened to me before. And like usual, my therapist told me once that you will never get lost in the Netherlands, you just have to spend more time on transportation and traveling if something goes wrong; that's it.
So, instead of 30 minutes to reach Destiny, I had to spend around 30 minutes extra. The final destination arrived and I texted her that I arrived and waiting for her. No more suspense, well I went to meet one of the beautiful Hive souls @corvidae. She flew to the Netherlands all the way from Portland to stay a few hours in the Netherlands. After the meet and greet, my first question was How is Pilot, where he is, with whom he is now? Because I knew Pilot was her world and actually our conversation on Hive started because of Pilot. I have known @corvidae for a while, since 2020 when I adopted Gigi, my dog. She left a lot of tips for me and we used to talk a lot about Gigi and Pilot on the blockchain. Well, our furbabies are the main reason for our meet-up. That's why people say, two unknown souls become friends easily because of your furry companions.
Ann was not alone, she was staying in Amsterdam with her friend Sreya who also speaks Bengali (my language). I found out later that her ancestors are related to my ancestors. What a small world. We started talking and it felt like we had known each other for a very long time. We were not unknown in fact I didn't feel that we were meeting for the first time. Ann was tired because of 9 hours flight, she couldn't rest at all so we took some time to figure out what we were going to do next. Ann is really a soft-spoken, polite person; I have never met such polite individuals in life.
Finally, after a long conversation, we decided to take a walk in Amsterdam Central. Her hotel was in Amsterdam West so from her location to Amsterdam Central, it took 45 minutes by tram. When we reached the center to experience the nightlife of Amsterdam, the rain started. Unfortunately, when it rains in Amsterdam, you can walk but you cannot experience the beauty of the city because rain can be annoying when you want to see locations properly.
Our first sightseeing point was Dam Square, it's a very common area for me and people from all over the world to come here to see the historical Dam Square, royal palace, church, and Madame Tussauds Amsterdam. Ann was taking the photos while I was just walking here and there. Why I didn't take any photos!! I don't know, probably I was acting more of a local with Ann. LOL...
Rain also disrupted our photography time but we didn't stop because our schedule was packed. Ann had to travel again in the morning so we tried to keep our exploration short and simple.
Later we decided to see canals near Red Light District. Oh gosh, it was a weekend night and the crowd was insane there. Nobody cared about the rain, all were enjoying the activities of the Red Light District. I assumed that the entire tourist community was there at that moment. We couldn't even walk properly.
I managed to take some photos and edited them in the Dark theme. Probably you will have difficulties understanding the photos...
As I said, we barely could see anything in Red Light District because of the rain and crowd. We spent some time on a bridge at De Wallen, Ann took some photos and then we decided to head back again to Amsterdam West. Maybe one day I will go to De Wallen again to take photos of vibrant and spicy nights in the Red Light District.
Saying goodbye was not so easy with Ann because I felt like our meetup time was small and I wanted to spend more time with her. But it is what it is, I was really happy to see her finally. She came all the way just to meet me and it was all I could expect from her who never saw me before. Thank you @corvidae once again...
Because of Hive, again I was able to meet a beautiful community soul. I came from Ukraine because of War so this meetup means a lot to me.
Love
Priyan...
I am @priyanarc.... An architect, a dreamer, and a passionate writer who loves to write about life. I try to present my own perspective and experiences. Please leave your feedback and criticism because it's the only way I can know and reach your mind and thoughts easily...
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All images used are captured by the author...
