Travel alone in a foreign country

I took photos with film, so will have to find a way to get them digital. In the meantime, some writing: Amsterdam, 26 October 2000 All roads lead to the red light district, which cradles in its very center the oldest and most beautiful church. The city is SHAPED like a vagina, the monster clit of sin accentuated on most maps with at least a tinge of pink. I don't know what's more disturbing, the babyfaced German boys scrambling and sweating and panting their way through their possessions, repeatedly, at 4:30AM in my dorm, or the image conjured by the grizzled American crackhead (seated across from me at the coffeehouse) who regularly masturbates himself on the street where the whores can see him from their glass cages at about the same time of day. "They love it!" he assures me. For the moment, a good portion of the red light lacks paving stones, so the sensation of the surreal is accentuated with soft scattering sand and loose boardwalks tipping crazily over deep ditches. Makes walking a fairly sensual experience. The buildings are close here, incubating and cozy, they lean just slightly inward as if to see what they are keeping at their feet. Pastries and dildos, bongs and beauty parlors, there's nothing like seeing a naked woman in the window and a child in the street to tell you you're in Amsterdam. I am a tourist, and I have used the trams like rides at Disneyland, comforted by the obvious paths embedded in the road and the charming little circle at the end of the line. I walk and walk, getting in the way and gaping upwards, connecting blocks and neighborhoods in ever-growing and continuous circles. Yesterday a downpour chased me into their MOMA, where I was forced to contemplate abstract sculpture, intentionally boring videos, and large-scale installations involving stuffed badgers, 60's light fixtures, and whale song. Nice work if you can get it. I leave tonight in a green "Skoda Felicia" (a crappy Polish/Russian car) with a couple of students who are headed in my general direction. Pawel says our speed will be "economical", whatever that means. Adventure awaits!