Loss of Innocence...

Berlin, Germany

January 5, 2008
N52°30.834
E013°22.769

Below is a fictional story I wrote two years ago about a young girl whose life was destroyed by the Stasi, or secret police, in East Germany. The Stasi was modeled after the KGB in Russia and at their peak had over 90,000 employees and 180,000 undocumented or undercover employees.

As we strolled through the Stasi museum on our final day in Berlin, we were shocked at the technology and spying equipment the government developed for the sole purpose of keeping their citizens from fleeing their country.

The undercover agents infiltrated schools, churches, various organizations and reported back on a regular basis. They were looking for people who were speaking out against the government, looking to defect, or simply causing problems in the community.

After the Berlin Wall fell, details about the Stasi came to life, and it was possible for residents to obtain their secret file (the Stasi had nearly 6 million files documenting activities of the citizens of East Germany).

It was very interesting walking through the museum, especially since I had completed this story a few years back.

Enjoy…
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November 9th, 1989 was the day of rebirth for Leona Segur, as well as for other Germans living in the East during the cold war. Leona, whose name means as brave as a lioness, was born on August 5, 1978. Leona, known by her friends as Leo, short for Leona and her astrological sign, was eleven years old when the wall came down. She remembers the celebrations, the vodka, the droves of people headed west, wanting to get away in case it was a mean trick by the government. The parties went on for over a week straight, people laughed in the streets, and really looked forward to their new start.

Leo, her two brothers, Herbert, 13, and Barrett, 7, her sister Gretchen,9, and her parents, Wolfgang and Uta, wanted desperately to head west, but they couldn’t leave what little they had behind. They had a glimmer of hope the new money would benefit the family and the older kids—Leona and Herbert—could get jobs making some money. The family could save, and eventually start their venture west, as far west as they could go. They wanted to leave behind the nightmares that haunted them in their small East Berlin neighborhood.

Leo’s parents wanted their children to get the best education possible, so they enrolled them in a Catholic School within walking distance of their modest house. Leo’s family practiced in the Catholic Church, even though they lived in a predominately protestant community, it made sense for them to attend the school. The tuition was tough to pay, but nothing was more important to Leo’s parents then the education of their children.

The entire family, Leo more so than others, tried very hard to forget the days before the wall came down, the Stasi watched her every move, thinking a child under eleven was a threat. In reality, Leo was the victim, but the GDR, didn’t see it that way.

Leo was only 7 years old when things began to change for the entire Segur family. Uta thought it would be a good idea for the children to start reading books from the west to expand their horizons. Uta grew up in the GDR and didn’t know much about the West, but she didn’t want her children to be as sheltered as she was as a child. Uta knew she was taking a risk allowing the older children, Herbert and Leo, to read “non-approved” GDR literature, but she felt the reward for her children outweighed the risk involved.

Leo was a very bright child, always reading at the same level as Herbert even though she was two years younger, and as a middle child she was a little more outgoing than Herbert or Gretchen. Leo’s curiosity and desire to grasp everything around her was another reason Uta gradually introduced the books from the west.

It was a chilly November day, the skies were dark, and the clouds low. There was very little light throughout the day. Leo was in her history class learning about the ways of the GDR. Leo, as outgoing as she was, spoke up and said, “It isn’t like that in other parts of the world.” Leo was referring to the communist ways of the east. “In the west,” Leo continued, “they have a democracy, they can move around freely, without fear.” The nun was in shock, she didn’t know how to respond to the comments. She immediately dismissed the class for recess which was only 3 minutes away. Leo ran out of the class with the rest of the children, not realizing she had done anything wrong.

During recess the teacher spoke with the principal, and they both knew what they had to do. They had to report Leo’s outburst to the Stasi immediately. It is not possible to withhold information such as this. They decided to walk to the Stasi office together, after school. The children came back into the class room after recess and continued with the next subject of the day, math. Leo completely forgot about her comments earlier in the day, and when class was dismissed she went home as if nothing happened.

Leo walked home after school, set her books on the table, and began her homework. The table was in the kitchen where her mom was preparing the evening dinner. Uta asked Leo about her day while peeling potatoes and carrots. At first Leo gave her mom the standard answer, “Nothing new today, Mutti.” Leo quickly finished her math homework and moved to history. The history homework jogged her memory about the day’s events. “Oh, Mutti,” Leo said, “I told my class that other countries are not communist.” Uta stopped peeling the potatoes, turned to Leo, and asked her to repeat what she had just said. Leo proudly repeated the day’s events to her mother.

Tears built up in Uta’s eyes. Leo didn’t know what she had done. “What’s wrong, Mutti,” Leo asked, “Why are you crying?” Leo started to get a little scared. At this point Uta had her head on the kitchen table making soft little weeping noises. Leo sat next to her mom, not really sure how to react. For some reason none of the other children were around that afternoon, they must have gone to their friends houses after school.

Thirty minutes went by, it was now almost 5p, and Uta didn’t move her head from the table. Leo didn’t move either, not really sure what to do. After asking her mom several times what was wrong, she realized she wasn’t making any progress. Leo sat there and tried to do her homework, but she couldn’t really concentrate. Even though Leo was smart, she was only seven, and really didn’t understand what she could have done to make her mother so upset.

At 5:30p Wolfgang walked in the front door, hungry, he worked in the government owned sheet metal plant. “Hello, I am home,” Wolfgang yelled, “where is everyone?” Leo jumped up from her spot at the table and ran into the hallway where her father was standing. She leaped into his arms, almost trying to warm up to him before he saw Mutti. She gave him a few big kisses. “Wow,” he said, “you are quiet the kisser today.” Then jokingly, Wolfgang asked, “What did you do wrong?” and then immediately “Where is Mutti?”

Wolfgang walks the 15 steps from the hallway into the kitchen and sees Uta at the table, head still down. “What is wrong?” Wolfgang asks. Finally lifting her head off of the table, Uta looks up at Wolfgang with mascara all down her face. Her blue eyes were very bright against the bloodshot whites and Uta’s ash colored hair was wet around the edges from soaking up her tears. Wolfgang immediately fell to his knees and put his arms around her shoulder. “My dear, Uta, what is wrong?”

At this point the tears were streaming down Uta’s face. She looked up at him and tried to speak, words wouldn’t come out, and she gasped for air. Wolfgang, still at her side, tried to calm her down. Finally, Uta said, “your daughter,” nodding her head towards Leo, “spoke out in class today.” Wolfgang jumped up from his squat position and instantly yelled at Leo to go to her room.

Leo began to cry as soon as she heard the harsh words come from her father’s mouth. She ran through the hallway and into the room she shared with her sister Gretchen on the other side of the house. Leo ran through the door, slammed it behind her, and dove onto the bottom bed of the make shift bunk beds. This was normally her sisters sleeping area, but she didn’t care.

In the kitchen Uta and Wolfgang were quietly discussing the day’s events. Wolfgang asked Uta to repeat the story several times, just as she had asked Leo. “Maybe the teacher won’t say anything,” said Wolfgang, “I think we will have to wait and see.” The two decided they had to move forward as if nothing happened. They were very relieved the other children weren’t in the house to witness the meltdown.

After school the teacher and the principal gathered together to discuss their story one more time. They wanted to make sure they had all of their facts together before discussing the incident with the Stasi. The principal questioned the facts one more time, asking “are you sure that is what little Leona Segur said?” The teacher was positive and was ready to present the evidence.

The two, principal and teacher, began their walk to the Stasi office. They were both bundled up on the brisk day. The clouds were still dark and at 4p in the afternoon there was very little light. The moon was off in the distance, but at a sliver it wasn’t lighting the path. The teacher always carried a flashlight in her bag for situations such as these.

When they arrived at the Stasi station, the principal asked to speak with Herr Becker. The principal and Herr Becker dated back over 20 years. Herr Becker looked to the principal and his staff to report incidents of betrayal to the GDR. In exchange for his reports, the principal’s own children were accepted into a prestigious University in East Berlin, and an encouraging future in the GDR.

The principal explained to Herr Becker that one of the students at the school might be learning non-GDR policies at home. The teacher spoke up and described the day’s events to Herr Becker in detail, including the page of the GDR approved textbook they were reviewing when Leona Segur spoke up in class.

Herr Becker was diligently taking notes while the teacher described the events. The notes he was taking will go in Leona Segur’s permanent file. Everyone in the GDR has a file, 95% of them have at least one entry, and 80% of the people have multiple entries. As Herr Becker listened to the teacher, he began to strategize in his head. He decided to assign three agents to the Segur’s and one to track Leona specifically.

After the teacher completed the story, Herr Becker thanked the two of them for completing their civic duty and doing what is best for the GDR. The teacher and the principal left the Stasi office and headed into the bitter cold evening.

The agents started to survey the Segur home the very next morning at 6am. The agents knew exactly where the Segur house was located, they had surveyed Mr. Segur approximately 20 years ago—they placed a few pages of notes in his files, but nothing every transpired. The first step was to learn the families habits—when did the kids get up for school, when did they leave, when did Mr. Segur get up for work, when is the house empty, and for how long? All of this information will go into the permanent files of each family member, but the focus was on Leo.

From that day on, when Leo left the house, she had someone following her. She never really knew she was being followed. If she went to a friend’s house after school, someone would be there, after church, after school, after visiting the doctor, etc. Someone was monitoring Leo, a seven year old child, every day of the week, twenty four hours a day.

It took two weeks before the Stasi made their move to find evidence inside the house. Three agents opened an unlocked back door to gain entry into the three bedroom house. The agents went from room-to-room looking for non-GDR approved materials. They searched the kitchen, the dining room, the boys’ bedroom, the girls’ bedroom, and the parents’ bedroom. Underwear and socks were scattered around the rooms, out of their drawers, t-shirts now piled in the middle of the room, and pants were rolled into a ball. The agents didn’t find anything.

The agents, a little frustrated, were wrapping up their search when one of them noticed a little closed in the hallway. They opened the closet and saw standard linen on the top shelf, medicine on the second shelf, toilet paper on the third shelf, and a box on the floor. They quickly pulled the box out hoping it contained what they were looking for, only to find it full of what appeared to be old dust rags. Frustrated, the agent in the closet picked up a pile of the linen on the top shelf and threw it against the opposite wall. The agent standing back a little saw something towards the back of the top shelf, “what is that?” The agent said. The agent reached up and felt books—several of them. Using the lower shelf as a step, the agent pulled himself up and looked to see how far back the books went. He began pulling them out of the closet. The books included novels such as, “Cinderella,” “Rapunzel,” and “Metamorphisis.” There were also several history books that appeared to be from the west. This is the evidence they were looking for.

One of the three agents grabbed the car keys, left the house, and sped away in the car towards the Stasi headquarters. He ran into the headquarters and headed straight for Herr Becker’s office. “We found what you are looking for,” as he barged into the office. Herr Becker was on the phone, but he heard the words he was waiting for, he was ready for some action. He quickly ended his call and turned his attention towards the agent. The agent described the list of evidence they found in the Segur’s closet. Herr Becker immediately had a big smile on his face. He licked his lips and ran his fingers through his hair, while at the same time yelling out a big “YES!”

The agent sat there patiently waiting for orders from Herr Becker who was now sitting at his desk with his back towards the agent. Herr Becker slowly turned around and barked out the orders, the agent diligently took notes, and he looked more intense as he listened closely to the next order. The agent was dismissed, headed out the door, and back to the Segur home to execute the orders.

While the agents ransacked the house the family went about their day. They had no reason to believe the Stasi would go through their house without the proper warrants. In the afternoon, after Uta finished the shopping for the evening’s dinner, she met her husband at a local bookstore. Together they picked up the kid’s from school, something that was usually left up to Uta, or the kids, especially the older ones, came home on their own. The parents reminded the children during breakfast that they had family plans after school.

The parents arrived at the designated meeting place approximately ten minutes before the meeting time. They were catching up on the day’s events when they noticed a man standing behind a car watching them. They decided to walk around the block real quick to see what would happen. They stopped after a few minutes, turned around, and the guy was there. They walked almost half way around, again the guy was there. They got back to their original spot, he was still there. They looked at each other and knew they were in big trouble. Uta, Wolfgang, and their family were being investigated by the Stasi.

The kids began to join them one at a time, Gretchen and Barrett first, and then Leo and Herbert followed. Together they began their short journey home with the man In tow. The parents decided not to say anything to the children on the way home, they wanted to get home safe and then they would sit down with the kids. They had no idea they wouldn’t be able to speak to their children when they got home.

The family walked towards their house in silence. The kids kept trying to talk, to tell their parents about their day, but the parents weren’t answering. They walked down the street, looking left to right, right to left, front to back, back to front, afraid for their future and the future of their children. The family turned the corner towards their house and saw three cars parked out front.

The family walked up the driveway to their modest home as a Stasi agent literally popped out of the bushes to greet them. The parents, did their best to maintain composure, and told their children to remain calm. The youngest child, little Barrett, was clinging to his mom’s skirt, pulling it down, and screaming. The other children were unsure of what to do; they froze in their tracks and cried. Three more agents joined the crowd, two grabbing two of the children each, and the last one grabbing Uta.

At this point, Wolfgang was inside the house with the first agent. He was being interviewed in the kitchen. The agents brought the children and Uta, who they had to drag at times, into the house and placed them in different rooms—including the one bathroom in the house.

A few more agents showed up bringing the total count to seven. One agent was with each person and then there was one floater agent who roamed in between the six family members. There was even an agent interrogating poor little Barrett, who was only 3 at the time, and didn’t understand anything.

The interrogations went on for seven hours, or until about one in the morning. At that time, the agents decided to take two of the family members down to the Stasi headquarters—Leo and Wolfgang. The others were able to stay at home, but they were told they would be watched. They were not allowed to visit Leo and Wolfgang until they received word from one of the agents, one of their watchers.

Leo was placed in a six by six cell with a small little bed, bedpan, and no windows. The cell was left dark. For the first 72 hours she was not allowed to sit on the bed, or sleep on the bed. The goal by the agents and Herr Becker was to make her completely sleep deprived. They fed her very little during the first 72 hours, mainly just bread, and she was only allowed 8 ounces of water a day. An agent stood outside the cell 24x7 to make sure Leo didn’t fall asleep. If she did, they would spray her with cold water, and make her walk in circles. She would walk in circles and shake uncontrollably from the cold water and lack of sleep.

Wolfgang was placed in another, slightly larger, cell, his was 8x8. For some reason Wolfgang was allowed to sleep and they brought him full meals twice a day. Wolfgang was interrogated one more time, two days after his arrival, and then he was free to go home. The agents knew Wolfgang made the money in the family and he was needed back at work.

For some reason, unbeknownst to the family, they kept Leo in the small little cell after the release of her father. They took Leo into an interrogation room after 72 hours without any sleep, very little to eat and begin questioning the young girl. The first round of questioning went on for twelve hours. During this time, some soup was brought in for Leo after six hours, her first real food in 72 hours. She slurped the soup down very quickly and asked for more, as if she were at home. Her request was denied, at least until she told them what they wanted to hear—where she learned about life outside of the East.

Leo was surprised her request was denied. She saw the pot of soup and there was plenty left, why couldn’t she have more? The questions continued, but Leo didn’t really understand what the agents were saying. Her mind was foggy, the agents were putting words into her mouth, and she felt like she was outside of her body looking down.

After the first interrogation session, the agents took Leo back to her cell and left her there for eight more days. After eight days, they questioned her again, and the cycle was repeated. Her parents weren’t allowed to visit her for over two months. The Stasi’s goal was to completely breakdown this child.

After eight months, Leo was finally released by the Stasi and allowed to go home. After 30+ interrogation sessions, the Stasi realized Leo was not a threat to the community. The Stasi advised the family they planned to maintain surveillance for at least two years and agents would make surprise visits to the family. The family expected the horror to continue for the rest of their lives. There was no way to escape East Germany with constant surveillance, and the last thing Uta and Wolfgang wanted to do was something to jeopardize their other children.

The Stasi was successful in breaking down Leo. After eight months in seclusion, she was behind in school, made fun of by other students, and had a very tough time integrating back into society. Life was tough at home too. The rest of the family walked on egg shells around Leo, afraid that they would say something or do something to upset her. Leo never understood why she was kept in a dark room away from her family. What she did understand was she didn’t like life in East Germany anymore.

Life was very grim for the Segur family over the next few years, until November 9th, 1989. That was the day there was a glimmer of hope, the day the family could start their plan to move west—it was the day the family was reborn.

A Cold Day, A Cold War...

Berlin, Germany

January 3, 2008
N52°30.834
E013°22.769

I mentioned yesterday I have always been intrigued by Berlin. I never understood how a city could function, split in two by a wall. The West, basking in freedom, while the communist controlled East struggled to survive. I poured through books about the Stasi, the secret police organization modeled after the KGB, who encouraged citizens in the east to spy on neighbors, friends, and in some cases, family. No one could be trusted.

Today the merged city, and united country, is looking forward, trying to leave the past behind. However, Germany’s history isn’t something easy to forget. Berlin is filled with historical reminders such as the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Book Burning Memorial and a small piece of the wall near the SS and Gestapo headquarters where numerous "dissidents" of the Nazi regime were horrifically tortured. It is a shame a country needs so many memorials to help alleviate pain, or apologize, for the atrocities of their government.

It is for these reasons I was intrigued to explore Berlin. Today I finally got my chance. We ignored the freezing temperatures and snow on the ground and bundled up and set out to explore the city. Our plan for the day was to make our way to East Berlin and visit several of the sites along avenue Der Linden, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie.

As we walked along Der Linden, we checked out the government buildings, the Berlin Cathedral and the Book Burning Memorial. The book burning memorial is located underground in a large public square; looking down through a thick sheet of Plexiglas is a large white room of empty bookshelves. It is the location of the first book burning rally organized by the Nazi regime. Any text deemed inappropriate met its fate with the fire, thus, the large room of empty bookshelves.

Next we popped into a bookstore, The Berlin Story, where they not only sell books, but educate tourists like us about the history of Berlin. At the end of WWII Germany was divided; the East controlled by the Soviet Union and the West controlled by Great Brittan, France and the United States. The Iron Curtain, or separation between the East and West Germany, helped control the outflow of citizens from East to West. However, Germany’s capital city was also split down the middle where it was significantly more difficult to control the exodus.

In fact, the United States, in an on going battle against communism, told all East Germans if they wanted a better life, they simply had to walk up to an American soldier, place one hand over their heart and say "I denounce communism." The soldier would then transport the "dissident" to the nearest US airport and they would then be flown to US territory in West Germany. The US government would give them a house, money, and a job until they could get on their feet. What more could you ask for in the name of democracy?

At one point Stalin cut the roads that served as supply arteries from West Germany into West Berlin. It was an attempt to demoralize and force the West to move towards the communist regime. However, the Allied Forces promised West Berliners they would be taken care of and began flying supply planes into West Berlin every minute of every day; yet another massive investment by the West to defeat communism. After several months, Stalin realized it was a waste of money and resources to compete with the Allies airlift strategy and reopened the roads to West Berlin.

In 1961, after more than 1.69 million people fled the East, Stalin ordered a wall to be constructed, surrounding the city of West Berlin. The Wall was more than a simple 12 foot concrete divider; it was a death trap for those trying to escape. There were several layers of security; electric fences, barbed wire, guard dogs, and hundreds of watch towers with guards instructed to shoot to kill.

As we were leaving the bookstore, we overheard one of the ladies in the tour group explain her history to the guide. She explained she grew up in Czechoslovakia (when it was still a communist country) and in school she learned that America was an imperialistic and fascist regime intent on world domination. It was interesting hearing a different perspective since during our time in Eastern Europe we found it a faux pas to talk to anyone about their life during communism.

On November 9th, 1989 the Berlin Wall was opened. After over 30 years of Cold War the communist government succumbed and announced anyone could apply to travel between East and West. Within hours thousands of people stormed The Wall and flooded to the West. The demands of unlimited freedom helped bring down the wall almost as quickly as it went up—overnight. When The Wall fell, it had a ripple effect on other communist countries, like Czechoslovakia, ultimately resulting in the collapse of communism across the majority of Eastern Europe.

We learned more about the history of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie later in the afternoon.

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After our history lesson we headed to Berlin’s relatively new and controversial Jewish Holocaust Memorial exhibit. The memorial is dedicated to the six million Jews who lost their lives at the hands of the German Government during the holocaust. Part of the controversy surrounding the memorial is because it isn’t all inclusive of everyone who was murdered by the Nazi regime during WWII. Additionally, the memorial is a very untraditional; there are literally hundreds of polished dark gray stone obelisks, varying in height (3’ to 12’) and arrange in what seems to almost be a maze.

As we walked through the field of stone slabs we paid our respects. It was a strange juxtaposition, as I looked across the Jewish Memorial, I thought back to our time a few weeks ago at the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach in Normandy. The thousands of crosses in the cemetery and hundreds of stone obelisks; all a reminder of millions of lives lost and destroyed and what can happen if no one has the courage to stand-up to a fascist regime.

We Finally See Snow...

Berlin, Germany

January 2, 2008
N52°30.834
E013°22.769

It was time to say goodbye to Shelby and Dustin and board the train for Berlin. We were very happy to have them with us in Amsterdam for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, it helped us miss home.

The final stop for the train was Berlin HBF, it was a six hour train ride from Amsterdam, and the last train ride of our trip. The weather channel claimed the high in Berlin would feel like 17°F. As we entered Germany snow covered fields and trees, our first snow of the trip, and confirmation of the forecast. Lead gray clouds covered the sky and nightfall arrived 4:30 PM; only making colder.

Berlin HBF opened last year, the first train station for the combined city, East and West Berlin. It is a state of the art beautiful building, looking more like a shopping mall than a train station. Thank goodness the station is enclosed, allowing us to stay warm for a few extra minutes before we scrambled outside to catch the S Bahn metro.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to Berlin in time to see any of the sights today, but we plan on seeing a lot during our four nights here. I’ve always been intrigued by Berlin and I’m looking forward to experiencing the hip and trendy capital of Germany.

Other notes: We officially went over budget today. The entire trip we have done an excellent job of watching our spending, but with the weak dollar we peaked a few cents over our projected daily budget. It didn’t help that our train ride to Berlin topped $300.

Riddle Me This...

Amsterdam, Holland

January 1, 2008
N52°22.800
E004°53.320

Tonight is our final night in Amsterdam. Marc and I catch a train to Berlin tomorrow while Shelby and Dustin catch a flight home. We had a great time in our canal house over the past several nights; sharing Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve dinners, retelling stories, and creating stories for years to come.

One of the best stories from the time in Amsterdam was our first night. As we walked back to our place, still unclear about the good and bad neighborhoods, we walked through a mild “red-light” district. There were probably a dozen red lights glowing above the windows down the alley, woman dressed very provocatively peered, smiled and gestured to passer-bys while children were playing close by on the canals of the Jordaan.

As we walked through the neighborhood, Marc turned and said… “Riddle me this… would you rather walk through this neighborhood or the Tenderloin.” The whole crew started laughing for two reasons—the neighborhood is not sketchy at all and where in the heck did Marc come up with “riddle me this?” The phrase was repeated several times over the following days and Shelby wanted to make sure it was appropriately captured in the blog. The point Marc was attempting to make was in regard to Holland’s laws. In Holland prostitution has been legalized and is supervised by health officials; consequently there’s been a significant reduction in crime and transmitted diseases… something we stopped a minute to ponder.

In closing, I guess I should say, Riddle me this… would you rather spend New Years Eve in San Francisco or Amsterdam? I think the Amsterdam experience was a once in a lifetime for me, I guess I’m getting older. It was great fun to see how other people celebrate, but I could do without the massive explosions and excessive drunks; however, I guess you get the drunks everywhere.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Burning In the New Year...

Amsterdam, Holland

January 1, 2008
N52°22.800
E004°53.320

I can officially say this is my craziest New Years ever. The explosions from fireworks started around 9:00 AM this morning and didn’t stop all day. These weren’t your everyday “Piccolo Pete,” “Sparklers” or little firecrackers. No, the people in Amsterdam apparently have access to industrial strength explosives!

In the morning we headed to Den Hague to avoid the crowds and touch the North Sea. However, when we arrived in The Hague, there were kids strolling along the sidewalks tossing what felt like concussion grenades in the streets and into racks of bicycles. It became obvious that industrial strength explosives were not limited to Amsterdam. We made our way down to the beach, touched the Sea, and kept our heads down on the way back to the train station. Kindergarten aged kids shooting bottle rockets at their friends doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling…

When we returned to Amsterdam the explosions had only intensified, but now there were literally tens of thousands of people spilling into the streets. After a quiet dinner in our apartment and a few adult beverages we figured we had to go out and experience the frenzied streets of Amsterdam for ourselves.

Smoke and fog filled the air. The flash and explosions of bottle rockets and M1000’s reverberated along the canals. In the middle of the streets, small fires burned uncontrolled. The fuel for the fires was piles of corrugated cardboard boxes, which used to be filled with fireworks. Obviously, once the fireworks were gone it only made sense to light the boxes on fire and let them burn in the middle of the bridges.

We were at least 30 minutes away from midnight and 15 minutes away from Dam Square. The crowds were pouring through the streets, all headed toward the Dam; explosions, concussions, bottle rockets zipping overhead, beer bottles rolling across the sidewalk, smoke obscuring the scene, the sound of sirens, people everywhere, running.

We made it to the Dam by 11:45 PM and found a spot in the crowd next to a fat bald guy holding up a wall, swaying, slobbering, talking to himself, and clutching a bottle of champagne that also helped prop him up; he’ll be a wreck tomorrow. We were shoulder-to-shoulder, no room to move, until a kid that looked like a young David Spade, passed out, hit the cobblestones, and started vomiting on his friend’s shoes… the crowd instantly made room.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Happy New Year! We watched the (sanctioned) fireworks and got the Hell out of the Dam right after midnight.

The Dam Square was completely packed, the police were holding people back, and we didn’t have a problem with making an “early” exit. It was 12:15 AM and it felt like the blast of fireworks and chaos and was just beginning to reach a fever pitch. In fact, as we made our way from the square we came upon another giant crowd watching a house fire. The fire had engulfed an entire building and only one engine was battling the incredible blaze. The fire, possibly caused by a bottle-rocket landing on the roof of the building, but more likely caused by the owner shooting rockets into the canals from his front-room window.

We watched as the fire brigade rolled in a few more engines, the house still burning, as fireworks continued to fly across the canals. The sight of the burning house was a little depressing and the thick smoke made it hard to breathe so we headed back to our canal. It was almost 2:00 AM when we finally weaved our way back to our house and the noise of the revelers, music, and blasts still echoed through the city.

What an evening! At times it was a little sketchy, but it will be a New Year’s we will remember for years to come. If you’re ever in Amsterdam for the New Year be ready to blow-up some shit!

Calm Before the Storm...

Amsterdam, Holland

December 30, 2007
N52°22.800
E004°53.320

The tourists are pouring into they city in droves to celebrate the New Year. Today, instead of braving the crowds, we steered clear of the city center and explored our neighborhood. We’re staying in an apartment in the Jordaan district; a hip, trendy, and at times swanky, neighborhood, just a few canals west of the center of the city. It has a feel similar to Polk St. in San Francisco, from Lombard to California.

Shelby and Dustin returned from their day trip to Brugge around 11:30 this morning after getting stuck in Antwerp for the night (train issues… no more to be said). They showered, slammed a couple cups of coffee, and we hit the streets of the Jordaan shortly thereafter. We wandered through little cafes, sat next to the canal and grabbed a few beers, and played some eight-ball in a coffee shop. It was nice to explore the canals and the neighborhood without rushing to see a certain site... no plans, just time.

After several stops and hours later, we made it to Restaurant Cinema Paradiso for an early dinner. The restaurant is similar to Foreign Cinema in San Francisco, illuminating classic movies on the screen as customers dined on pizza and pasta. The food and movies at Foreign Cinema are better, but we still had fun since we were with the whole crew.

During the day tomorrow we'll head to The Hague, avoid the crowds in Amsterdam, and see another part of Holland. Don’t worry though; we’ll be back in time to bring in the New Year with the masses. Happy New Year!