From the hub's travel book: Hotel Okura Amsterdam - This multi-storey, multi-tasking, very smart business-class stopover has everything captains of industry need: a top-floor, top of the range French restaurant, a full-sized pool and health club; and sushi bars. Rooms are done up in suitably masculine style and range from small standards to the huge (and hugely expensive) presidential suite on the 21st floor.
After arriving via Mercedes, I checked into the hotel and was informed by the clerk that all room charges would be taken care of by the company. (Can you say sweet? And...what's in the mini-bar?) This was the first time I didn't have to fork over a credit card for any charges I may incur. I was further surprised to find I had a Deluxe Room.
The room itself was perhaps one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. The bed was huge with white fluffy linens. The desk was made of some fancy wood and the bathroom was marblized with a huge sunk in tub with a TV (that they called aqua vision). There was even a glass shower so you could see the TV from in the shower too. Besides thinking this was super cool, I was missing the hub. I wished he could be there to experience this fun. We arrived at the hotel at 7PM which gave me an hour to unpack. It was the first time I ever took all my clothes out of the suitcase and placed them in the fancy closet and drawers. I managed to lay down for about 10 minutes before Wheeler came to my door and we headed down to the bar.
We met even more people who had flew in from our team and proceeded to have several drinks. The bar area was dressed in Euro Cup gear. Who knew soccer could be this exciting? Orange for The Netherlands. The room seemed to be full of excitement not only for the game but within all the studio employees gearing up for a fun week. I sat down next to one of my bosses in LA who happened to be babysitting one of the movie producers we had brought into town for the show. I chatted briefly with him and his friend and was amazed to find how personable he was.
At 8PM we walked from the bar to one of the hotel's Japanese restaurants and had tempenyaki. Imagine a higher scale version of Bennihanna's. Our meal consisted of four courses cooked in front of us by an entertaining chef. The first round was duck, the second lobster, the third sea bass and the fourth, angus beef. I was so stuffed by the end of the meal, that I only had room for two bites of dessert which I really, really wanted to eat but which the new "fat" pants said "no way" to. After dessert there was a birthday cake for one of my London bosses. It was a new experience to take 4 1/2 hours to eat dinner. In that time the whole group consumed a lot of sake.
One would think drinking sake would knock a person out after not sleeping for over 24 hours. But it only knocked me out for 4 hours. I woke up at 5AM and wondered "What now?"
I met two work friends in the hotel lobby for some breakfast at 8AM. Our gang took turns putting the meals on our rooms so that we each could feel like a big person. The breakfast buffet which we ate at everyday but our last day was 30 euros per person. I couldn't help but doubling the cost of everything I came into contact with and being surprised every time at the cost. While I know for sure I didn't eat $60 American dollars worth of food, I was amused by the boxes of chocolate sprinkles you could put on breakfast toast. One croissant and a soft boiled egg (which is different from a hard boiled one I learned) later we were off to the RAI Convention Center to start decorating various areas with studio materials.
I built about 10 standees, hung a bazillion banners and watched a bunch of people try and get a real live army helicopter into a huge area that was to be a our "after party" area for the film we were screening. It was fun work and time flew by. Apparently, this was the first time the studio had gotten done so early. I like to think it was because they sent me, expert standee maker and banner hanger over to help. I left the convention center at 2PM and by this time I was so very tired. Everyone was amazed I was doing so well considering my lack of sleep but the minute I sat down to rest on the convention center's main staircase I knew I had moments to get back to the hotel and hit the sheets. The energy from the excitement had finally run out. I took a 4 hour nap and then it was time to eat again.
Twenty of us headed to an Argentinean Steak House. I could have gotten a Kobe steak but I settled on a Jack Daniels drenched steak which went very nice with my pint of Heinekein. The town was alive with excitement as The Netherlands were playing the Russians in an elimination game. My European colleagues were really into the game and lucky for them, we were sitting at an outside table in direct contact of a huge flat screen. I was told the city would have been chaotic if the Netherlands team won but they lost. The town was crazy busy as it was, so I wondered what chaotic would have been like? The loss didn't stop us from celebrating. A group of us headed to the Red Light District. I was quite excited. I heard about this place from the hub's European travels and I wanted to see it in person.
Everyone there knew I wanted to see the boobies so the people who had been there before took me down "the best" streets. I felt like I was in the movie "Pinocchio" and I went to the amusement park I wasn't supposed to go to. I couldn't fathom what I saw. I mean it's something you really need to go see yourselves in order to believe. But here is my description of the famed place.
Down these little cobblestone streets amongst porn shops, sex toy shops, fast food shops that sell the weirdest looking hot dogs & pizza slices you have ever seen and of course, the coffee shops that didn't really sell coffee (if you know what I mean) there were girls in all kinds of outfits, dancing in windows with a red glow (my favorite was the police officer girl). I couldn't help but be intrigued and look in each window. I mean who isn't a voyeur? Some of them were really pretty girls with good bods. They wore some underwear I never have seen before. I was trying to think what it would be like to be inside the window and I discovered I would probably wouldn't make any money because I would die laughing so hard. I mean, really, dancing in a window with gross men, horney boys and intrigued tourists looking in at you? Not my ideal work situation. Not to mention the drug dealers standing out front trying to lure anyone they can, to see what is under their long jacket.
As I walked down the streets, I got to thinking about how much houch these girls must get in a night. Is it really that much fun to have that much houch in one night? Times five nights a week...with different people? I thought about diseases and was like eeew! Not my kind of career goal. Suddenly, the whole looking in windows thing felt dirty and I felt bad for the girls. I still looked of course, but I was wondering what in the world was running through these girls heads while they blew kisses and moved their pelvis' in such a way to attract men. It must be good money otherwise, they wouldn't do it but the whole houch thing bothered me. I am sure they can choose who and what they want to do with people but I wouldn't think doing those things with people you don't know would be any fun. Call me a prude I guess. I wondered at what point did these girls find themselves saying, " Um ok, i'll take your money for houch and I am ok with that as a job choice." Different Strokes for different folks I guess. Anyhoo, it was definitely an experience walking through the place! After girl watching, the gang and I hung out in one of the many, many Red Light District bars and chit chatted into the wee hours. There were a ton of disappointed Netherlands fans in their orange jersey's cursing the Russians.
To be continued
After arriving via Mercedes, I checked into the hotel and was informed by the clerk that all room charges would be taken care of by the company. (Can you say sweet? And...what's in the mini-bar?) This was the first time I didn't have to fork over a credit card for any charges I may incur. I was further surprised to find I had a Deluxe Room.
The room itself was perhaps one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. The bed was huge with white fluffy linens. The desk was made of some fancy wood and the bathroom was marblized with a huge sunk in tub with a TV (that they called aqua vision). There was even a glass shower so you could see the TV from in the shower too. Besides thinking this was super cool, I was missing the hub. I wished he could be there to experience this fun. We arrived at the hotel at 7PM which gave me an hour to unpack. It was the first time I ever took all my clothes out of the suitcase and placed them in the fancy closet and drawers. I managed to lay down for about 10 minutes before Wheeler came to my door and we headed down to the bar.
We met even more people who had flew in from our team and proceeded to have several drinks. The bar area was dressed in Euro Cup gear. Who knew soccer could be this exciting? Orange for The Netherlands. The room seemed to be full of excitement not only for the game but within all the studio employees gearing up for a fun week. I sat down next to one of my bosses in LA who happened to be babysitting one of the movie producers we had brought into town for the show. I chatted briefly with him and his friend and was amazed to find how personable he was.
At 8PM we walked from the bar to one of the hotel's Japanese restaurants and had tempenyaki. Imagine a higher scale version of Bennihanna's. Our meal consisted of four courses cooked in front of us by an entertaining chef. The first round was duck, the second lobster, the third sea bass and the fourth, angus beef. I was so stuffed by the end of the meal, that I only had room for two bites of dessert which I really, really wanted to eat but which the new "fat" pants said "no way" to. After dessert there was a birthday cake for one of my London bosses. It was a new experience to take 4 1/2 hours to eat dinner. In that time the whole group consumed a lot of sake.
One would think drinking sake would knock a person out after not sleeping for over 24 hours. But it only knocked me out for 4 hours. I woke up at 5AM and wondered "What now?"
I met two work friends in the hotel lobby for some breakfast at 8AM. Our gang took turns putting the meals on our rooms so that we each could feel like a big person. The breakfast buffet which we ate at everyday but our last day was 30 euros per person. I couldn't help but doubling the cost of everything I came into contact with and being surprised every time at the cost. While I know for sure I didn't eat $60 American dollars worth of food, I was amused by the boxes of chocolate sprinkles you could put on breakfast toast. One croissant and a soft boiled egg (which is different from a hard boiled one I learned) later we were off to the RAI Convention Center to start decorating various areas with studio materials.
I built about 10 standees, hung a bazillion banners and watched a bunch of people try and get a real live army helicopter into a huge area that was to be a our "after party" area for the film we were screening. It was fun work and time flew by. Apparently, this was the first time the studio had gotten done so early. I like to think it was because they sent me, expert standee maker and banner hanger over to help. I left the convention center at 2PM and by this time I was so very tired. Everyone was amazed I was doing so well considering my lack of sleep but the minute I sat down to rest on the convention center's main staircase I knew I had moments to get back to the hotel and hit the sheets. The energy from the excitement had finally run out. I took a 4 hour nap and then it was time to eat again.
Twenty of us headed to an Argentinean Steak House. I could have gotten a Kobe steak but I settled on a Jack Daniels drenched steak which went very nice with my pint of Heinekein. The town was alive with excitement as The Netherlands were playing the Russians in an elimination game. My European colleagues were really into the game and lucky for them, we were sitting at an outside table in direct contact of a huge flat screen. I was told the city would have been chaotic if the Netherlands team won but they lost. The town was crazy busy as it was, so I wondered what chaotic would have been like? The loss didn't stop us from celebrating. A group of us headed to the Red Light District. I was quite excited. I heard about this place from the hub's European travels and I wanted to see it in person.
Everyone there knew I wanted to see the boobies so the people who had been there before took me down "the best" streets. I felt like I was in the movie "Pinocchio" and I went to the amusement park I wasn't supposed to go to. I couldn't fathom what I saw. I mean it's something you really need to go see yourselves in order to believe. But here is my description of the famed place.
Down these little cobblestone streets amongst porn shops, sex toy shops, fast food shops that sell the weirdest looking hot dogs & pizza slices you have ever seen and of course, the coffee shops that didn't really sell coffee (if you know what I mean) there were girls in all kinds of outfits, dancing in windows with a red glow (my favorite was the police officer girl). I couldn't help but be intrigued and look in each window. I mean who isn't a voyeur? Some of them were really pretty girls with good bods. They wore some underwear I never have seen before. I was trying to think what it would be like to be inside the window and I discovered I would probably wouldn't make any money because I would die laughing so hard. I mean, really, dancing in a window with gross men, horney boys and intrigued tourists looking in at you? Not my ideal work situation. Not to mention the drug dealers standing out front trying to lure anyone they can, to see what is under their long jacket.
As I walked down the streets, I got to thinking about how much houch these girls must get in a night. Is it really that much fun to have that much houch in one night? Times five nights a week...with different people? I thought about diseases and was like eeew! Not my kind of career goal. Suddenly, the whole looking in windows thing felt dirty and I felt bad for the girls. I still looked of course, but I was wondering what in the world was running through these girls heads while they blew kisses and moved their pelvis' in such a way to attract men. It must be good money otherwise, they wouldn't do it but the whole houch thing bothered me. I am sure they can choose who and what they want to do with people but I wouldn't think doing those things with people you don't know would be any fun. Call me a prude I guess. I wondered at what point did these girls find themselves saying, " Um ok, i'll take your money for houch and I am ok with that as a job choice." Different Strokes for different folks I guess. Anyhoo, it was definitely an experience walking through the place! After girl watching, the gang and I hung out in one of the many, many Red Light District bars and chit chatted into the wee hours. There were a ton of disappointed Netherlands fans in their orange jersey's cursing the Russians.
To be continued
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