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  Friday 2004-04-23 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands

New bags

The tendinitis in my right wrist hasn’t completely healed yet so packing/unpacking a backpack and hauling the duffel bag didn’t feel like a good idea: I’ll need to favor my right arm. After finding out (from calling Bever, where I bought it many years ago) what the volume of my backpack was, I went shopping for wheeled luggage.

First stop (yesterday) was at the luggage store in the Kinkerstraat in Amsterdam. They didn’t have a small backpack with wheels (they could order one but then they’d need a down payment — and I’m not going to pay for something like that when I haven’t seen it first!). They did have big bags on wheels: a cheap one (don’t risk that on a 2-month trip) and a Samsonite which looked OK. Not much choice though.

Then I went to a store on the Nieuwendijk (also in Amsterdam). Lots of choices, and very nice and knowledgeable service. I got a nice large Samsonite bag, and a Delsey backpack small enough to be acceptable as carry-on luggage on the planes but large enough to pack all my films and whatever else I must have with me; even small enough to (just) fit inside the large bag to get it all home.

Happy with my purchases, I took advantage of the nice weather and walked home. The bag is easy to walk with, and stable even on uneven pavement.

posted: Sunday 2004-04-25 23:15 UTC health, luggage, preparations

Iranian atmosphere

On the way home I stopped at the Iranian supermarket on the Rozengracht that I’d spotted before, to see if they had any music. They had. It took a bit of explaining to the nice young man to make it clear what I was looking for, but he got the idea at last, and was extremely patient.

When I told him I wanted Iranian music because I was going to travel through that country, that caused a big smile, and earned a pat on my shoulder. I took his personal advice, and bought two CDs. Both turned out to be rather more “modern” than I expected, but they certainly don’t sound “western” either. Nice music from Jahan (male) and Shakila (female; she seems to be quite a star). Both CDs are from the US though — apparently these musicians are Iranian refugees. I actually doubt you can get music from Iran here in Amsterdam.

posted: Sunday 2004-04-25 23:15 UTC music, preparations