charlotteusaeastcoast.jpgOk, so its not. But its a nice city none the less. My immediate impression is just how polite and helpful people here are. Being white and staying in the best hotel in the city probably has something to do with this impression, but it really does seem as though people here actually enjoy being nice. Rather off putting to say the least.

The city skyline is quite spectacular, in comparison to Amsterdam anyway. Some photos below of my travels so far. I went out last night to a huge club on the outskirts of town called Velocity (great name for a club I thought) - without the waiter, for those who were worried/jealous about that . It was a fun night in the end, always good to be ‘fresh meat’. The politeness of this city even extended to the dancefloor, where on a few occasions i was asked if I would “like to dance”. The first time this was asked, I just stared back at the person and said “ah…. I am.” but then I realised what the true intent of the question was. After that, I just raised my eyebrows and walked away.

Can’t really remember what time I fought my out of the club and flagged down a taxi to get home, but I do know that I slept till 2pm this afternoon, which is pretty much a waste of day.

I think I’m getting too old for all this - although someone did tell me I looked 24 last night. Uh huh… 24.

This afternoon, after crawling to the nearest Starbucks for an emergency double-shot frappaccino, I decided to do something cultural, so went to the Mint Museum of Art & Craft (because Charlotte is famous for its crafts, as the woman at the front counter explained).

The museum was a little random in its composition, but there were some nice pieces, as well as a beautiful exhibition by Ann Wolf. In the lobby there is a large sculpture called “Maid in Holland” which is a 1m+ tall representation of a womans face, merged with a typically dutch canal house; rectangular windows for eyes, tiled roof for hair, etc. It is supposed to represent the fact that Dutch woman spend so much time cleaning their houses they eventually start to look like them.

So even thousands of miles from ‘home’ I am still learning about Dutch culture - aaaaagghhh!!!!