I was probably twelve when my father explained the inspiring notion of Rhodes Scholar to me -- the Oxford international scholarship occasionally awarded to US college grads of extreme promise. Famous but unsuccessful European experimenter President BJ Clinton was one of these Rhodes recipients showing overall extreme promise, for example.
Had one Rhodes recipient as a latin teacher -- delighting in the nuances of his bi-millenial-linguality. Worked with a Rhodie for ten years -- impressive man with a large cranium -- had you running to the dictionary after every encounter. Rhodie Ninth Circuit Judge Wm. Fletcher recently spoke on the absurd hot box of illogic that is the current state of the death penalty in the US.
So, in honor of Rhodes Scholars and European-style experimentation, we did our own CERN Large Hadron Collider experiment today -- one latte and space cake (say "spache cake" like you're Sean Connery) at each of the five Bulldog Coffeeshops in Amsterdam -- The Bulldog Experiment.
1. Here is The Bulldog Rock Shop on Singel near the Centraal Station, next to The Doors Coffeeshop. Vibe: your neighborhood Rocket Bakery.
How harmful could the spacecake be anyway? They're cute. 8 euros for the set-up -- I returned the little cookie.
2. CERN planned my route to maximize walking between shops. Stop number two was across the centrum at Leidseplein -- The Bulldog Palace. As PBJ will tell you this is an old jail. Must have been some sort of Dutch garden club going on with eight women in their 40's carrying on laughing and laughing and only one other man in the shop. Vibe: cramped in a cavern.
3. CERN now sends me on the walk back across the centrum into the infamous de wallen neighborhood. The Bulldog Hotel is on the "nice" street -- Oudezijds Voorburgwal. The Coffeeshop here has Americans, British, Middle Easterners, Aussies as well as Dutch just from what can be overheard. (They also have a Bulldog Hotel at Silver Star Ski Resort near Vernon BC (Okanagan) -- 2500+ vertical foot club.) Vibe: Eurospacey with a spider sub-theme.
4. Latte and spacecake number four was a treat. CERN now had me crossing the city -- I passed the "cross thirty sets of tram tracks after three spacecakes" element of the experiment. The Bulldog Lounge was a welcome destination in the shadow of the dome of the Lutheran Church on Spuistraat -- an open air seating area and adjoining brass-and-wood interior area with a dark green color scheme. No natives here at all including the guests or staff - just English and Japanese. Vibe: Chill.
Some say The Bulldog is too commercial, but others like it for its consistency.
Although each shop can exercise its own discretion in selling the spacecake.
5. The final walk spun out by the CERN collider was the shortest but also included multiple successful tram track crossings. The Original Shop is within sight of The Bulldog Hotel, also on the "nice" side of Oudezijds Voorburgwal in de wallen. This place looks like what it is and you can smell it from down the block -- of course you can also smell the cheese shops from down the block. Interior is not "madeover" at all -- wood walls, floors, etc. Vibe: Old School.
They say the fifth latte and spacecake is the most dangerous, but I made it back to type this up.
This family's reaction says it all -- "Where's dad?"
Results: I think I will survive fine -- I enjoyed the walks, and the political discussions, and the latte and spacecakes. I dont feel as if large hadrons have collided with me. If later I do feel queasy, I can call 2010 Rhodes Scholar recipient, aspiring physician and standout Florida State (American) football safety Myron Rollie.
Not certain if the rules of blogging require me to warn you not to try this at home or without supervision, but here is The Bulldog's fine print (in eight languages:)
wow,damm good post
Posted by: xcel energy | 05/06/2013 at 14:10