Oh Amsterdam

I loved you so much. I miss you already. I can't wait to see you again.

I also miss you houseboat. I want you for keeps. I would love to live on a houseboat for a long extended period of time.

For the sake of saving time, because I have so much work to do, I'm not going to give you my very detailed journal account, but I will tell you all the highlights and things we did.

in no particular order :
-went and hung out in the Leidesplein
-walked up and down Prisengracht, Keizersgracht & Herengracht
-saw the Anne Frankhuis but didn't end up going in
-watched No Country for Old Men in the Tuschinski Theatre
-discovered they serve beer in the cinemas, and their popcorn comes in prepackaged bags
-saw FEBO and the food behind the little glass doors you put money in
-walked through the Red Light District (during the afternoon)
-went to "Miss Petticoat", 2nd hand shop, and bought 2 dresses
-Grasshopper bar (named for Jim Morrison, who during one show said on stage he wanted to move to Amsterdam and open up a place called the Grasshopper)
-went to the Doors Cafe, which I think he would have approved of better
-wrote down quotes from this crazy art installation in Schiphol Airport
-bought amazing cheese and crabmeat spread at the local supermarkt
-saw pirate ships
-lived on a houseboat!!!
-watched Dutch television
-fed swans and ducks off the side of our boat
-went to FOAM Photography Museum (brilliant show!)
-Huis Marseille Museum for Photography (not as good)
-Hortus Botanicus (amazing, Mom, you'd love it)
-went into the Butterfly habitat, specifically
-The Amsterdam Dungeon historical haunted house
-Artis Zoo (polar bear! penguins! sea lions!)
-ate at Restaurant Guadalupe with the black cat we fed chicken
-ate at Restaurant Selecta, really good Indonesian place, we stole the napkins because they were so cool (we left a big tip, they can live without their napkins)
-explored the Jordaan district
-saw an amazing gallery that was sadly closed with great paintings of crows and pandas. I took a photo of the information flyer on the window so I'll have to look it up online
-saw the Marijuana Museum but didn't go in (if it was free, sure, but I'm not paying €5 for that)
-hung out in Excalibur Cafe, amazing little bar in the Red Light district with a crazy british woman going on about how she robs banks for a living
-experienced the Waterlooplein Flea Market where I procured some old notebooks with stamps in them and we got lots of very old books and a kitty statue we named after Pushkin
-went into two or three different record shops, one of which had a great old man running it who is apparently an internationally famous Dylan collector
-went into P.G.C. Hajenius, apparently a very famous tobacco shop and took photos of their huge wall of pipes. it was pretty much a museum, with a map and everything and a cafe in the back
-went to the Bloemenmarkt, but it was mostly closed. I took photos of all the bulbs behind the doors though, for mom
-saw Westerkerk church tower
-visited the Tulip museum
-went for a pint in Papeneiland, the oldest bar in Amsterdam
-stumbled upon another little bar a different night with the coolest 16 year old cat in it that caused us to stay there all night because it kept going to sleep in our laps
-looked into Galerie Lieve Hemel
-Jaski Art Gallery
-Reflex New Art Gallery
-saw the Rijksmuseum from the outside
-found a book in the flea market that's a dictionary of Irish writers and we found one with the last name of one of my irish relatives (i think it was a kelly) and the book title we decided was mine (we found suitable ones for Curnan and Ciunas) was "The Fall of Bob and the Oracle of Gin" haha
-ate at the Sea Palace, a fantastic and ornate FLOATING Chinese food restaurant
-ate at an Argentinean Steak House
-ate at several little cafes for breakfast/lunch
-went to Noordemarkt
-saw a bar named Mulder and got very excited haha
-went to the "Condomerie" for giggles
-got some small souvenirs in little shops along the streets and went into some other cool shops
-walked around the Dam area and Rokin
-ate lots of sweets from the Dungeon gift shop
-pressed 5 cent pieces into a pirate ship and a skull in one of those crazy machines, also in the Dungeon
-walked along the canals just exploring
-ate at a little cafe in the Jordaan area that had another cool cat inside
-got Guinness in an Irish bar
-almost missed our flight back and had the embarrassment of hearing our names called over the loud speaker due to not realizing about Daylight Savings time change
-hence, going two or three days without knowing the proper time!!
-took LOTS of photographs


the only place that I did not get to go to that I am actually bummed about is the Stedelijk Museum because it is closing in October. :(
Well, maybe I'll save up enough money and go back. otherwise, I'll always have to wonder haha
other things to do next time: Tropenmuseum, Candlelight Cruise, Filmmuseum, Proeflokaal 'De Drie Fleschjes', Bols, Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum (ship museum), Schiller (live piano bar), Jacob Hooij (old apothecary), & Cortina Papier

the Trams make it incredible easy to get around everywhere. transportation in Amsterdam is the best I've ever seen. so convenient. Unfortunately it was rather rainy the entire trip - I bought an umbrella the last day, finally broke down, but it's a cool one and they let me take it back on the plane luckily (not a fold up one). and the cheese! so good!

and I actually found some souvenirs for dad, which is amazing, because i never see anything i think he'd like, but i actually found TWO things.

anyway, I will put up pictures and maybe some videos soon