Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hello  Friends,

We had a very nice sunny day, the day I last posted, so we checked out the new restaurant that Shalimar was in, still missing it, but Sally’s has a wide menu of many types of cuisine. That usually bothers me, thinking how can they do justice to all the different cuisines with their varied spices and methods of cooking so I played it safe and ordered a chicken salad which was good. May try the buffet next time, costs 6,00 Euros for lunch and my peering in the pots showed a variety of interesting looking food, cheap enough. They were quite busy and surprise, the fellow who used to be at Ciao Bella was there. Menu had some similarities to that one too, names for kids food, of course I’m curious now, did they have a falling out? Did Ciao Bella put in an additional restaurant with different food on offer? Questions I have no answers for yet. They advertise Oriental and Italian cuisine.

Both low energy on a gorgeous sunny day, plans to go to the Mundenhof or downtown to the munstermarkt shelved and we sit in the sun at a cafe. We did cook up a batch of stewed tomatoes, yummy and we are settling in, now to get out and book meets with friends. We meet Christoph tomorrow and go to look for a bike for me. I want three wheeled, foldable and electric to give me that extra bit of push when I need it. 

We’ve just been catching up, cooking and enjoying the sunny weather here in Freiburg, nothing too exciting to write about.

I had lunch with Jeffrey and Adrienne on Tuesday Sept 26 at Edo’s Hummus, a vegetarian restaurant downtown. http://edoshummus.com/en/freiburg/ Very successful one if the clientele were indication, lots of them. It is self serve and the food is great. I was introduced to Jeffrey from blogger Ali Garland and hadn’t met him until today. Adrienne, I met in the Spring and we connected very well. I also met Mary Louise who stopped by on her way to meet her son, she’s an intelligent woman too. I do appreciate being able to make friends this way and Thank you Ali for introducing us. 

Bruce found this on BBC and, as you probably know of me, I keep my political opinions to myself but this fellow’s speech is how I view a near perfect world. The first link is what happened in the US Air Force academy, the second link is Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria’s response in which both Bruce and I really respect and admire the words of his speech, you’ll need to turn on the sound, it’s worth it!

What prompted the speech in the next link http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41419905

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-41445810/stirring-speech-to-us-air-force-cadets-over-racist-slurs

If you choose not to follow the links, the message is to treat people with respect and dignity no matter their gender, colour of skin, or ethnicity. Honestly, I wasn’t raised that way, my parents had prejudices to the couple of ethnic groups that were located around Victoria where we lived. A good friend in my early twenties, a whole lot more worldly than I was, questioned me and great discussions came of it between us. Due to those discussions, sometimes arguments, she opened my mind up to other possibilities and experiences. I do not blame my parents for their somewhat narrow view of those people who lived around them, they both had bad experiences in business with the “rotten apples”, so while I understood, I moved forward to not “paint” those groups and any other with the same brush. My viewpoint now is to look for the good but not be innocent, there are still a lot of bad people out there by whatever influence they have lived through. 

Meet every individual and ask yourself are you a person I would like as a friend or a person I want to avoid… Off the soapbox.

We haven’t been downtown as much as previous times, but decided to meet Christoph on a Saturday for lunch. 

Lovely fall display!

Met him in front of the Munster Cathedral and all wanted to escape to a less busy place soonest, many tour groups were in that day. http://www.freiburgermuenster.info/html/content/muenster962.html?& (fantastic pictures on the website)

St. George and his slain dragon, all gussied up, they have finished restoring the statue.

We went to an Indian food restaurant we hadn’t been to before and frankly won’t again. Setting is nice, in an enclosed outside patio. The food certainly wasn’t bad but we all agreed they had "dumbed or numbed” it down for a typical German palate. What I mean by that, is Germans tend to like simple food, cooked well, without much spice, it’s just the way it’s done here, especially in a smaller town like Freiburg. Our fav Indian restaurant closed here in Rieselfeld as I posted but the sister restaurant is just as good and spicier than the one we went to today, more “Indian” which as I’ve also said can mean different food due to the large country and different areas within. That was not the case here, just not enough spice! Bring on the spice! 

After we went to Schlappen for a drink just to people watch, being Saturday and Oktoberfest there were men in lederhosen and women in dirndls and other traditional costumes. We also saw men wearing a black suit with hat and flared bottom pants, we used to call them bell bottoms (really showing  my age here!) Looking it up and I couldn’t find any reference so asked Christoph. These fellows are learning carpentry and travel all over Germany to do so, they used to walk but now hitchhike or take trains, nomadic carpenters, who knew?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeyman_years#Journeyman_uniform_in_Germany

In Paris you are somewhat identified to be a local if you carry a baguette, mostly from a bakery rather than the grocery store, Eric Nicol, Canadian humour author, said a French baguette is flavoured with garlic and armpit. Here in Freiburg you are identified as a local if you carry a Stefan’s box of cheesecake. I’ve mentioned both before but hadn’t connected the two.

Drive through the Kaiserstuhl to Bahlingen and Landgasthof zum Lamm restaurant which is a favourite of ours. Waitresses recognized us and asked after our health. Portions here are even bigger than usual I think and even Christoph couldn’t finish his, all zum mit nehmen (for take home). I had a schnitzel since I hadn’t had one on this trip yet and knew it would be well done here and it was truly delicious. Driving back to Freiburg we went through many small villages, as we do, but Christoph took us through different ones. This afternoon has that photographer’s light about although sorry to say I didn’t take any pictures, it had rained earlier and everything sparkled. I saw a statue of a cat on a fence that looked a bit like Lexi; a hawk sitting on a post, lots of tall sunflowers and flowered window boxes, corn has been harvested but the stalks are there. This is mainly apple and squash season, trees were full of apples and squash of all types lined people’s driveways, both were on many stands for sale to the passerby, same stands that sell the asparagus and strawberries in the spring time. This is October 2nd, German Unification Day, public holiday although nothing too much happens in the way of celebration except we passed by a couple of wine festivals, me passing wine festivals? Say it isn't so, but was.

Dawna and Erwin left us these! So now you can enjoy them as I have.

All for now, Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Pictures from Amsterdam and Trip to Freiburg

In a shop window, who could resist taking a picture of this cutie!

That's a lot of garlic, in the Garlic Queen, Amsterdam

Mmmmm, lunch!

I see my lunch!

Sitting at the kitchen table, as we do, Bruce spotted a heron on the fence, just looking down at the koi pond, musing about which one would make a nice lunch. In fact, I think the pond is too narrow for it to fly down grab a fish with it’s bill and get out again, but it was sure thinking about it!

This last week with the weather change so has our lifestyle. When we arrived and for almost three weeks after we ate lunch out and had dinner in the smoking area of mostly picnic foods. Charles was pleased that we were using that area to relax in because he said many guests don’t. 

We went back to the Seafood Bar for king crab legs, full meal each this time, so good! The hostess, loves her job, is part owner of this family run restaurant we found out, one brother heads up the kitchen, another does the accounting and the father is Boss. They really run a tight ship and are continually busy, great food, service and ambiance, a real success story, as you know, I love to hear about success stories in any business.

On the train Amsterdam to Cologne and informed that we have to change trains before Dusseldorf, train people guide us but this adds about half hour to the trip. In Cologne our taxi driver is waiting at a different taxi stand across the station, another wait. I told him we had tried to map a walk from the station but he said it would have been difficult and certainly he seemed to take a lot longer to get from the station to the hotel than expected for the kilometres on the map, due to so many one way streets.

Hotel Engelbertz is old and elevator too small for Bruce’s chair so he parks it in the lobby in a corner. Rooms are non-smoking but they say limited okay. Biggest problem is that Lexi can get under the bed and with a foot rest between it will be very difficult to get her out, that’s tomorrow’s dilemma. Next day I had to take apart the beds, two mattresses on one frame, as they do in Germany. Haul the mattresses to the wall and remove the slatted frame, bit of a workout, darn cat!

It’s an old family run hotel and basic but comfortable, the people behind the counter did everything possible to make our stay okay. What I don’t understand is what happened with communication between booking.com and the hotel. Clearly they did not know anything about our special needs, but did their best to accommodate. Hotel is in the shopping District and quite noisy at 8:00 pm. 

We go for dinner at Oma’s (Grandma’s) Cafe of schnitzel type meals which are really good and stay for an extra glass of wine to listen to an Irish piano player, really good on a piano with full keyboard and you should have seen how he folded the whole thing up, very efficient. 

Nice fellow, my bad, didn't get his name.

He got shut down by the police but I did go talk to him and he said it was over taxes Germany was owed over CD sales. He said they were nice and he had documentation to back him up so he’ll be allowed to play on the street again and sell CD’s. He said people didn’t pay taxes on CD sales, would it be worth the expense to send three officers to crank down on that, don’t know, but they did. Next stop is at the cafe next door for mushroom soup, even though we were already full, this was really warm and soothing, a lot of cream used I think.

Mural in a cafe, Cologne

We’ve seen the cathedral here and it is magnificent on the outside, didn’t we’ll see the inside. A bit of a walk from the hotel and also from the train station.

Next morning and we train from Cologne to Karlsruhe, get off, are met by a wheelchair ramp equipped van, he drives us to Baden-Baden for re-boarding the train. (This stoppage of rail is due to a collapsed tunnel at Rastatt between, finally we found out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastatt_Tunnel ) They actually held the train for a couple of minutes to allow us to board, otherwise it would have been an hour wait for the next. Off in Freiburg and it is raining cats and dogs, teeming down, we hurry to get under shelter, not soon enough to avoid becoming drowned rats, even Lexi got wet, but not a peep out of her, probably atonement for her earlier antics. We have a glass of wine to wait it out, seems to be our modus operandi. Get to the hotel and call Dawna and Erwin to meet up with them for drinks, dinner and catch up. Hotel is Rheingold, close to the train station, in the centre, an area we are familiar with but had never stayed at this hotel before, it was great! The Central where we’ve stayed for about five years now, had a ramp but do not any more, so while we like the people there, it’s not convenient for Bruce’s chair. The rooms are slightly larger at the Rheingold and people friendly too, breakfast was good. Another thing I don’t get, they say  breakfast is included but show an extra fee on the bill.

So the trip was as easy for us as it could be even with the interruptions in rail, staff were friendly and helpful.

Sunday Dawna and Erwin move out and we move in, nice to be home again! We didn’t bother with a special taxi coming home this time, just bought our monthly tram tickets and took it, not crowded, so easy trip home. Now for unpacking, mail, making appointments, shopping, etc etc. takes a bit of time to completely settle in as I’ve mentioned before, and probably every time we’ve done it…

Cheers, Bev, Bruce and hiding Lexi Cat

Last week in Amsterdam

Hello Friends,

I cannot get my card reader working today to give you new pictures :( . I did want to post this and will do a picture post when it stops playing possum with me.

After such a nice day Thursday on the canal Friday was frankly awful. Very heavy rain and some wind, not nice at all, all day too, little respite. 

I like this picture but others were more descriptive I think.

We had supper, yes, again, instead of lunch at the Uptown Meat Club, a burger split between us, burger itself was small compared to some but very tasty, rather  have that than a bigger one that isn’t. Chef came out and talked to us for a bit, he said the theatre crowd sometimes comes to them before or after a performance, theatre is just down the street. What I heard from him was, there wasn’t much predictability in the business, especially since it’s in the museum district with tourists but they do have their regulars too. 

Yesterday there was construction at both ends between the apartment blocking the sidewalk both ways for Bruce’s chair. He was able to maneuver the chair down but coming back we had to accept help from others to get the chair over the curb and into the building. Going right is no longer an option for him but going left, longer route to get to an exit is open now, just takes a run up and back to get to the other side of where we want to be. Construction to the right is permanent at least while we are remaining here, another week, scaffolding is erected. A bit inconvenient for Bruce and some seem to move things for his passage, others don’t care, blocking the entire sidewalk. 

People with walking problems here tend to ride regular bikes many also use, not so much motorized wheelchairs but modified motorcycles, smaller versions of Bruce’s Pepe le Pew, four wheeled scooters. I didn’t mention, no one, or very few wear helmets here. If there is a way to modify wheels of any sort, here would be the place to find the invention! It is amazing to me what people carry on their bikes, from people riding sidesaddle on the back to large packages, even saw a sink go by the other day. 

Charles dropped off two strawberry tarts to our door at 9:30 at night, on the good side they were delicious but what? timing and … well we ate them, and we are both going back to Freiburg a little bit heavier I think. Next day Omar dropped off more flowers, I caught him in the hallway and said thanks and he appreciated that.

Wandering again into the area of West Amsterdam, actually found a pet store with a beautiful, curious, orange and white male kitten about 10 weeks old, so cute! Wonder what Lexi would think to have a companion, it’s small enough right now to share the travel box with her, if she’d let it, sorry, not going to happen, I envision the box tumbling about with them fighting inside, nope, not going to happen. They sold cat food in a way I’ve never seen before, am I boring you, skip this if so, they put it in 1kg bags, which is handier but of course more expensive, good for us though.

Photo Credit Omar Traore

Omar brought in these tubs to add to the garden, naturally Lexi was curious. I  almost got a picture of her in one, little head sticking out, she's too fast for me... 

This area of town has many small shops and cafes. I had a tuna salad sandwich, toasted with gouda cheese at Vlaamsch Broodhuys, can’t get my tongue around the name but they are known for fabulous bread. Bought a few food products at another bio store which had a friendly ambiance about it. I think I shop in those organic stores for the ambiance rather than the actual product, there admitted!

Passed by a building with a ladder like structure and a male statue standing on the last rung. Another building with triangle like mirror looking sculptures in an open atrium, I read that they were installed to transfer light and move with the sun (like a sunflower does). 

We had dinner at the Irish pub of bangers and mash, side salad, it was tasty, but with bits left over in our dishes a pigeon flew up onto the table, looked me straight in the eye and started eating my salad, thank goodness I was done with it. It didn’t listen to shoo, or my hand gestures, a fellow at a neighbouring table came and shooed it off. Actually two reasons it ignored me, we were face to face, birds eyes are on the side and it was a gutsy bird and used to pulling this trick. It came back for seconds but I caught it in time from mounting the table, same bird. 

Saturday and it’s a nuthouse of hoards of people, Bruce found it quite difficult to drive. That would be my only caution about this city, being that your chances of getting creamed by a bicycle are pretty high, but it will be a tourist riding one I think, the locals manoeuvre expertly. It’s almost a ballet watching them weave around walkers, cars and trams, all at high speed. 

Wandering towards the centre of the city we found Rembrandtplein, Rembrandt Square https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandtplein

It’s a large square ringed with restaurants and clubs. One must be particularly rowdy, because a team of fellows were using a hose to power wash the inside!

We found the only garlic restaurant in Amsterdam! Walking by many restaurants and I liked the ambiance of this one and hadn’t even seen the interior yet which is beautiful in a minimalist way. Many portraits of queens inside, good ones too. www.garlicqueen.nl I had garlic soup which had just a hint of garlic with a broth and cream base, served into a chive covered bowl with a metal flask of the soup. Bruce had a grilled cheese sandwich, come on Bruce! but that was what he wanted and was tasty. Walked back over three canals, after all this is Amsterdam. 

One of the first days we were here and I overheard a woman say “but I don’t see any water”, she had to walk about 100 meters to find it.

Back to The Seafood Bar for dinner, best king crab legs either one of us has had, although we don’t get them often. Last time we can remember was in Tofino on Long Beach, BC, years ago. Usually they come with drawn butter and lemon, these did not need either, so tasty. It is weird I go on and off crab but I figured that this would be a good place to eat it and righto! Sunday and they are turning people way if they don’t want to wait or have a reservation, busy place, always.

https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/plan-your-trip/getting-around/public-transport/exploring-amsterdam-by-tram

We took the number 2 tram up to Central train station and got a good fill of architecture, which was our intent! Cost for one hour is 2.90, daily cost is 7.50 which is a bargain if you are going very much further. Overheard a fellow saying, in London that would cost 15 GBP. There are some stops which require use of a ramp for Bruce’s chair, some not although they say wheelchair accessible, maybe they mean the push type, because Bruce’s chair required a ramp for the beginning station and the one at the train station. Especially at the train station I would have thought it would be accessible. I should probably do a separate post on accessibility in the cities we’ve been in, but for now we aren’t finding Amsterdam very much so.

Had another rather mediocre lunch at an old Irish pub, different from the one we’ve been to before, chosen mainly due to the fact it had heating outside and a good awning. Rain and wind were happening so we went next door to another outside seating area for a glass of wine to wait it out, not a bad thing at all. It feels like fall here now and likely will until we leave on Friday.

I haunted many of the tourist shops looking for actual cards, not postcards and they didn’t have any, just the same goods i.e. wooden shoes, fake tulips, well I won’t go on. Went into a shop that sells all Delft products, wow, nothing but Delft pottery, whole shop was white and blue, and blue and white. Anyway, the fellow told me of a card shop along the next canal. Only in Amsterdam are you given directions by canal! well, maybe in Bruges.

Found the shop and a delightful owner, she said it’s not a Netherlands thing to send Thank You cards, “we’re rude”, but it is changing with more people doing so. Step into the shop prevented Bruce’s entry so I asked if I could show him the selection I’d picked, she said “no problem I don’t expect you to run off with a few cards”. She thought we were brave travelling with Bruce’s chair, I told her it’s just a matter of booking ahead, loosing spontaneity, but better than sitting in one place all the time. She was a "card" in a card shop called Friends of Art.

There was an American/British store on the way back, always fun to see products we haven’t ever or haven’t for a long time. Bruce found some liquid smoke he uses sometimes so we bought that. The clerk in there was nice too and gave me his business card  so we can email them with an order if we want at Eichholtz Delicatessen.

Out for dinner again at the Aran Irish pub after checking out the other two pubs close by. We watched a fellow set up large fake dice coloured gold with white pips along the entrance and wondered, as we do, what event is happening. This was outside the Holland Casino, they advertise as the only one in Holland (not the Netherlands). Here’s another factoid for you, I had thought that Holland and the Netherlands were the same, not so. The country is called Netherlands, Holland is both a North and South state in it, thank Bruce for that tidbit.

All for now, next update will come from Freiburg. We travel to Cologne Friday and then Freiburg Saturday. There is a major break in the rail system at Karlsruhe so we'll have to be taken around that, inconvenient for us, but I can imagine very much more so for hauling freight.

Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat

Canal Boat Tour and more wandering Amsterdam

We wandered to the bigger supermarket which I found out today is the same chain as the one at the Van Gogh museum, then went out of the mall to find the Albert Cuyp market just there so walked it again and Bruce got more Stilton cheese and apricots. 

I had two missing buttons off one blouse and one off another so looked for a sewing kit which grocery stores and pharmacies don’t carry. We did stumble on an incredible store if you sew, it had the wee kit, and everything from A to Z in the way of sewing products, if I sewed I’d be in seventh heaven and was anyway, even though I don’t. Knowledgable clerks attended to the "real" sewing people in the shop, link  http://jandegrotekleinvakman.nl/

We were both pleased with our findings and came home across another canal. A lot of walking for me but so very interesting, today. 

Quite the building isn't it?

Note the crown on top of the lamp post, the City is renewing them on every post here. 

Lunch at the seafood place again and we are asked if we can be joined by other people, tables are quite small and close together, same as in most cities in Europe. A couple of ladies joined us and were speaking a language I didn’t recognize until the waitress came out and spoke to them, it was Dutch! Wait a minute, here I am in Amsterdam and didn’t recognize the language, why? Because I hadn’t heard conversations in Dutch before, small bits, but not entire conversations. Anyway they ordered a cold seafood plate to share and it as big as the grilled one we saw last week. Funny, they were offered bibs which even I picked up on, understood, said yes and took what I think will be a memorable picture, wine held, food, and bibs, not an everyday experience. We supposed after you got around all the shells it would be a reasonably sized lunch, presentation at this place is well done, an upmarket restaurant with both tourists and business people as clientele. 

Wednesday and it rains all day but we got lucky and went out for lunch of pea soup, different this time but good, while it stopped for a bit. 

We walked  in a different direction twice on Friday, in the morning along the  backstreets, houses are old and beautiful, had a very mediocre lunch at a Japanese restaurant who shall remain nameless, big chain, should  have taken clue from that. Very opulent inside with chandeliers and buddhas, in my opinion they should have spent more money on the chef’s. Anyway after lunch, more strolling and we find the restaurant and nightclub section, streets full of cafes of all different nations but  lots of Italian and one Tibetan, Indian and Nepal restaurant called Sherpa. We looked at the menu there and since we’ve never eaten Tibetan or Nepal food we’ll be going back to try that out, especially the Tibetan momo which is a small dumpling, proprietor was really nice too, always a bonus! 

Found these two, pays to look up! From the Blues Brothers movie, left John Belushi, right Dan Aykroyd

Bruce has been to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, he says it's the place to go for great jazz from 30's and 40's eras. 

We found the jewelry making district, mostly handmade and expensive naturally, I enjoy seeing  these works of art and will buy on occasion if I find piece that I really like, but didn’t that day.

Tried the momo’s at Sherpa, and they  were delicious but I found the wrapper on a couple of them a bit thick, okay so I’m picky. Proprietor was really nice and explained everything to us, saw him serving other customers the same way.  It’s a  go back to place for us, but while we were waiting for the kitchen to open we sat at an Italian restaurant of which are many along the street, this one had an extensive menu which would be good to try, and wasn't. Further walking and it seems the streets are divided pretty much by type of food on  offer, steak and hamburgers down one, makes me wonder how to choose without using a rating company.

There are many groups of fellows walking the  streets, I think Amsterdam is a city to hold stag parties due to the red light district, the ability to smoke pot in some cafes and the easy nature of it being okay to drink a beer in the street if so inclined.

Walked into Vondelpark Sunday and two fellows were sitting on a bench, one came over three times to get a light for his bong, he said they don’t make them like they used to, keep going out. Went to the seafood bar again, I felt like I’m missing out on veggies so had a small salad. we sat next to a couple from Seattle, talkative and interesting.

We took a canal tour, I don’t know how many tour companies there are but many, we took Blue Boat. Honestly I think I probably have 50 or so bad pictures from it but did enjoy it immensely. Enjoy the following pictures.

Paddle boats for rent.

Look at those gabled windows and the bikes which look like this everywhere

These shutters indicate traditional "burgher" architecture, built for trades people who worked and lived there.

Magnificent sailing ship

Tower built for defence on the outer wall of the City

Look closely left one leans into the right, it happens here more frequently than you'd think.

https://www.museumkaart.nl/museum/NEMO+Science+Museum.aspx

We saw the NEMO Museum, fantastic looking building, the green is caused by copper plates.

There is no food or drink on this boat so I made up egg salad sandwiches and we took soft drinks. After we went to the Irish pub for a pint and I eavesdropped on two men talking advanced methods of farming.  

So that is the "lite" version of our thoroughly enjoyed boat tour and a bit about the neighbourhoods we've seen here.

Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat

Amsterdam Wanderings

We had the best Dutch pea soup ever with wonderful bread and even butter! At the Uptown Meat Club. We don’t know what aspect of it made it specifically Dutch and I haven’t eaten butter in years but this was fresh I think and very good. 

Interjection here, I hope I don’t come off as a food snob. At least I don’t think I am but do like access to fresh markets and well prepared food. 

Found another market on the net, http://albertcuyp-markt.amsterdam/?lang=en oldest in Amsterdam and walkable to, we’ll be going there for sure.Other things we want to do, flower market, a hop-on-off bus, as above picnic, that’s about it really. We are in the museum district but having seen the line ups and the hordes of tours going and coming, not for us. I would like to take a closer look at the Rijksmuseum, which is very close, just to actually look at it, not to go inside necessarily. Okay, admittedly I’m missing out several wonders of the world, well considered so, but I truly cannot abide long queues, crowds and the selfie sticks that come with, (although I think they are a great invention).

This fellow is holding a flute and wearing "winged" shoes, can't remember his name but liked it.

Walked up to the Rijksmuseum which holds many important past Dutch painters. 

Currently they have an installation named "Who's That Girl'

We walked around the grounds but didn’t go in. There are rather strange, to me, sculptures around it depicting stories they said of people, they are cubist in design and white, with painted black and red lines on them, not for me. There was a different sort of fountain on the grounds though, people could walk inside the circular water shoots and stand right inside the fountain!  

This is a Greek Triton, merman, there were several statues that came from the city gates when they were torn down.

The "I Amsterdam" sign is in front of the Rijksmuseum and people were climbing the letters and generally fooling around it, site of many more selfie sticks. 

Outdoor large chess set, one of a few in Amsterdam

Walked up to the Heineken brewery, original one, didn’t go in that either, sat along the river and watched the tour boats go by under gigantic willow trees with leaves dripping into the water. 

The bridges are lined with petunias, really festive.

Had lunch at a restaurant called Small Talk and it wasn’t really very good, but we are usually so lucky in our choices that one dud out of so many can be expected. This was chosen due to my being tired and hungry rather than a really good look at the menu, so I should just suck it up and continue to a better choice! 

We went to the floating flower market (which doesn't free float, it is moored to a dock) on Tuesday, crowded tram there, many people with large pieces of luggage going to the Central Station, but it was only three stops so not too long at least. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloemenmarkt One thing to note, this is not the best time of year to go to the flower market, there are hardly any real flowers available, best would be to go in spring when the real tulips are in abundance, not the wooden painted ones or plastic. Still it was a sight to see and on a previous trip we had seen it in the Spring so know what’s missing this time. 

Bruce wanted smoked edam cheese but I was kindly informed it’s smoked gouda they have here, doh. Proprietor came to the door, shop is three steep steps down, with samples for Bruce, so we bought smoked gouda, creamy smooth and, yes, smoky. There is a Chinese import store along there also and I’d been thinking to upgrade my sad cotton bathrobe for something nicer, maybe silk. So walking by this shop I see a nice one outside and go in to check it out. Bruce liked one and I liked another so we compromised and bought both, why? I can’t say, but they are both beautiful indecision reigned here and cost wasn’t a factor, not expensive, store was called TA HWA, The canal is called Singel. https://www.amsterdam.info/shopping/flowermarket/

We walked back over three canals which is pleasant in itself. Streets are really crowded with tourists, of course, and again, so many cyclists, some are obviously new at it and it must be a pretty scary experience for them.

Great post from Laurie Mitchell, and her dog Mango in Amsterdam 

http://www.myradiantcity.com/blog/2017/3/24/h2q4hy0cqpe0ibcwm2rxdet2jyyu94

I’m reading "Amsterdam, A brief life of the city" by Geert Mak I found in the closet, Bruce and I are still sharing my laptop so wanted something to read while he uses it. Interesting history of the city author seems to have researched from the archives.

There is an organic market close by so we went to check it out, unfortunately stairs prevented Bruce from coming in, we’re finding that frequent here. In Paris you could ring a bell and they would bring out a ramp, but here not so. Trams are good though. Anyway back to the market, nice, good selection of everything but didn’t get the vibe we did in Brussels where you walked in and immediately felt at home and welcomed. This one is more like a supermarket, I think Brussels was an anomaly, although I feel at our local Bio store in Rieselfeld, some of the same feeling as the one in Brussels.

Wandered the streets after, found a card/post office/cigarette shop and bought a card, postage and cigarettes, very handy. The area we walked through seems to be mostly sporting goods stores and health shops; then walked back to the Uptown Meat Club where we had the Dutch pea soup before, not available today so I had the Chicken coconut curry soup which wasn’t available last time, not worth the wait honestly. Bruce had the highest BLT we’ve ever seen, had a steak knife stuck in the middle, really, I should have taken a picture! He said it was very tasty. 

Muggy today so our plans to go to the Albert Cuyp market shelved for a cooler day but we wandered the streets and found a used book store which sold English books, I bought one for 4 Euros, bargain! Then we went back to the Seafood Bar and I had a lovely sole over cooked vegetables covered with a delicate mustard sauce, really good! Bruce had fish and chips again which he enjoyed. The couple who sat next to us, she’s from Jamaica and he’s from the Netherlands ordered the seafood combo grill which was huge when it arrived! Artfully arranged but just so large! Looked good.

Beautiful building, note the top, the hooks are still used for moving goods in and out of the buildings.

We did make it to the Albert Cuyp market on Friday and it wasn’t too crowded http://albertcuyp-markt.amsterdam/?lang=en A real mix of cheap items and expensive ones along with food, as said, a real mix. Many stalls are extensions of real stores so there is much to investigate if willing. Stretches across oh, guessing, 10 blocks and visited by locals and tourists both. Many stalls of thin crisp pancakes and crepes of every description, would be worth another visit to get a savoury crepe and Bruce found good dried apricots and some Stilton cheese, okay Ryan, know we are in Holland, with another 200 kinds of local cheese and he’s still buying British…

After we were informed Apple would not cover the cost of repair of the motherboard on Bruce’s computer we decided to buy him a new one. Apple store here in Amsterdam is really close to the flat so we went Saturday, soon as possible after hearing the news on the non-repair. Met an older fellow named Peter who was good to us and now Bruce has a computer again, backup from the previous one will go to Freiburg and that’s fine too. Peter said it is best not to get a computer repaired that has had water damage, it usually affects something other than the keyboard, good to know. 

We had Indonesian food, a first for us, at Samo Sebo, a small family run restaurant we have stopped by for a drink at. We asked the fellow what was good since the menu is 90% written in Indonesian so he gave us a sampler plate each, food brought home again, but it was impressive in light spice and wonderful taste. It even included a cooked plantain which is different but similar to a banana, honestly I was prepared not to like it much but did.

Outside the WCs, says it all!

Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat