amsterdam 2

this old place was right across the street from our hotel and where we got our morning fix from. great building. been a part of amsterdam for as long as anyone can remember i suppose.

they had a food “court” area that just killed. all kinds of different food...and great food. pam even liked the clothes in this place but really got into the kitchen section for whatever reason.

the bijenkorf is where we had our morning caffeine fix everyday. the lattes were good for pam and the tea sucked for me, but the tea sucked everywhere in amsterdam. the people watching was pretty good and we could usually get a window seat and watch all the people go by on the street. i could have spent 1/2 the trip parked in the window of this place watching people walk by, but they didn’t serve beer so that didn’t happen.

the bijenkorf was also a killer place to eat. all the food was on the top floor and we almost never found it because it was tucked back in a corner. i just happen to check it out one day

and my jaw dropped to the floor when i saw all the eats. fresh fruit stands, soup stands, sandwich stands, dessert stands...and this, the asian soup stand. we had this twice on our trip because

it was so good. we never got exactly what we wanted because the woman spoke zero english and she worked there both times we tried the place. the way it worked was we filled a metal

bowl with veggie type stuff and gave it to her and she stir-fried it up and we ate it. it was great. you could get anything you wanted to eat on the top floor of that place and they made it

all right there for you custom. add it to the long list of things i wish we had at home.

here’s something you don’t see everyday...and by everyday

i mean ever. my favorite part of europe is the really old school stuff that’s been there forever and sends you back in time. a violin maker is one of those things for sure. how cool is that? not made in china. made by the dude right down the street.

i wish there was more stuff like this around.

there are thousands upon thousands of doors like this all over amsterdam.

like a lot of things, why can’t we make doors like this today? with all the technology we have and we can’t figure out how to make a door ever better than this one for even less money? that just doesn’t make any sense. the door really makes a statement about a place...it’s the first thing you see when going to someones house and the last thing. arguably the most important part of a house

or apartment is the door...everyone sees it and you have to use it.

another cool door...more in the “gothic, castle lower the drawbridge” theme.

some more bikes parked outside a cafe. ugly, huh? do those people know they live inside postcards?

amsterdam is a city i really think i could live in someday. i always have these grand thoughts of someday living in paris, but lets be honest, the whole language thing would really be bad.

i don’t mind visiting a place where i don’t speak the language because mostly i don’t want to talk to people anyways, but living there and having to deal with the everyday shit would be really tough. i suppose i could learn a new language but there’s no way in hell that would ever happen...even if i wanted to i couldn’t. chalk it up as some sort of learning disability or whatever, but

it’s really not an issue because most everybody in amsterdam speaks english. and look at those apartments. the whole city is full of those great 4 story buildings with cool little apartments

with spiral stair cases and everything. not that i was being a peeping tom, but i did see enough of those things to think it would be great to live in one.

it may have been cloudy pretty much every day but that didn’t stop the flowers from kickin’ out some major colors.

every time i looked up i saw the same thing; cool old buildings and rail car wires. the whole city is one big shining example of how public transportation should work. trains, bikes, buses...the whole deal.

we actually saw quite a few bulldogs on our trip. no french ones, just the english.

we saw this dude at a street flea market. it was actually sort of sad because he had really

bad arthritis and could barely stand up or walk, but he didn’t seem to be too bugged by it.

he just stood in the middle of the street and looked all badass and begged for french fries.

man did we walk. we thought about renting bikes but that never happened. we walked that whole damn city. and it’s safe too. apparently people don’t kill people there and they leave you alone. there’s always something going on and people out on the streets no matter what time it is. i think this night we were on our way to get a burger king whopper. don’t ask me why it is but it seems the only time we eat crappy american fast food is when we’re in europe. what the hell is that all about? all i know is it’s been years (like 15 years or more) since i had a whopper. damn those are good. lets hear it for the flame broiled burger.

we didn’t spend much time in the redlight district and pam didn’t let me try the offerings so i can’t comment too much on that except to say i really do dig a country that is open enough

and level headed enough to legalize and deal with prostitution and pot. i’m all in favor of people having the choice to do whatever the hell they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone...and let

me tell you, stoned people don’t hurt people. they just sit in cafe seats wearing a smile from ear to ear. they’re harmless. drunk people are the dangerous ones. it’s not pot that should be

illegal, it’s being an asshole that should be illegal.

actually i heard someone say that amsterdam isn’t really anything special as far as tulips go but it somehow got the reputation and so they feel like they need to play it up. don’t quote me

on that because the source was probably some drunk dude in a bar somewhere. true or not i thought i’d better make a drawing of some tulips...especially since i don’t have any drawings of windmills, and i know amsterdam is known for windmills. and weed.

they really pack them in in amsterdam. i thought it was bazaar to have this huge great beautiful church jammed into rows of apartments like it’s just another building. not that i think churches are special or anything, but their buildings are usually badass and tend to sit all alone in their own space. not in amsterdam.

we found this little joint in a tucked away alley somewhere. it had the right vibe for a real dinner date. when we walked in the dude gave us some serious attitude and normally i would

have just left, but the space was so cool we decided to put up with the attitude in exchange for the space.

when we walked in the place this is what really caught our eye and it’s where i wanted to sit for dinner. the guy looked at me like i was nuts and told me we could sit in that room until our table was ready. he didn’t even offer us a glass of wine. dickhead. apparently that space was just some sort of prop for the restaurant. strange.

he should have worked a little harder. well i guess you don’t really go to amsterdam for good italian food. who knew? oh well, the food was good enough, the space was great, the wine went down quite well and they served us shots of lemon cello that kicked ass. who really cares how the food is if you have shots of lemon cello to wash it down with is what i always say.