Day 10- Amsterdam: Attics

Freaking cold today. Brrr.... Poor Andy feels like crap today.

Started the day at the fabric flea market. Nothing very special, so didn't end up with anything. We saw two stuffed squirrels playing cards at the market which was fun. Since we were in the neighborhood, we went to Anne Frank's house. Caitlin wanted lots of details, but I can't find my brochure. I'll find it when we get to Paris and email you seperately. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, which is understandable. The space was much larger than I thought, I guess is what I came away from it.

Next we went over to Waterloopenplein to another flea market, not too exciting. By now we were freezing and hungry so we ended up at near the Rembrandt house. We were in kind of a touristy pub, but is was cute. Andy had Dutch split pea soup and I finally got to try a bacon pancake! It was delicious.

Our next item on the list was a Red Light walking tour. The highlight was the little church in the attic. The Catholics used to not be allowed to worship, so there was a hidden church up in the top part of this house. It was really beautiful. We also learned about the miracle of Amsterdam, where this man vomited up his last rites host and the host didn't burn in the fire. Something like that. I think we have hit four churches this trip, I bet Andy wasn't prepared for that.

We found the narrow alley which has the highest number of brothels. We're just got into the alley ( you have to go single file), when I hear, "Hey, mister!! No cameras! You are shooting aren't you. That is not allowed. YOu can get into alot of trouble". It was Andy. Oh- battery is going to die. I'll finish post tomorrow...

Day 9-Amsterdam: Hookers and Babies

I'll have to high light the day (which is what you have probably been waiting for) because we saw so much neat stufff.

We started at the handbag museum, which Andy didn't really want a part of. The Director of the museum let Andy sit up in the cafe while I did the tour. It wasn't as big as a I had hoped, but I learned so much about the early history of the bags. My favorite was seeing an unfinished beaded knitted bag. They would have to 1st string the beads in perfect order, and then it was placed on a spool to be knitted into a bag.

Next, we went on a 2 hour walking tour in which we saw:

- The skinniest house in Amsterdam
- A dungeon in the bridge
- The oldest wooden house...
- A 14th century convent, which is behind a hidden door in an alley
- A really cool art deco theatre
- A bar that will be showing the super bowl starting at 11pm, with the kitchen open until 3am
- A bible museum
- floating flower market

My favorite parts of the afternoon:
- The mime all in red, that went I put money into her tin box, came to life. She had the most beautiful blue eyes and Andy has the whole interaction on video. I loved her.
- On the way home we were taking another walk by the 'ladies' in our neighbor hood. We were walking behind a couple with a baby carriage, who stopped at one of the doors and knocked. The door opened, and the 'lady' in full black lingerie squealed happily and cooed over the baby. The couple then moved on to their apartment a few doors away from where the 'lady' stood in her window. I wish we could have captured a moment like that on video, but we'll have this to remember it by.

We wanted to get back to the hotel so we could make a reservation at De Peper, which is a squat, recommended my the New York times. They are only open a few days a week and you have to call after 4pm. The man at the front desk was nice enough to call for us, but said he only received the answering machine. He actually said, "where do you want to go? I have never heard of it, but that doesn't matter. What is the number?" People are friendly, but kind of gruff or matter of fact.

We thought we would try later. We tried a couple more times but there was no answer. We decided to head down anyway since the webite and the answering machine didn't say they wouldn't be open on Sunday.

They weren't open. I was kind of glad because it did look a little scary. I was all for trying something new, but that might have been to the edge of my comfort zone. Good thing I was with Andy and walked right in to find out the scoop. The gal cleaning said they film center was open, but not the restaurant. He asked her for a couple of suggestions, and she said an african place or there was a really nice italian place down the street.

We saw the african right away, and checked it out. I We were able to decypher a couple of words on the menu, and it seemed to be like the ethiopian restaurants that we frequent at home and it said "english menu inside". Looks good we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

Another great pick, full of locals. The owner couldnt have been nicer when he brought over two versions of the menu. The difference between Andy and I is that I'm a quick suss up the situation, while he slowly figures the stuff out. I noticed on the table next to us there is what looked like a coconut full of foam. It was how you drank you beer, either palm, quinoa, coconut or banana beer in a coconut. Somehow Andy ended up with that and I ended up with a homemade mead, a kind of wine (like the vikings used to drink).

The food was delicious. We opted for a meat sampler planner. Andy thought it would help build our energy, the meat. Instead of dessert, we both had their homemade brandy. I read that they make homemade gin too, but brandy seemed like a nice way to finish dinner (and to help with our colds). It was so tasty, and not at all 'boozy'. We want to find a bottle to take home.

On our way back to the hotel, we found the Philosophy hotel. Andy was very excited and we have a lovely picture to prove it.

We had decided not to temp fate by walking through the black park. But the detour was great because we found the filmmuseum. Andy didn't want to see the Werner Herzog double bill (only if we were in Germany would it make sense, he said), so we headed into Cafe Vertigo, in the museum, for a glass of wine (and the loo).

It was very cozy, and had some 70's disco playing. This was a nice book mark to our start of the day which was the Carpenters greatest hits during breakfast at the hotel.

Andy needed to use the loo, but wasn't listening to me when we walked in. I told him there was a crazy looking lady at the toiletten, with a sign that said 30 cents. He went to the bathroom. When he got back he said there was a crazy lady at the bathroom. He said only had 10 cents, so he dropped the money on her plate and shrugged like, "that's all there is" and walked out. I don't know why I think this is so funny, but I am laughing right now as a write it. Andy just asked, "Is that my bathroom story?". I found 50 cents, so I figured I could make up the differnce for Andy when I headed over. But, the lady was gone!! Her sign was handmade, so perhaps that is the way the homeless make some extra money. Very enterprising.

Tomorrow we will be hitting a flea market, a fabric market and the Anne Frank house. I want to squeeze in the torture museum!

Day 8: Amsterdam

We left Rotterdam this am and headed to Amsterdam. It looked like it had snowed a bit in Rotterdam, but the sun was shining. The weather was nice in Adam, except it was bitterly cold. Bone chilling cold. Thank goodness it was sunny.

The big bummer is now Andy is getting sick! It couldn't be avoided with me coughing and sneezing all over the place.

We managed to find a tram without too much trouble, except we kind of took the long way around to our hotel. If I have a nose for finding stores, Andy must have a nose for the ladies. We were walking down one street schlepping our luggage, and there were ladies in the windows. I wish I could have gotten a picture of Andy looking at the map stopped in front of one of the windows. I think it was the one where she was doing her nails. It was very bizarre. I couldn't believe what nice bra and panty sets that they had on, and were very toned. I was expecting the 'ladies' would kind of be skanky, and not tanned, skinny with fake boobs. Since it was only about 1pm, it was kind of creepy the whole thing so I was glad when Andy figured out where we needed to go.

Our hotel is across from Sarphati park which is in the De Pijp area of Amsterdam. The woman was very nice at the front desk, and apologized that we would have to take our luggage up three flights of stairs. I told her we were prepared. Okay- I had read on tripadvisor about the hotels with the windy stairs, and people complaining. I thougth they were big babies. OMG- I about fell down the stairs. It was almost a straight up windy staircase, and pair that with a hand bag, carry on and a rolling bag it was a miracle I didn't kill myself. Coupled with my stuffy nose and cough, I'm sure it was quite a site.

The room is what it is. We definetly started off the trip with big, nice rooms so this is a bit of a step down. We like the area, and being across from the pretty park so that accounts for something.

I had on my agenda for today a boat cruise, Albert Culyp market and a 1 1/2 hour walking tour of the red light district. We had passed a boat cruise spot on the tram, so we headed back in that direction which would also take us to the market.

Nothing too cool in the market. I saw some neat fabric, but we will be going to a fabric market on Monday so I'll hold off. I found fabric stores on the same street, so I can always come back. Andy tried the frites since he didn't have any in Rotterdam. The mayo had a weird perm taste to it. Andy didn't really taste it, but it could have been vinegar.

The boat cruise wasn't for another 45 minutes, so we walked down to the Rijsmuseum (which was just a few blocks). The building was so beautiful. We decided to regroup because it was almost 3pm, and I knew we couldn't do both the walking tour and the boat cruise. Andy seemed like he was going to fade so I suggested we go check out the Henieken experience tour. It's where you go through the old brewery from the perspective of the bottle. We had originally nixed that on the agenda, but thought it might be silly.

We walked back to the brewery only to discover that the experience tour was closed until Summer 2008 for renovations! Never has something that I didn't want to do, become something that I wanted to do so fast! They were offering 5 euros and a free beer at the Ice house, which looked like it might be an ice bar. We might check it out.

We headed over to the boat to check it out. The man was very nice, and asked where we were from. We said "Seattle, WA" and he said, "I was just in Washington, D.C". Andy told him that we were actually on the other coast, and they guy thought maybe a two hour plane right. Andy had told him it was more of a 5 + hour flight, and the guy said "America is so big!". He said we could go and sit in the boat to wait. He must have been impressed by our long journey.

Andy was very happy to be warm and sitting. I did feel good. The boat soon filled up, with mostly Japanese tourists with a scary looking tour guide. Scary in, I wouldn't want to cross her.

The tour was about 75 minutes, and we got a great overview of the city. We even passed the handbag museum along the way! I was excited. Andy got some really great video, which will be awesome to remember that part of our trip. At first I thought the night tour would suck because you couldn't see anything, but then I realized you would better be able to see into people's houses! I loved all of the architecture.

After the trip we headed back to the hotel so Andy could take a break. The way up was definetly not as bad without your bags.

We have discovered out remote doesn't work. Does that constitute a room switch? Since Andy was sick, I had to stand on a chair and change the channels for him. It was the least I could do for getting him sick.

We needed to go out and get some dinner, so we headed out to one of the spots that was on my recommended list. It was a hamburger and fries place, which didn't sound appealing to either one of us, so we wandered up a couple streets checking out restaurants. We are getting better at scoping out menus, but the surinese-chiness take away places looked intimidating and not very cozy. So we settled on Balfi House, which was an indian place. It looked cozy, and we could sort of understand the menu. We could understand curry, tiki and kip (chicken).

The place got packed about 15 minutes after we sat down. There was a birthday party next to us, which seemed like a good sign. It was dark, candle lit, warm and cozy.

I had really wanted to try rijstafel ("rice table"), a Dutch specialty. Which is a bunch of differently spiced dishes over rice. It is usually meat, but they offered a vegetarian version. I should have written down all I ate, but the only one I remember is allo gobi (sorry for the spelling Rohan). Andy ordered chicken bhuna, which is some sort of tomato chicken. Mine came with a delicious soup that had a light taste of lemon. Everything was amazing!

Maybe when Andy feels better he can fill in some details.

We took a little walk around our new hotel to let our food digest. It seems a Saturday night in Amsterdam is watching Idols, not at the coffee shop.

We are now watching TV back in the room. We dropped off the remote at the front desk, and they put new batteries in. But had a feeling that might not work, and when we came back up and it did'nt work we were debating on whether to switch rooms. I know that sounds lame but when you are sick on vacation, you need your tv. Anyway, brilliant Andy googled the instructions on how to reset the remote. It was a universal remote that they had not programmed yet! He saves the day.

It's almost 11am, and I need to get him to sleep. He has been getting up at like 2 or 3am, from the jet lag so he hasn't been getting much sleep.

We have to make up for not hitting the red light district today, so hopefully it will be an early morning. It will depend on if my coughing keeps us up like last night.

It may sound like a bad trip, it's not. It is definetly not how I pictured it, feeling like crap and getting Andy sick. But, we're still managing t have fun.

Last thing- we have w-fi in the room, which is awesome so I'll probably post more pictures soon.

Day7-Rotterdam: Anita's Quick Wash

**I'm posting from a wasserette, which is a laundrymat. I'm waiting for my wash to get done, and there is free internet.

This morning Andy had a little time before his film watching, so I took him sightseeing. He has been taking some really cool video, so he wanted to film some of the stuff that I've seen. I took him to "the statue", the Cube houses and "The church". The Cube houses and the church were closed. I guess I hit them on the right days, as they are only open on the weekends in January.

I was going to take him to the stroopenwafle stand, but it wasn't even there. We were full from breakfast, so he can probably have one in Amsterdam. I hit another drug store. Not a Aromateek, but more like a Bartell's. They were super helpful with picking the right headache medicine. Hopefully, the 1000mg of whatever she gave me will kick in soon.

I showed Andy the Hema store, but I don't think he think's it is as neat as I do. I bought a pink storage box thing to pack some fragie gifts I'm bringing back. Super exciting.

I dropped off my packages and headed to Anita's Quick wash. The free R-dam guide book that I picked up at the information stand listed it as a place to do laundry and it is very near our hotel. I remember when I was in Paris and I was going to do a load of laundry. I walked in the door, and turned right back around. It was so imtimidating. This time I figured, what the heck, what's the worst that can happen.

I think the lady in the laundry was Anita, the owner. I asked if I could wash a load, and she said "yes...something in dutch". Some how I figured out she was saying, 'yes, but you will have to wait as there is no washer open". So I said I would wait and sat down. A few minutes later she pointed to a washer that she had just taken clothes out of. I put the laundry in and shut the door. I just kept staring at all of the words. I wasn't sure what to do next. There did'nt seem to be a place for money, let alone detergent (which I had none). She saw me struggling and put detergent in. She then asked me another question, which I figured out to be "do you want fabric softener", when she poured out some liquid into a cup and put it into the washer. She said something about "14 minutes", and I said "sure". I figured she would know the wash cycle better than I. I gave her 6 euros for the load and sat down.

It seemed that the book was wrong, this wasn't a place where you could go to do your own laundry. There were bags and bags and bags of laundry and she was a one woman washing machine.

The wash cycle seemed to be done, so I went to open the door. It said "stop", for pete sakes. As I tried to pull on the door, she came over and said "no" and the machine starting going again. For my future reference it says "done" when the load is finished.

I had to wait for a dryer, but as soon as one was ready she let me know. A new, young gal must have took over the shift and Anita left. She waved goodbye as I sat with waiting for my drying. I watched the new gal shove the clothes into the washers wearing elbow length pink rubber gloves with polka dot trim. I wanted to ask her where I could get a pair, but she was busy working.

I thought I should take out my drying, because I was holding up the dryer and the loads were starting to back up. I didn't want to have another washer experience, where I needed to push buttons and wait to take the clothes out. I told the girl that I thougth my drying was done and I wanted to take out my clothes. She said, "open the door".

Success. I did my laundry.

I headed back to the hotel, because I still had a splitting headache and wasn't feeling 100%. I hope the Gilmore Girls is on.

**I met Andy at 6pm for one last dinner at our favorite place, De Unie. We both had the awsome pasta with mushrooms, parm and truffle oil. I thought an espresso might help with the headache and it seemed to have helped. We were going to catch a 7:45pm film, so we wandered around while Andy took some footage of random stuff.

The movie was called The Return? or something. It was black and white Russian found footage. It was pretty neat. I had the choice between this movie at 82 minutes or an over 2 hour depressing Russian film. I chose the shorter one, which can be a safer bet for film festival films (or Russian).

We'll pack it up tonight, and tomorrow we head to Amsterdam. The trip should get really fun now that Andy and I can hang out more. I't been great so far, but it will be a little more exciting when I'll have someone to share the sights with.

I'm feeling much better. I think I'll be happy when we get to Paris, as they have passed the no smoking law. I am so used to not being around smoke, that it really bothers me! Or maybe because people smoke like chimmneys here.

I have to say, this hotel is probably the cleanest on the planet. There is always someone around cleaning something.

Good night!

Day 6- 24 hours in Bed

I am finally making it out of bed. It got too smoky yesterday in the lobby, so I headed back up stairs. It was a good thing. I would have coughing fits, which was followed up by a fever, achy and the chills. I threw up all over the floor, trying to make it to the bathroom and threw up more trying to clean it up.

I took more of the cough syrup, even though the lady at the store said to just take one dose. I couldn't read the instructions and felt too bad to make it down to the lobby to have someone translate for me. I didn't think I would overdose, but it made me throw up again.

I had no idea what time Andy would be back, as I had no energy to leave the room. I figured he would be back at some point, but was so miserable it ddn't matter.

By the time he came back at 7pm, I was feeling a little better but my throat was so sore I couldn't swollow. There was no 24 hour pharmacy, so I would have to wait until the next day to find something. It is kind of stressful knowing thta you can't do anything about it.

We went around the corner for dinner, and I had some tomato soup and water. It was really good, but I could barely eat any. We have since learned that you have to ask for the check. Andy told them we didn't want anything else, but the check never came. I had to leave because the man next to me started smoking. and I couldn't take it.

I didn't cough too much in the night, and it seems the tightness in my lungs has broken up. Andy brought me up tea with honey, and these little bisuits, since I didn't want to go to breakfast.

He is so sweet.

I just got back from the pharmacy and got cough drops, or whatever they call them here. I had to describe my ailment and she came up with some tablets.

I'm going back upstairs. I really want to get over this, so it doesn't ruin the rest of the trip. It is super weird because I don't get sick very often.

Update: Andy came back, and we went to Mister Noodle for dinner. Pho Ga is the same here, so we both ordered it. We're getting pretty good at recognizing stuff so that is a plus.

He went out for filmmakers drinks until about 3am. Man, I don't know now he does it. :)

Day 5- Rotterdam: Museum Day

Since it is raining outside, it turned out to be a perfect day to hit the museums on my list. But first, I had to hit the Apotheek for some cough medicine. The cute old man owner of the hotel said he was sick too and that the flu is going around, and pointed out the pharmacy. I was careful not to ask for a 'drug store', as that has a whole new meaning here.

On the way to the Apotheek, I passed a store that only sold toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouth wash. So specific!

The lady was very helpful at the store, but the stuff I bought isn't really helping. I am supposed to only take one dose, and it works for day or night. Very efficient, if it worked.

I hit the NAI, Netherland Architecture Institute, which apparently is the only museum on archituecture in the world. It was pretty neat. There was an exhibit on PJH Cuypers, known for the Central Station and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and a ton of churches. His architecture and his views are still controversial because he chose a position in the debate on the significance of architecture in relation to religion in community. It was neat to see the original floorplans of St. Laurenskerk, the gothic church that survived the bombings.

There wasn't alot at the museum, but by buying addmission to the NAI, I could go into the Sonneveld house. It has been my favorite part of the trip so far. It was even more awesome because I had the whole place to myself for an hour. It was completed in 1933, and is one of the best-preserved houses in the Niewe Bouwen style, the Dutch branch of the International School of Modernism. You would think it was a house from the 1960's, so it was very interesting to see all of the modern conveniences in a 1933 house. I watched a really interesting video on the restoration. I was able to take a picture of a 'paint ladder', which is where they scrape down to figure out the original colors of the rooms. I could go on and on and on how cool the house was, but you can check it out on this link. http://static.nai.nl/e/sonneveld_e/index.html

Next I went to the Kunsthal, which is the Rem Koohaas designed museum. I guess they can have 6 exhibitions, but only 3 were running. I kept ending up in areas where I wasn't supposed to be, so I watched them working on the next exhibits. The best one was this gay exhibit. You could listen to songs from the gay jukebox. Thankfully, I could get the gist of the exhibit because it was all Dutch.

I am not feeling terrific, so I'm back at the hotel. I'm going to read in the lobby and people watch while I wait for Andy. I am even too tired to make it out to Hema. LOL.

Later!

Day 4- I found the Sculpture!

*the wireless connection in the hotel doesn't like mac's, so I am not able to upload my sculpture picture which is a total bummer. \also, this Euro keyboard has a few extra keys so I'll try not to do this \ that often. I also found Churchillplein, which was quite exciting.

Switched hotels this am. The new one, Hotel Breitner, was not too far away. It is in a quiet residential street across from the NAI (Netherland Architecture Institute).

Andy and I grabbed a quick cup of coffee at the film lounge and now I'm sitting waiting for King of Ping Pong to start or Ping Pong Kingpen.

The film is in the Pathe theatre, which is a Euro chain. I would love to see a few more films in this theatre. The screen is huge! It seems to be as big as our Cinerama screen (if not bigger) and has comfy auditorium seating. The doors opened 30 minutes early, and there was no waiting in line like SIFF. I can't understand what anyone is saying, so I have idea if they are talking about something annoying. It is quite nice.

Spoke too soon. The phone of the man next to me just went off. It was the Seinfeld theme. Funny.

I hope to go see the Sonneveld House today, but \i think there is a flea market somewhere. Hopefully, I can find it.

I loved the film. It was beautiful. I can't get over the colors, white, blues- very pastel. Even the cats went with the set. Definetly not my reconceived notion on what it would be about. There was a Q&A with the director (1st feature). He gave alot of really interesting information. I'm very glad I saw it on this giant screen.

I had a couple of hours before the room was ready, so I headed over to the flea market. I hit a store along the way, the one that closed right before I got there. They had really neat stuff. I especially liked the jackets that were made out of old sails, but I moved on.

I found the flea market with no trouble. There wasn't anything too special. Some neat furniture and some huge needlepoint pictures, but nothing I could take home. My favorite section was the fresh fish. Just about every kind under the sun, in an array of colors and sizes. There was one called a Sepia fish, that was a big black gooey blob. I wonder how you cook that?

The great thing about travelling with a laptop (unless you can't log on like tonight\) is being able to research stuff on the road. Last night I google earthed the "destroyed city statue" and was able to pin point its location. It was actually only a few blocks from where I got all turned aroudn yesterday. I just kept checking the map until I found it! I took a ton of pictures so Mel can have her choice of any angle.

I decided to skip the Sonnevelt house, and save it for tomorrow. Plus, I'm not feeling that great. I picked up a weird dry cough, and the chills.

I got to the hotel and they lady at the front desk told me a gentleman left me a note! Exciting. "I put the luggage up in the room. I'll see you later. XOXO-Andy". Hurray. I wasn't looking forward to schlepping all of our luggage up to the room.

Our hotel room is cute. Total opposite of our first hotel which was modern. This room looks like a grandma camp, but had a heated town rack in the bathroom so that is fun.

Since it is on a residential street, you can look right into the apartments. Usually apartments and houses are set so far back from the street, you rarely have the opportunity to be up close. My mom would love it! One of the placese had the cutest tiny yard, with a pair of red clogs sitting on a bench.

I wanted to check out the new neighborhood to find a place for dinner. We have retired our favorite place (at least for tonight). The area is a mix of record shops, high end electronic stores, really cool childrens shops, cafes and coffee houses- about 10. The whole trip so far I had only seen one. I hadn't eaten lunch so I stopped off at a bakery that had a bacon, cheese and onion scone in the window. Oh, was it tasty.

I needed some coffee to keep awake, so I stopped off at another recommended place near the hotel. I ordered an espresso, which made the kid laugh behind the counter. When I ordered the Apple flap, he laughed even harder and said "I guess there is no translation". I realized it probaby wan't a Midwestern A, and more of an O. I did'nt care. He wasn't mean, more like he hadn't seen alot of American's in a while. Side note: I have only heard two Brits speaking. No other English for four days.

My Apple flap was delicious, even thougth it probably wansn't the best lunch. I figured I have walked so much, it didn't matter.

I headed back to the 1st bakery to buy Andy a scone. It was only 3:45pm and they were closed already! Ack. Oh well, I found a dinner place so that will take the stress out a finding a place tonight.

I ended up that our restaurant only serves pizza on Tuesdays, which was fine by us. Our server was this cute blonde with dreds (which I normally hate). But, her personality and face was a dead ringer for my little sister Caity. It was uncanny. She was super bubbily and friendly and very helpful at translating the pizza toppings that we couldn't figure out.

I ended up ordering what looked like a mushroom pizza and Andy ordered a spicy pizza (pepperoni). Mine actually had ham and Andy kept finding stuff on his. "Hey this is chicken....Oh, there is corn on this!. They were both yummy, but Andy's was REALLY spicy. I still can't get over the Dutch Caity.

We are now in our hotel lobby, which has a breakfast room, fireplace and a bar. It is rare that Andy is with me at night, but I am realzing that we aren't even spending the time together! I'm at this computer, and he is writing. But that's okay, we recapped at dinner. It is nice to be able to have a beer in the lobby (really old school) ane then head back up to the room.

I think Andy's favorite part of the hotel is that you leave your key at the front desk, like in the old movies. I had no idea and walked around with it all day. Oops.

I read online on tripadvisor that people conplained that the hotel smells like the owner smokes cigars 24/7 at the front desk. I does, but it's okay. He is a cute old man and said to me when I was checking in, "shopping is that way and there is nothign else to see".