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!