lots to see on a sunny saturday

i had had a plan, an itinerary if you will, of today's "must-see" sights. i couldn't believe my luck when it looked as if it were going to be sunny out. we had planned on going to the anne frank house and then wander through the eastern part of amsterdam on our way to the dutch resistance museum. we had yet to see any WWII sites or museums, so we thought we'd make a day of it in order to better reflect on what we were seeing.

i have seen, on many occasion, what the lines outside the anne frank house can be like, so i wanted to be there at 9 in order to avoid them. alas, i am my father's daughter and i slept in instead...i think we left the house around 10:30. needless to say, on a sunny saturday the lines were out the door, around the corner, and wrapped around the block. as we do so often these days, scott and i just looked at each other and laughed. we turned around and took a seat in the sun in front of westerkerk. we had made plans with a friend of a friend from seattle to meet up at the dutch resistance museum at 3:30, so my "itinerary" had to be thrown out the window and we went on to plan b.

because we were already on prinsengracht, i thought it would be fun to check out the pulitzer hotel. the hotel is actually 25 17th and 18th century canal houses "perfectly integrated" to create one amazing hotel. i had been dying to see inside the hotel for a number of reasons. first, i love, love, love hotels. second, it is the hotel featured in one of my "signature movies," ocean's 12, and third, it was picked as one of the 1,000 places to see before you die. the place was incredible, and i WILL stay there someday! we wandered through the art gallery and sat out in one of the courtyards. even scott was impressed! ;-)

right around the corner from the hotel is a shopping area called de 9 straatjes, (the 9 little streets), which is just what it sounds like...nine little streets of fabulous design shops, boutiques, art galleries, cafes, bakeries and cheese shops, antique stores, etc. it really is the best shopping area i've ever encountered. i'm learning that the antique shops here are actually full of REAL antiques, as opposed to just "old stuff" that most of them are full of at home. they are wonderful and VERY expensive!

this type of outing is a learning experience for both scott and me...he is getting better at letting me duck into each and every shop while he waits outside, although, even he enjoys looking in some of the really good ones. i too am learning that i can skip some of the shops and come back to look on my own. one thing will never change, though...he will always make fun of me for making him go into shops like sabon no matter how fabulous the french soaps are! ;-)

my favorite find was a interiors shop called kauppa. they carry a huge selection of marimekko products. i became obsessed with marimekko while i was working at crate & barrel. the crate has an exclusive relationship with the famous finnish company and carries products and styles not available anywhere else in the world (the woman i was talking to at kauppa was impressed at my knowledge of the product!) and they use the fabrics in all of their displays and as huge banners that hang from the ceilings. i think it's one of the major elements that makes crate & barrel such an interesting place to shop. anyway, i've been planning to use their idea of using fabric as wall decor for some of the huge walls in our place...the ones i would not be able to fill otherwise. i'm pleased that i have found a store that can help me with that project!

we still had a few hours to waner so we wandered in to a little cafe for a light lunch. we're still on a tight budget so a light lunch to us means we split a sandwich and each have a cup of coffee. it's amazing how little can fill you up! we went to van heart and had a deliciously fresh bacon, lettuce, tomato, and turkey sandwich. i figure as long as he can have bacon, scott will continue to humor me by letting me choose these chic little places, when i think secretly he'd rather be in a pub. he's a keeper! we make it to verztsmuseum, the dutch resistance museum, and it was very well done. it took you through life in amsterdam before the war, the events leading up to the war, and the efforts to sabotage the nazis during. i will not try to put into words what the read or saw, it's just too difficult. it's also difficult to explain what it feels like to walk down the street, look to your left and see a non descript plaque on the front of a building, begin to read it only to realize it is a plaque commemorating the hundreds of thousand people who were deported to concentration camps from that same spot. that happened to scott and me. it's chilling and very real. the plaque read:

"During part of the Second World War, in 1942 and 1943, the Hollandsche Schouwburg (the Dutch Theatre) was used as a deportation centre for Jews. The theatre, built in 1892 as a centre for relaxation and entertainment in the heart of the old Jewish quarter of Amsterdam, became a place of grief and anguish. Thousands of men, women and children were sent by train from here to Westerbork transit camp in Holland, and from there to death camps. Few of them lived to return. In the course of the Second World War 104,000 Dutch Jews were killed in Nazi extermination camps."

what it didn't mention, and what we later learned, was that there was a nursery across from the theatre was was used to house the jewish chirldren before they shipped them off...5,000 of them. this happened in my new city. i cannot even imagine what it must have been like, and must still be like, for those who lived here through the whole period. the museum captured the spirit and the determination of thousands of dutch men and women who chose to take action against evil. it is a must-see for all visitors.

do some homework before you come...the holland scheschouwburg and life in amsterdam during the war are good places to start.

after the museum we were spent in every way possible. my navigational expert, scott, figured out that we were actually closer to the muiderport train station than centraal, which was fun because muiderport is the stop between amsterdam and diemen. we got to see de gooyer, one of only six original windmills within the city of amsterdam, as well as a dappermarkt, which is very lively street market. we had seen both from the train, but never up close. it was recently in the dutch news that the market was rated #8 on national geographic's top shopping streets in the world and just won for best street market in amsterdam...pretty fun to have it so close to our flat! we walked down the center of the market just as all the stalls were beginning to close for the night. we were able to pick up some apricots and, of course, a bundle of tulips...the best price in town! we will be back!

museum willet-holthuysen

me and my new hair got up early this morning to get ready for a day in the city. i was super excited because i had planned to go see the museum willet-holthuysen. this museum was formerly the home to mr. & mrs. willet-holthuysen, who willed it, along with all the the art and possessions in it, to the city of amsterdam on the condition that it be turned into a museum for the public. i was dying to see inside the houses on the canal, and herengracht where this museum is, hosts the grandest all of the houses in amsterdam. i have always loved touring grand houses! i just love them.

the weather. the weather in amsterdam sucks right now. it's cold and windy and it rains just about everyday. i left my umbrella on the bench at centraal the other day (super annoying...) so i didn't have one today and it was awful out. my new hair was now just wet hair. anyway, after getting incredibly turned around on the way there, i finally found it just as i was beginning to get discouraged and upset about being so lost and wet.

once in the house i was reassured that all the walking had been worth it. the house was magnificent (i found this fabulous slide-show of many of the rooms in the house) it was quite an experience to look around a house with the same possessions it held in 1895...it made is all the more authentic and iteresting.

the other reason i wanted to go to this particular museum today was that the temporary exhibit, dress to impress 1750-1914 is about to end. i've always loved all things french an i was excited to see mrs. willet-holthuysen's collection of french fashion prints. she had hundreds of them, in all different sizes, along with a selection of her very own dresses...oh the lace! oh the silk!! they were fantastic and i now have a new obsession!!

it was pretty amazing to see the scale of luxury the wealthy lived with back then. one thing that struck me, though, was that even though the house was big and grand, it still felt smaller and more intimate than a lot of "mac mansions" being build today. it seems like back then, the money went into the lasting details of the homes...the marble floors, and ornate woodwork, and grand wrought iron staircases, and art, and fine china. unlike today when (some) people only seem to interested in big, bigger, and biggest.

new hair

this morning i had an appointment at this super stylish little place, called soop, which is in the market across the street from our flat. i chatted with a darling girl, 21 and already "over drinking", so funny! she put the color on and then another woman, who spoke almost no english, did the cut and style. luckily i brought a couple of pictures, but talk about being trusting!

i was just happy to be there, though, sipping on my two cappuccinos and eating my little cookies and "reading" my dutch home decor magazine. i'm pretty sure all the ladies got a kick out of "an american" getting her hair done there...lots of smiles and giggles. it didn't matter that i couldn't understand a word they said, the mood was very light and fun. i felt very european. ;-)

easter at the van gogh

today is easter sunday. i talked to my mom and sister, kirstin, last night. i have to admit that when i hung up the phone, i cried for the fist time since i've been here. it was the first time i'd spoken to them on the phone since i left, as well as the first holiday i've missed. lots of firsts, these days. i love being with my family more than the average person, and i practically live for family get-togethers and holiday celebrations, so it will be hard to miss the smaller holidays and birthdays.

as well as it being easter, it also was a "snow day." another one! the weather here has been so crazy, i can hardly believe it. one moment it'll be sunny, cold, but sunny, and the next it'll be snowing and/or pouring down rain and windy! it's not great...pretty bad, in fact! ;-) luckily we're both pacific north-westerners and were used to a fair amount of bad weather, so we try not let it keep us indoors too much.

so, despite the wind and snow, today we set off to the van gogh museum...a good museum to start with in a city that boasts the most museums per capita of any city in the world. the van gogh was just...world class. the sheer number of the pieces was mind blowing, and even more impressive, were the brilliant colors in them! the yellows, the blues! because it was a holiday, the museum more more crowded than normal. scott and i smiled at each other when we saw how many people there were, knowing that we'll be back countless times, so it was okay! we were still able to see our favorites, and when we go back, i'm sure we'll find new favorites.

when we left the museum, it had (temporarily) stopped snowing, so we found a little cafe in the museumplein to have lunch. i had one of the best sandwiches i've ever had...grilled brie and tomato. as were were finishing, a girl and her boyfriend approached the cafe, and just when she walked under the canopy a gust of wind must have come through because all of the water and melting snow dumped right on her head. it truly happened in slow motion, and this poor girl got soaked. she was a trooper, though. scott and i decided that i would have cried first and laughed second. i felt so bad for her, it was so cold out and now she was wet! i hope they gave her a free lunch or at least a free hot coco to help her warm up!

i had one last place that i wanted to see before we called it a day. this place had eluded me on all of my excursions, and it was one of the things i wanted to see the most. i have accepted that i'm not a natural with a map, in fact, i'm terrible, and it gets frustrating. i think it's the same part of my brain that can't remember my keys or if i payed my cell phone bill. anyway, the place i had been looking for a place called the begijnhof. finally we found it, with some assistance from the darling people at my all-time favorite bookstore, the american book center. turns out, the reason i had overlooked it was because all you could see from busy spui centruum was a big wooden door.

the begijnhof is a sanctuary for women. it was originally built in the 1300's for catholic women who lived like nuns. they were able to live there, away from sin (men), to worship, and to educate and take care of the poor. what a surprisingly peaceful place in the middle of the city! the peacefulness of the place was almost overwhelming. there are rumors that the women who live there (it remains a sanctuary for single women) are trying to close it to the public, but i hope they don't because it was a wonderful sight to experience. one the the first houses you see, #34, is amsterdam's oldest house, and one of only two remaining wood houses in the city, and was build in 1420! 1420!!!!! surrounding the perfectly kept greens are circle of beautiful houses with a chapel in the middle.

after every trip into the city, i feel so lucky to live here. it's really a dream come true, and i plan on continuing to make the most of everyday i have here. and in the end, it was a wonderful easter, filled with art and a trip to a place where catholics came to worship in secret when their religious freedoms had been taken away. the begijnhof was a perfect place to end our day, and like i said, i am a very lucky girl.

a night on the town

last night was our first big night out on the town. scott's boss, jason, is from lake oswego (small world, huh?!) and his wife, tiffany, is from california. i had not met them yet, so when they invited us over to their house to meet their daughter, ava, and then onto drinks and then to dinner, i was thrilled. i was excited to meet jason, but mostly i was looking forward to (hopefully) finding a friend in tiffany. i lucked out... they are both great!!

because scott had yesterday (and monday) off for easter we were able to lounge around the house all day before getting ready. i was hoping to wear heals and to do my hair, but it was (and still is) snowing outside, so flats and my hair pulled back had to do...i still made it work! ;-)

we got to their darling little place, and i immediately wanted to move into the city! ;-) not really, but their place was pretty cute. it was about half the size of ours, but it had a little (very, very, little) fireplace and a small back yard and tons of detail and charm. anyway, jason cracked open a bottle of good champagne and the four of us sat around and laughed about the "shit-show" of a process it was for us to get over here. i liked them both immediately!

their sitter came, ava is three, and off we went to our first destination. it turns out that they live right around the corner from the site of the 1928 olympic statium! very cool. the bar, vakzuid is actually underneath the stadium seats, probably in an area that was formally dressing rooms or a preparation area. either way, artitechturally, it was amazing.... modern with uber trendy people inside.

we were there early on in the evening, but i could tell that this mod, industrial, but warm bar was a major hot spot for locals. it was in zuid amsterdam (south amsterdam), so it was well away from the tourists of the world, which made it an authentically dutch hipster experience. the four of us had a ton of laughs and a few too many beers before we headed to our next spot for dinner.

dinner was at another very dutch spot called gent aan de schinkel. the place was packed...luckily we had reservations. it was nice to be with someone, tiffany, who could speak dutch well enough to order us drinks and appetizers. everyone in amsterdam speaks english, but i'm finding that at places like gent and other out-of-the-way local favorites, speaking only english is not super kosher. i think they like to have hidden spots for non-tourists only and when americans infiltrate them they get a little pissy. just an observation.

regardless, the food was amazing! we decided to go "family style," which i loved because it made jason and tiffany feel like old friends. when the dinners came...two veal dishes, a pheasant, and an ahi tuna dish, we ate for a couple of minutes and then passed to the left. i laugh now just thinking about four aduts sharing a pheasant dish! gent was my first real experience with fine dutch cuisine, and i was surprised at how delicious it was...not too heavy at all.

i can't wait until there is a little more money in the bank account so that we can have more evenings like last night. not that i'm complaining, i thoroughly enjoy preparing and cooking meals at home, setting the table with the linens i stashed in my suitcase, and sitting down at the table with scott (and sela). in the end, i think the thing that made last night so fun was not the stylish bars or the fancy food, but rather it was company that we were able to share it with!

happy birthday, scott!

yesterday was scott's 30th birthday! and it was the second birthday he celebrated in amsterdam...pretty lucky. i think that he was okay with the fact that this year, he did not have the big blow-out party he would have have if we were in seattle. i think we both are, for a number of reasons...we're both enjoying just having each other for the first time in our relationship. it's pretty fun to know that we have a great time, even if it is just the two of us.

i met him at centraal at 5. well, actually i was there at 5 and he got there at 6:15. it's crazy that we're back to the days when you didn't have the luxury of calling to let someone know you're going to be late, and your unable to call and say "where the fuck are you, you're late, and i'm freezing!" it's a strange reality to just wait, and know that he'll be there when he can. turns out, he was late because he got his first deal in ,and had to stay at work late to finalize things...i can certainly forgive him for that!

it was nice out so we walked over to the jordaan, after hitting-up a coffee shop..., to have a couple of drinks at this brown cafe i'd been reading about. the cafe was called cafe 't smalle, and it was just perfect. they are called "brown" cafes because their walls are stained a brown color due to literally centuries of tobacco smoke. the people inside where almost all dutch...a good sign to a local favorite. we ordered a couple of heineken's (on tap!) and sat down at a little table next to two dutch women. the ladies were pretty funny, and they chatted with us for awhile. it took them a bit to understand that we actually lived in amsterdam, but once they did, they liked us even better. amsterdammers have a reputation for being a little "cocky," according to our landlord, danny, but we're in their city, so it doesn't bother me at all. i just think it makes them more interesting...and these two were certainly interesting!

after a couple of drinks, we set off to meet up with scott's life-long friend, jesse, who was in town with a bunch of his fraternity brothers. we met him at a little bar near the anne frank huis for a few more drinks and some laughs. i had only met jesse once, but it was great seeing him again...i think having someone here from home, no matter who it is, will always be a highpoint.

jordaan tour

today scott and i had an appointment at the town hall in order to register with the city of diemen. the appointment was at 9;30 am, so we set off a little before 9 since it was a little over a mile walk from out flat and we weren't exactly sure where it was. the appointment itself was pretty painless...just one more in a long list bureaucratic hoops. the duch love red tape, i think they may have invented it, or at least perfected it.

after we registered i hopped on the train with scott to do some more city exploring. it was nice to be up and out early....i was excited that i had the whole day in front of me.

i set out into amsterdam with one thing on my mind...the jordaan. the jordaan is an area in amsterdam which was formally home to the poor artists and workers of the area. it is now, in my opinion, the quaintest district with the prettiest canal views, and the best shops and cafes.

because it was so early when i got to the city, nothing was open yet. i had forgotten that i was in amsterdam, and people like to sleep here! ;-) so...i headed down haarlemmerstraat from centraal on my way into the jordaan. it turned out that haarlemmerstraat was a fabulous street full of interesting and fun shops, cafes, and restaurants. none of the shops were going to be open for at least another 30 minutes, so i stopped into a cafe for a coffee and to read my new bible...rick steves amsterdam, brussels and bruge 2008. ;-) the place was called stout! and it was another one of amsterdams chic spots. btw, stout means "dirty" in dutch!


i love this place (amsterdam)! i loved sitting at stout!, having a couple cups of coffee (ALWAYS served in a cup with a saucer, a little creamer, a sugar packet, and a tiny cookie of some sort. perfect.), reading my book, maybe having a smoke, and watching out the window. as i sat there, i watched the two waiters put together the most enormous and most beautiful vase of tulips i have ever seen. they added branches to it somehow and it was spectacular...i wish i had had my camera! it's amazing that an entire city, an entire country, values flowers enough to put something like that together, at even the smallest of places.

one of my favorite shops from the morning was &k, who had these little lanterns (6.95!), as well as the most colorful kitchenware and gifts. i am inspired by the colors offered in this city...and to think, i used to only love white and cream!!

i also loved het grote avontuur, which was right across the street from &k, and was full of wonderful furniture, glassware, lamps, and paper products...look at that color! i have never seen a store with more unique items from all over the world.

i found amsterdam's smallest art gallery and bought a darling original piece of a yellow tulip with a purple background for only 10 euros! my first original artwork in amsterdam...hopefully the first of many to come! i also ventured into the amsterdam tulip museum. when you walk in, it just looks like a gift shop, but there is a museum downstairs. from the brochure...

the story of holland's most famous flower

"experience the history of the tulip, from its origin on the windswept mountains in central asia to the worldwide phenomenon it is today. greed, desire, anguish, and dedication all played their part in the development of the tulip. from a place of honour in the gardens of the sultans in istanbul the tulip because the object of unprecedented speculation in 17th century holland. it was the period known as tulipmania, when the tulip bulbs changed hands for the price of a house, leading eventually to a disastrous financial collapse. after this period the cultivation of tulips did not stop. on the contrary, stripped of all its excessiveness, the tulip trade now developed into a normal business."

i have to admitt, those, the gift shop was my favorite part...one of the best i've seen, full of gorgeous (reproductions of) prints for really reasonable prices, as well as beautiful bulbs for sale.

i was going to try to stay downtown all day and meet scott so that we could ride home together, but by 4 or so i was beat! so many things to see, and all of them so new! my cheeks hurt from smiling and my neck is sore from looking up!

birthday present

today i was on a mission to find the prefect present, at the perfect price, for scott's birthday. after a long day of searching i still had nothing for him. i found about 6 million things for me, but i don't think he would have been that interested in french soaps or antique candle holders! weird...

i just about gave up after a long day, but on my way home i rounded the corner and saw a fabulous red tanktop with an outline of a bicycle printed in white on the front. i had to check it out, and thank god i did. when i walked into the store i realized it was a gallery, the mark raven gallery, and in front of me was the same outline on the tank in print form. that was it! and he loved it...

and i'm off...

today i set off for amsterdam on my own for the first time, and it was like a dream! at one point i was walking down leidesplein (anything fabulous that you can ever imagine, plus more, is on this street, including hundreds and hundreds of fabulous shoes and bags!)

as listening to genesis sing "invisible touch" (thank you, anya!), i really felt like i was in a movie. it was pouring and windy and freezing, but it was still perfect! without an agenda or a clue as to where i was going, i really just wandered around a small pocket of the city with my notebook and a pen jotting down all the wonderful things i saw....so many things that i was left wondering, can it really be true that i live here?! i have more ideas than space or money, but that is nothing new and for now it is more than enough to satisfy ;-)

anyway, after three hours or so of taking it all in, i met scott at centraal station and we took

the train back to deimen and i made dinner with the groceries i picked up this morning--pizza and salad (the veggies here are not to be believed...they all taste and smell like i picked them right out of martha stewart's garden!) scott had a small glass of dutch gin, jenever, which we originally thought was ketel 1 vodka (definitely NOT vodka!!), and promptly fell asleep. he earned it, though,...he made his first sales call today. usually they wait three to four weeks...his first day was thursday!

tomorrow we are going back into town to meet with the immigration attorneys to finalize things in order to get resident cards which we need to get bank accounts. it will be nice to have scott off work an extra day this week, although i find myself right where i left off in portland...perfectly content with me, my ipod, a good notebook and pen, a cup of coffee, and my city. we still have yet to see the anne frank house or any of the museums...or any of the tourist attractions, actually, not even the red light district ;-) , which is crazy because i feel like i've seen so much, but there is still so, so much more...pretty cool!

also pretty cool is that on wednesday i'm going to take a solo trip (god help poor scott when i finally drag him along) to ikea for the first time. i love that my first time at ikea is here! i foresee that, to me, ikea may be a tourist attraction all on its own, and i can't wait to see it. the dutch seem to do everything right, everything but their beds. they are horrible...worse than a futon. so, sadly, even though getting to go to ikea in the netherlands is super cool, the only thing i get to buy is a super un-glamorous bed because with my bad neck/shoulder and scott's bad back, a bad mattress (no box springs...) just won't do. i would love to share this with you all!

p.s.i check my mail box EVERY DAY (hint, hint...)
botterweg 57
1113 HR
diemen, the netherlands

day one

today is my first day on my own here. i walked scott to the train station (about a 15 min round trip) this morning as he went off for his first day of work. to be honest i slept most of the morning, as i'm still not quite caught up...the 20 hours it took to get here did not help in the acclimation process!! but when i got up, i made myself a cappuccino ;-) and a little list of things we needed at the market. we literally have a grocery store, a "bartells", a wine/liquor store, a card/magazine shop (with a clerk who was smoking behind the counter today!), a fresh produce market, a bakery, a butcher, a flower shop, and an amazing clothing boutique across the street! we look down on them from our living room windows and bedroom balcony...it's pretty nice for me! so anyway, i spent about two hours today looking at things in all the shops trying to figure out what's what. they have everything in tiny little packages, just meant for one or two servings--no waste! as for the food, they have everything i could ever need...i just need to learn a little dutch so that i can figure out what they hell things are, and how to cook them. just going by the pictures has already made for a couple of funny surprises!

i have to admit, scott is a natural when it comes to talking to the locals, but it's not quite as easy for me. it's going to take some "stepping outside the comfort zone" on my part for awhile. i'm determined, though. ;-) i could not have asked for a more perfect place to be. diemen is an upscale suburb with the most darling houses, gardens, tiny little rivers, and tons of families...moms, kids, and bikes everywhere! and so clean, and neat! i feel very safe here...no one even locks their bikes or mopeds. it's purely dutch people here...which is pretty cool. our apartment (flat) is huge!

it's bigger than my apartment in queen anne and it has two balconies, a dishwasher (the dishwasher, freezer, and fridge look like the rest of the cupboards until you open them!!) and a washer and dryer, and more storage space than i know what to do with! it's full of windows and natural light, which is good because it gets dark earlier here (it's freezing, btw...very windy) and the lighting in our flat is dimmer than i'm used to. ikea lamps here i come...

we went into amsterdam yesterday and covered some serious ground. from diemen, it's about a six minute train ride into centraal station. once we got out of the super tourist area i was able to take it all in a bit more. this place is gorgeous. the architecture, the wrought iron work on all the windows and railways, the canals, the bridges, the super chic girls on their bikes, the bread...oh, lord, the bread!!!, the flowers EVERYWHERE, the museums...and on and on. the thing that struck me a bit was how quite things were...hardly any cars! just bike...lots of bikes. ;-) it made it more relaxing...as long as you look both ways!

we went into a cafe called lust which turned out to be very posh, and having no money, we just ordered coffee...the best i've ever

had...no sugar needed...and the waiter could not have cared less if we sat there all day. i'm pretty sure it would never occur to him that we should order something else. what a nice feeling! i went into my first coffee shop, and it was horrible. luckely, i went into a second and third coffee shop, the they were much more my style ;-) i also found an amazing paper shop and a print and antique map/botanical shop...those are enough to make me a very happy girl!

scott and i are both sore from all the walking already...we have a ways to go before we catch up to all these life-long active amsterdamers...regardless of age they are ALL hip, thin, active, and seemingly very content and happy with life. what a concept!