A day in Amsterdam

After touring other cities the last couple of weekends and with some work to do on Sunday, Todd and I decided to take a day on Saturday and tour the city by bike. We wanted to visit a "hidden church" we had heard of in the city center, however, it took us several minutes to realize that there are actually 3 hidden churches (that we currently know of) in Amsterdam and that each of us was thinking of a different one. See what happens when you don't have car notification to direct you? Well, after figuring out what we were thinking, we took off on a sunny Amsterdam day to see what we could find. Successful at the hidden church, I then took Todd to an art shop where several ex-pats have purchased Amsterdam art prior to returning home. After a good discussion with the store owner about the art and how to buy it, we focused in on one painting which we both liked (and which I had previously purchased for Jen and Mark who have returned to America). When that piece was presented at their going away party, another member of our group questioned the authenticity of the picture given the direction the boats were facing. I knew it was an authentic Amsterdam scene and after some color comments by the store owner about the question, he directed Todd and I to the spot where we could see it for ourselves, which was only a 15 minute walk away. So, off we went on an adventure and despite the fact that I walked into a sign, we were able to successfully see the spot. Unfortunately, no boats were currently parked in the slips (duh, it is winter), but we determined that based on the placement of the pilings, that clearly the artist's picture was accurate and we decided we will return again in the summer to document that in a photo. So, after a stop a the highest rated restaurant in the Jordaan for a muffin and a trip to the American bookstore for some pleasure reading for the upcoming plane trip to Austria, we went off for dinner at a Greek tavern that was recommended and was great. After trying to read the Greek and Dutch memos, we asked if an English menu was available. (as is often the case, it was). We were trying to make our selections and noticed on the menu was an item called "platters". No further description. When the waiter came back, he asked if we wanted to see the "platter" and since we did, he brought to us a huge tray with 15 different plates of food on it. From here, you could point and pick what you wanted. It looked great - we picked... hummus, peppers, calamari, some rice thing with a vegetable we think was a leek, and a Greek pastry with spinach. And, for dinner :-), we chose the lamb which came with fried potatoes, salad, and bread. Yes, it was alot of food, but great fun to try several different things, all of which were very tasty. This dinner was as unique as dinner on Friday night. A co-worker, Kaltoum, and I made plans to go to dinner and then go see an English comedy play called "All the great books". We had decided to go to a sushi bar for dinner which was recommended to us, however, upon arrival, we learned that they were booked for the evening. I remembered another Japanese restaurant which I saw several times as I was walking from the neighborhood where I could park my car, back to my apartment at night. It was always busy and looked like it would be good, so we decided to try there. We walked over and were welcomed into the restaurant. It was definitely a local Japanese favorite given that everything was in Japanese on the walls and menus (although with translated English and Dutch), and when you ordered on a sheet of paper, they asked you to write it in Japanese (who knows what we actually received based on our order). And it wasn't a sushi bar, it was a grill bar. They put everything that you ordered on a skewer and grilled it over an open flame. Then brought it to you on a bed of cabbage. Interesting and very good. By the time we finished, the restaurant was full and we were the only non-Japanese people in there. Definitely, this was a local favorite. The comedy show was very funny and included American jokes and some very Dutch jokes and everyone had a great time.

So the weekend is over as it is now Sunday morning and after having my glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and toast, it is time to get to work and get ready for the week. Hope everyone who is reading this is doing well and I will talk to you soon!!!