Amsterdam - Part I

We broke down. No longer could Nate and I carry or piggy back

our 41 lb 4 year old. When he is tired, he just falls asleep.

So on our way into Amsterdam, we stopped at a Weesp

store and bought another stroller. I think we paid a lot for it,

but at that point in time one bazillion euros would have been worth it.

We've had it two days, and it is absolutely worth it.

The only downside is that we are quite a sight getting on and off

trains. People look at us with pity.

And we have to ride the "lift" everywhere we go.

A lift here is a 4x4 solid metal cage that smells like urine and then

like the urinator tried to clean it up with vomit, or vinegar.

It is awesome.

This was in the Centraal Station. A vat of sausage!

I was like - DONE - I can go home now a happy girl.

ew.

This is the Oude Kerk and it is Amsterdam's oldest

building (14th Century). I'm having a hard time conceptualizing "14th Century" as I walk around this place. Before now, "old" to me was my dog, or the last house we lived in which was built in 1901. But this.....this stuff brings emotions out in you that you don't expect. It's breathtaking. Rembrandt's first wife is buried here and it is stunning!

It is the first thing you see as you leave the Central Train Station.

Friday, we started a canal bus tour which we finished on Saturday.

Here are some of the highlights from Day One of that tour.

We could get on and off the tour as we wanted.

The famous Flower Market:

The back of the Flower Market:

I thought this picture below was interesting.

The birds, the bike, the boat, the metro....its an array

of transportation, old and new.

Right after The Netherlands won on Friday,

the city went absolutely crazy.

You might expect that it was a drunken celebratory college frat

sloppy kind of crazy, but to our surprise, it was the best crowd

I've ever witnessed. Yes, they were crazy and loud and honking horns and

singing songs and revving motorcycle engines, but they were the most

not sloppy fans I've ever seen. Classy people.

As we wandered along our sight-seeing path, we started to get deeper

and deeper into the celebration. Soon, we were surrounded by orange pushing our

sleeping (yes, they both feel asleep amidst the mayhem) babes through the sea of

celebration as strangers hugged each other and blew whistles at the Brasil fans

in their green and yellow. All the while smiling, laughing, singing and hugging.

It was as though everyone knew each other, or were related.

These were strangers that gathered in the middle of the street. The group

kept getting bigger and bigger.

It was blocks and blocks of this (below). At one point, I was nervous.

We were the only ones pushing kids around and it started to get pretty

crowded and I started to get a little panicky. Of course it was fine.

These are classy people who apparently know how to handle

their Amstel. It was an honor to be part of their proud celebration.

Oh snap. This is the Rijkmuseum.....under construction.

Henry would not wake up. When we finally made it back to our

canal tour boat, we had to lay a sleeping Henry on his own seat.

He loved the sightseeing - I mean, OBVIOUSLY.

This is hard to see, but below is the "Homomonument".

A monument dedicated to the Homosexuals who were discriminated

against during the Second World War.

Nate and I were cracking up a) because its called the Homomonument

and b) its just a triangular area of marble bricks.

And drumroll....my favorite picture from the day (below):

Oh wait, I mean, this one is...of course!

It was another sweltering hot day on Friday and it was hard to find

reprieve. Even the canal boat ride was a sweaty, hot mess.

And the TRAINS....Oh my....it just isn't fair to take a girl from

a cold Portland summer and stick her in a Holland train.

Ok, its fair, but it was not a pretty sight.

We've spent a mint on bottled water and get mad at each other when

someone spills or wastes the liquid gold known as "SPA" water.

It was an amazing day and we had a hard time imaging that we could top it,

but somehow we did.

To be continued......