Nice Winter Day in Amsterdam

We got up bright and early today at around...10 AM. OK not so early. Actually, I was up at 6:40 AM and said to myself, "I'll just see if I can doze another hour or so because I need it" knowing that I rarely can get back to sleep once I'm up. Next thing I know it's 9:40. So I bop up and get going because who knows when the daughter is going to call us. I need not have worried. She and Boy Friend are taking Friday off and didn't get back to our (her) apartment until 11.

As they arrive, they are very upbeat because as they tell us it is a very nice day. By that they mean it is a very nice day for Amsterdam in the winter. Here's some point of reference.

Nice Day In Winter - Amsterdam
High - 40 degrees, Grey Overcast Skies, No Rain (by definition No Rain = Nice Day)

By contrast -

Nice Day in Winter - Albuquerque, New Mexico
60 degrees, Brilliantly Blue Cloudless Sky, Rain? You've got to be kidding me.

AinA and BF enraptured and enjoying the beauty of a Nice Day in Amsterdam in Winter
Terri, how do we keep from turning into butterballs with all our eating? We walk like maniacs. We went out about the town. The center of Amsterdam is very walkable. It's flat and compact so with some effort you can really see lots and like many European cities you don't want to be driving or finding places to park. After a quick lunch, we are tromping about. We visited Rembrandt's house.

What does it say about the Dutch when the main exhibit in the Rembrandt house is of another painter they call Rembrandt's opposite?

Of course canals are a major part of the Amsterdam cityscape

Nine times out of ten if there is any color on a building it is a sign it is under construction.
This one was an exception.

Retailing in Amsterdam

I don't know what the economics or demographics that make this so but there are an incredible number of stores that are incredibly specialized. Of course one finds the cheese store or the wine store. But how about...

The Foot Stool Store???

Also seen were the -

• Men's Sock store (I kid you not)
• Snowboard store (only board stuff - no skies please...And where do they board in a place as flat as the Netheralands?)
• Dental Care store (toothbrushes, floss, etc.)

And yes Nonna there were plenty of "coffee shops" selling legal weed around.


Actually, you find these almost exclusively in the tourist areas at the every center of town. They are much more used by out of towners than by locals.

So we walked around town all afternoon getting back to the apartment around 5 PM. We chilled for a while because we had a dinner reservation at a nice place at 8. We changed and walked to the restaurant as it was only 1o minutes away. The food was excellent and we had a couple of bottles of really good wine. AinA has ranted about the bad service in Amsterdam and in spite of this being a more expensive place, the service was pretty bad.

We got back to the apartment around midnight. AinA and BF bicycled back to his apartment and we crashed.