Downtime in NL

September 24, 2009


Dutch word of the day: pannekoeken (pah-nuh-kah-kuh): pancake

Phew. Pauline came in last Friday. It has been a whirlwind since then.

We spent two nights in the amazing Citizen M hotel in Amsterdam Zuid, and when we got back to Utrecht, it felt like she had only been here a few hours. Time is flying, and we have done so much together - seen so much of Amsterdam. Since I am in school in Utrecht (30 minutes by train to Amsterdam), it has been a real treat to take these day trips to Amsterdam.



There will be more details later, but we have:
  • had all you can eat ribs (Pauline) and spaghetti (me) on Leidsplein
  • had a beer among the hundreds of al fresco tables on Leidsplein
  • spent hours on the kilometer-long Albert Cuyp Markt
  • visited the Anne Frank House (sounds more like Anna in Dutch; truly beautiful, definitely got weepy)
  • mastered the Amsterdam tram system (and managed not to get squashed by one)
  • enjoyed stuffed tomatoes made by yours truly with Vi and Maggie at our apartment
  • eaten hundreds of stroopwaffels ("stuhroop vahful") - the tasty maple buttery pizzelles
  • shopped on the Oudegracht near my school and splurged on some nice shower stuff at Sabon
  • eaten fried sausage and gravy out of a vending machine (eww)
  • seen dozens of original van Gogh's at the Van Gogh Museum and the Kroller-Muller (standing RIGHT in front of them!!)
  • observed reindeer in mating season at the Hoge Veluwe
  • stood in front of original Monet and Renoirs in the Kroller Muller
  • gone to the SexMuseum Amsterdam (eh)
  • gotten on the wrong train
  • got locked out of the apartment
  • danced to bad techno at a DJ competition in Club Poema
Can you believe it has only been five days? I need some time to do school work, so I sent Pauline away for the day (hee hee) and I am off to read about Human Rights and Criminal Law, and write a little essay on it. Pictures and details soon; also, there are postcards coming but I need to hit the postkantoor for more stamps.

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