These Are The SHORTEST Days of our Lives...

Day 2 ... quite possibly the shortest day of our lives ... jet lag is a BEAST at this age.  I mean, the last time we were here we were just barely 21 ... almost ten years later and we are absolutely crippled by this jet lag. We retired to bed last night around 11:30 local, after watching Happy Feet (loved the music in this movie, got my feet tapping right along with it - thanks Chris & Tammy).  I woke up at 3:30am, ready to go!  We have no real way of telling time here - no alarm clock, no phone, just the laptop... but it was sort of light in our room from the lights outside.  I needed the laptop to be sure so I muscled it up to the bed to figure it out - I knew it was early, but I was maddened to see that it was only 3:30am and I was ready for a new day. 

 Erik refused to engage in any type of conversation - even though I only wanted to talk about how Happy Feet was unrealistic - there's no way humans would actually accomodate the penguins by not fishing close to their natural habitats - his response "oh but a dancing penguin is realistic" - sure, I thought - but he quickly silenced our conversation and urged me to return to my slumber.  That was tough.  I counted ... I thought about our next blog post ... I thought about what we would do in a few hours and wished the time away .... but, it worked - my dad used to say "just close your eyes" ... he is still right, I fell back asleep. 

We woke up, STARVING, at 10:30 - now, this is very late for Erik.  He's a rise and absolute SHINE kind of guy... but he was not burdened by the late sleep-in.  Downstairs in a few minutes, he was cooking up a few eggs on the stove, adding garlic, salt, pepper, whatever spice he could fine to jazz it up.  We ate, looked at each others' tired eyes and without any verbal communication knew that we needed to take a nap.  Four hours later, at 3:30pm ... we were awake and finally ready to start the day!  Who can feel guilty over that, right?  We have 12 more days in this city!  But, we still wanted to get out to enjoy the 65 degree weather and introduce ourselves to Amsterdam.... 

We decided to venture to Dam Square and go in and around the square - it was time to get lost and find our way back to the Jordaan... however long it took.  Well, it only took us 3 hours before we were ready for dinner.  In the meantime, we just walked and walked and walked - snapped photo's,  enjoyed listening to all of the languages and accents surrounding us and just swallowed the culture.... on our way we randomly tripped upon The Red Light District.  I saw a half naked woman in the window, looked up and saw - yep, this is it - a red light above her window - we were there.  Then I really opened my eyes and found we were surrounded by these women.  It was so strange though - most of them seemed quite bored.  One was on her phone, the other smoking a cigarette - another just sitting on her chair - drinking a Sprite.  I thought, hmmmm, does this excite anyone?  Entice me, at least a little!  I asked Erik if we could rent one - not for anything frisky, but to have a drink and just get to know her - how life as a Red Light girl is and all of that.  He mentioned what he read the price would be about 50 Euro, but never answered the question - I'm thinking that may be in our future - an interview of sorts, perhaps she would let me take a video of her for the blog??  In my dreams, perhaps ....

We found ourselves getting further away from The Jordaan, further from Dam Square.  That was fine, we had nothing but time and the Dutch are so kind, they are so happy to point us where we need to go - we would be fine!  And we were .... through a gay district, an asian district, a few Irish pubs in a row ... Amsterdam is a big city, but it really feels quaint and welcoming all at the same time.  We spotted dozens of cofee shops too - stepped in a few to get a peak...

We decided on falafel and frites for dinner - there is a perfect place in our neighborhood - cheap, good, fried food.  It was delish.

Enjoy some pictures from our day .... 

HARING!  I see our name everywhere.  It's Dutch for Herring - Served on a role with a tartar-like sauce from stands on the street.



Canal Street - Tichelstraat - just one over from our street - Gietersstraat



I love this - bikes everywhere - I even saw a lady texting and biking today.  I thought, I wonder if they have laws against that, too?



Our landmark, if we can see this, we know we're close to our apartment:  The Westerkerk Tower, built in 1631, Rembrandt is buried under this "Western Church"



Me, Dam Square

Erik, Dam Square

Loved this guy - sang "Your Song" and "Redemption Song" while we stood in Dam Square.

bikes.

More bikes.

famous coffeeshop

random Amsterdam walkway

me, Amsterdam, street

adore the architecture

look how the building bends with the street! so rad.

us, Dam Square



people gather in the Square - a lot of tourists, a lot of photos, a lot of smiles!

 Tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary (this was part of the reason we decided to travel this month) and while we have no major plans (we are going to get around to planning some "must-dos") we will do something fun ... something together .... it's always fun, together.

Cheers,
Kate (and Erik)
4/15/2011