Having drinks on het plein

plein (het ~)
area (the ~), district (the ~), ward (the ~), quarter (ww.), plaza (the ~)

First stop... FEBO!

Anthony and Dormain arrived and where did they want to go to first... why, FEBO of course! If you don't already know about FEBO, it's a fast food place in the Netherlands and Dutch people love it. It is affectionately called "food from the wall" because you drop a few coins in, open a little door, and take your food out right from the wall.

Dave and I have never eaten there because almost everything is some deep fried piece of mystery meat... until you learn how to read Dutch and then it's not a mystery anymore. Their slogan is "de lekkerste" which means, the tastiest!

We have a breeze!

It might not be as hot here as it was in Berlin three summers ago, but I still had to go out and buy (and build) a ventilator. At least this time I knew to look for "ventilators" and not "fans" like I did last time.

Today we biked to Haarlem

Haarlem is a cute town not far from Amsterdam. It's approximately 23 kilometers away, which is about 14 miles. The ride was long, but flat, and it was a very humid day. It even rained on us a bit. And, there were a lot of bugs. Yuck.

But, when we arrived in the center of town we discovered a used book sale!



As we strolled through the town we noticed this montage...


...of Michael Jackson album covers!


And after all of this biking and strolling, we decided to take the train home. Theo and Stella took their first ride on a train!

Guess what my best friend is doing today!?

Rollerblading in Napa baby!
I'm so proud of her. What an awesome accomplishment!

Delft

Yesterday we decided to spend part of the afternoon exploring Delft and all of its cuteness. It was indeed CUTE!

11:15pm

Biking in Vondel Park with Quint!

What is the best thing about Quint's new bike seat? He gets to ride around in Vondel Park with us!




What's the best thing about riding around in Vondel Park? Getting ice cream on the way home.

Tonight we went to Opera in het park!

Singing on a boat

Last night our choir hopped onto a boat, along with a shopping cart full of snacks and beer, we cruised out to the Amstel river and then into the canals... SINGING! People stopped on the bridges to watch us. It was lots of fun.

Treat yourself

I want to ride the new Cable Car too!!!

Sasha and Malia Obama got to ride the new Cable Car in SF... no fair! :)

Frying pan efficiency

Happy Father's Day and Happy Summer Solstice!

On the longest day of the year, this is the view from our balcony at 10:30pm.

Stay-cation

Not much to report today. Basically this weekend we decided to have a stay-cation. There are not many weekends when we either don't have visitors or are not traveling, but this weekend was one of the precious few. What is a stay-cation in Amsterdam for us? Sleeping in with our cats, going to the gym, cleaning our little apartment, and going to the market. Aren't lazy Saturdays at home lovely!
 

Leiden University

I want to make a little post about Leiden University because while I didn't get any pictures, today was the Math Department start-of-summer BBQ.

Leiden is a cute college town about a 30 min train ride away from Amsterdam. Dave heads out to Leiden about once a week to work with the mathematicians there. His post-doc position here in the Netherlands is a joint appointment with a research center called CWI and Leiden University.

The BBQ was fun! Too bad I didn't take any pictures.

The famous Amsterdam Apple Tart

On her last day in Amsterdam, Aviva finally got a slice of something Amsterdam is known for... apple tart. Yum!

Biking around Amsterdam

Stuart gets a ride in a bag

An Indonesian feast!