Bloemgracht

We've brought good weather to Amsterdam again.

It's been a gloomy summer here, apparently, but on our first day in the city the sun has been shining and a cool breeze has brought the hot temperatures to perfect. It's great to walk around when everyone's out and moving around and in a good mood because it's a beautiful day.

We got in from Paris last night around 8:30 and made our way to Gerry and Christina's apartment on Bloemgracht by tram. Piece of cake. Nice to actually feel like we know our way around. Gerry and I ran out and got a few pizzas, and we ate them at their place with a couple glasses of wine. We were all worn out, so it was an early night--followed by a LONG night's sleep. The guest bed here is so comfortable that I sleep like the dead and have a hard time getting out of it in the morning.

Today Cathy and I went down to a big shopping strip near Dam Square to poke around and get a few things, and mostly just to get a shawarma at a little restaurant she'd eaten at before. We didn't find that one, but the one we found was just as good. Sliced rotisseried lamb on pita with a huge 'salad bar' full of pickled things, vegetables, and sauces to muck it up with. Delicious.

After we returned, I headed out again to stock Gerry up on beer and get some yogurt and fruit for breakfast (man, I can't tell you how tired I am of baguette and soft foil triangle cheese and weak coffee for breakfast, nice though it was). A quick trip down the alley, past the coffee shop (ahem) and the Cafe Chris--a cool little pub of dark wood and striped awnings, today with a good handful of people sitting at tables on the sidewalk--and a quick right at the main street gets you to Gall & Gall (pronounced cchhhalllenccchhhall), and a half-block double back gets you to the small market. Everything so close and small and personal-like. I carted the two crates of empty bottles to and the one crate of full bottles back from the store on the rear rack of Christina's two-ton dark green jalopy of a city bike. Wonderful machine. You could run it through a brick wall and maybe knock the front wheel out of true.

Tonight we celebrate Christina's birthday with dinner out and some drinks, and who knows what-all else. With the impending long wedding weekend, it's likely to be a mellow night, which is just fine.

That's all for now. Hope you're all well.