My weekend started with welcoming my Tante Pien ( Aunt Brigitta) in town, along with my little cousin, Dita, to town.
It was really nice to see them. We went walking around to the nine canal district, had dinner in Dam Sqaure, and then on Saturday we went shopping in Leidsestraat, and then went for a day trip to Valderdam, a tiny fishing/resort village about 20 minutes by bus from Amsterdam.
My auntie was a young and up coming hot lawyer in Indo in her early thirties (she's now a hot, in demand commercial lawyer in Indo) where she was secondered to Amsterdam and New York City for six months at a time. Wow. Seriously cool achievements under her belt.
She lived here in the Old South, and ate Febo (vending machine fried food) and knows the city pretty well. It's amazing the stories that people never tell you until you get some one on one time with them.
My auntie took me to this shop called Pauw, which is a classic dutch brand, everything is handmade, hand sewn, and beautifully classic in design.
I fell in love with a coat and a dress.
The coat was 715 Euros. The dress was 450 Euros. I left the store heartbroken that neither were making it to my wardrobe.
In Volderdam, we had our photo taken in traditional dutch costumes. Hilarious. I loved every tacky minute of it. Undecided if I will post the photos on facebook or if I will just save it for my christmas card this year....
It was so nice to see them, and hang out with some family.
Saturday night, Laura and I went to this amazing restaurant in Amsterdam North (can't remember the name...) I had leg of duck with potatoes, cabbage and a truffle jus, and she had a vegetable bake thingy. Yummmmmm. Then we went for drinks in our favourite bar called Soundgarden in the West, where we ran into friends, Sam and Timur. After a few wines there, we went to a birthday party at a bar near the Anne Frank house in the West, called Werck (Work).
Couldn't find the birthday girl, but the music was pumping and Laura and I were ecstatic to find somewhere to dance to, because we had been hanging out to go dancing for ages! It reminded me of the Lion on a Sunday night, or the Regatta pub in Brisbane on a Sunday night, which is a VERY rare atmosphere here. It's usually cosy little brown bars, or just large superclubs....
After a while, the music went downhill into bad club music, so I left to meet the Chefs from my old restaurant, at a night bar called Buurvrouw in the Centre, where we hung and drank and Laura met us later. We cycled home to my house together at some ungodly hour.
On Sunday, Laura and I slept in and hung out at my place, and at 4pm dragged our asses out of bed to cycle to a cafe called Cafe Thijssen in Jordaan, for Gluhwein, and tea and Pea and Ham Soup! ( yes, I like something with peas in it - mind you they are split peas, not real peas! Mmmmmmm Gezellig AND Lekker!!!!) Not before we checked out the big fair complete with Ferris Wheel, and Double Ranger ride, Fairy Floss and Waffles in the middle of Dam Square. This city never ceases to amaze me - overnight a carnival just appears in the middle of the city.
In a fortnight, I'm meeting my sister in London, and then the next weekend, I am off to Berlin...
Phew. I don't know if I am going to be able to cope not being in Amsterdam for 2 whole weekends.... I might suffer from separation anxiety....
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