Beautiful flowers of all types at the Saturday Market
Westerkerk Church as seen from one of the side streets
Westerkerk Church, next door to the Anne Frank House
We ended up back at the Anne Frank House and the line was double what it was yesterday. We got to do inside the Westerkerk Church - a very plain structure compared to many of the elaborate cathedrals in Europe. A chamber group was practicing with a singer and we listened for a while.
We went back to the Homomonument to read the inscription. The monument is actually in 3 parts. A triangle on the water representing "the past", a triangle at ground level by the street representing "the present", and a triangle raised into the air representing "the future". Each of the triangles is connected to the others by marble in the roadway and sidewalk.
The Past
The Present
and The Future!
We stopped at a small café by a canal for lunch. It took quite a while to get served which makes Tim very anxious, but it was relaxing and enjoyable. I had a great bowl of tomato soup and a salad. The people watching was fun. We walked back by the Royal Palace and then to the hotel where we are to meet our friend Hans at 2:30. There is a small "red light district" just down the street from our hotel and some of the girls are already working.
There is also a very unusual restaurant across from our hotel, the Renaissance. The building is leaving both forward and to the side - WAY forward. The picture doesn't really show the perspective, but I can't believe that the building is still standing. Not sure I want to go into that building!
The crooked building across from our hotel - leaning forward and to the side!
We freshened up and met Hans and his husband Adri in the hotel lobby. It was good to see Hans again after 15 years. He and Adri married 2 years ago and they explained that the first gay marriage in the world was on April 1, 2000 in Amsterdam and they were there. They took us on a walking tour of a lot of the city - such a great walking city. We made a semi-circular counterclockwise loop of the city - ending up at the Amsterdam Opera, near the Hermitage Amsterdam Museum. There was another flea market just ending outside the Opera. We stopped at Rembrandtplein for a drink and enjoy the scenery and conversation. Hans and Adri gave us lots of pointers of things to see and do.
Larry, Tim, and Adri roaming the streets of Amsterdam
Enjoying wine and 'bitter balls' at a café near Rembrantplein with Hans and Adri
A selfie taken of Larry and Hans
Another "selfie" with Larry, Adri, Hans, and Tim - Amsterdam September 2014
About 6 Hans and Adri headed back to Central Station to go home to Zoetermeer (The Sweet Lake) which is a suburb of The Haig. We hope they will come to visit us in FLL.
It got a reservation for dinner at Savini, an Italian restaurant just down the street from our hotel. We have noticed that dinner reservations are mandatory as the restaurants fill up. We tried to eat at Zaza tonight but they were fully booked so I made a reservation for Tuesday online.
Savini was good, nothing spectacular, but good Italian. After a large meal, we decided to walk off dinner so we headed for the red-light district. My, oh my! It was MOBBED and the red light windows were busy. There were live sex shows too, so this is an "anything goes" area. We walked around a while and then headed back to the hotel about 11 for more sleep. We didn't get a nap today but hey, we slept so late! No trouble getting to sleep. Another fun day in Amsterdam.
No comments:
Post a Comment