We met through our dear friend Simon, who is wonderful in so many ways, we have missed him quite a few times today. But I have never had the pleasure of seeing Phiroze all by myself, as the little time he spends in Australia we all have to share him so we get together with a big group. He is never actually in one place for very long because he travels a ridiculous amount (at least three quarter of the year) for his work. I struck the dumb luck to be in Amsterdam just as Phiroze is spending more than a day or two here for the first time since he moved here.
Phiroze, to me, and to many of his friends in Australia, is like an elusive, mythical creature of epic proportion, and when he is in town, we all flock to see him. He is well spoken, witty, charming, super generous, and just totally loveable. He has an amazingly exciting unique job. He has a very impressive tool belt from which he could magic any object that might be required at any time. He is like MacGyver from the next century with all his lovely Apple gadgets! It wouldn't surprise me if he could build a raft out of next to nothing and sail me (navigating the waters with his iPhone) to safety if there was a need. When I told him this morning that I had left my iPod charger plug back in Elsendorp, he produced one from his small pack and told me he that had two more when I said he might need it himself...
We started with a lovely stroll in the late morning sun along the Prinsengracht, to enjoy a very delicious and big lunch. It was delightful to speak English again, it does flow much more naturally from my mouth these days than Dutch, I'm sorry to say... especially when talking to a friend who's so similar to me that we discovered today that we must be related somehow.We decided we'd walk around a bit further into the city and I asked him to join me on my quest to find the supposed best coffee in Amsterdam. The weather was absolutely delightful all day and we noticed a lot of people wearing orange soccer t shirts.
Just as we're about to hop on the 25 tram (this, we realise, is the tram to all exciting places), we noticed a couple stopping on Segways just near us and Phiroze told me he loves those things and asked the couple if they were for hire somewhere. They told us there was a Segway shop just near the Passenger Terminal, so we delayed the coffee quest for a moment to go see if we could maybe hire them or go on a little tour on them. We felt like doing something crazy and fun like that. Unfortunately, the place was shut, and after a phone call we found out it wasn't going to open at all today. A bit of a bummer, but I'm sure Phiroze will get to ride a Segway again sooner or later. So we had a quick walk through the Muziek Gebouw aan 't IJ which was right near it, and then got on the 25 tram to continue my coffee quest.
Our day was much aided by Phiroze's iPhone with its snazzy google map app and such - and we found the coffee shop very easily. The place was just awesome! It's called Two for Joy Coffee and the coffee there was so good I didn't even need to put sugar in it (I nearly always put sugar in my coffee)! It may well have been the best coffee I've had in Europe ever! There was wifi, too and great music, a lovely atmosphere and an appealing menu. I may very well ride my bike there for breakfast tomorrow, the dark chocolate Granola seems quite the right thing to accompany a morning cappuccino... It really raised my spirits finding that place, and I was already feeling pretty chirpy being able to hang out with a lovely friend on a beautiful day. Of course, I had to order another coffee...it wasn't as good as the first (it nearly never is!) but it was still very good.
We used the place's wifi and Phiroze's iPad and longing for reasons to procrastinate further to look up a movie we could watch together. It turned out to be Rango, at the Pathé at the Amsterdam Arena. We took a cab there, the driver was quite amusing and we got there just in time for the movie. The amount of soccer fans seemed quite concentrated there as our driver had told us the Dutch were playing Hungary at the Arena today. A movie isn't a movie without a massive bucket of popcorn and a (cherry) Coke (more caffeine, yes) and it was a funny film, it seemed to fit the mood just right. We almost watched another movie, but nothing quite grabbed out interest enough and the weather was just a little too lovely to lock ourselves away for another few hours.
We very gladly took the Metro back into Amsterdam, as the amount of loud, slightly obnoxious soccer fans that came out of the station doors was quite frightening. When we got back into the city, Phiroze had decided there was no more point in trying to do any work today, so we might as well do something more fun and exciting than go home. Unfortunately, I know nothing exciting to do in Amsterdam, and as both Phiroze and I are not into alcohol, drugs or visiting the right light district, one could say the city of sin might be a little wasted on us. However, I called my sister for advice and she totally hit the money shot when she suggested visiting the bar at the top of the Okura hotel, drinking a mocktail and watching the sun go down and the night lights come on. The trusty 25 tram was once again the way to happy times.
It was the perfect setting to continue our wonderful day-long conversation, the view was amazing, the sky slightly hazy, the bar quiet with nice music and our mocktails were delicious. We spent quite a long time there, and we couldn't follow up my sister's other suggestion to visit the Toomler Comedy club as it was quite late and nothing seemed to be on there on a Tuesday night. Going out dancing was another thought that crossed our minds, but as we decided that tomorrow is definitely work time, we decided to tram it home.
Today will go down into my happy memory bank as one of those amazing days where you feel anything is possible and the world just loves you and you love the world right back for being friggin' awesome and giving you a wonderful life. Amsterdam was such a beautiful setting for today, I got to admire some of her charming gables and leaning old houses and generally see a bit of her like a proper tourist. I will post a photo or two from today tomorrow, as they're on Phiroze's camera.
For now, I'm going to try and get a bit of sleep - surely once I lay down, my head will realise that perhaps my body would like a rest.
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