Amsterdam revisited

I am in the Westerpark, having lunch with Phizz in the sun. Yes, the sun! We (Well, I and many other Dutchies) sorely missed said burning ball in the sky yesterday, or rather, the last few weeks or so. It's meant to be summer, but yesterday it was rediculously wintery. Same weather here as in Melbourne. And just so incredibly wet!

Today, it's bikes, coffee and sunshine. Sort of sunshine. There's meant to be rain later, but for now it's good.

I've been in Amsterdam since last wednesday, which already seems like ages ago. But I've seen many lovely friends since then and I love it. Wednesday Renée and I stayed at Stella's cute little apartment together after eating pancakes for dinner and going for a very big walk to the Vondelpark in the nice evening air. It was a lovely night, we chatted for hours at night after which I tried to sleep through the buzzing mozzies and their relentless attack on my tasty, tasty blood. Renée is clearly not as tasty as I am as I woke up with 8 bites on me and she woke up with none. We had a nice quiet morning, enjoyed delicious breakfast and coffee at Screaming Beans and took a stroll into town.

After saying goodbye to Renée who had to get to work, I walked to the station to pick up my lovely Norwegian friend Sverre who I hadn't seen since 2008. Sverre and I studied together in Australia back in 2004-2005, and we were good pals, we'd go on little adventures with our friend Simon and drink coffees together. So it was really nice to see him again - we walked into town, had another coffee at Screaming Beans and dropped his bag off at my sister's place where we were staying. We had a nice lunch and wandered all around the 9 streets area (which is basically where my sister lives) and got rained on quite badly in the afternoon but had an overall nice day. Dinner was delicious at Palladio, an Italian restaurant nearby, and afterwards we went to have dessert (wine) at Envy which was amazing. My dessert consisted of many different varieties of vanilla delicacies combined with cherry diliciousosity.

Friday we had an amazing big, organic breakfast at a place called Buffet van Odette and then went to hire a bicycle for Sverre so we could ride around Amsterdam together. I had taken my bike on the train from Elsendorp and it now lives in Amsterdam until I go back to Australia. We had a lovely cycling day, we rode all around the Vondelpark, then had a browse at the shops on de Utrechtse straat and a nice coffee at Two for Joy, a really nice coffee. The barista was super nice and fun, he brought over the milk jug for me to test the heat of the milk and the test the scent, as I had made a big point of asking for warm milk and not hot milk. The Dutch like their milky coffees really hot as they like to chat while drinking and want their coffee to stay warm the whole time. But when you overheat milk (boil it), it loses its sweetness, and the coffee just isn't as nice. Anyway, that coffee was great.

After coffee we rode to the Westerpark and rode around, but then the weather started to turn so we made our way back towards the city to return the bike, and because Sverre was going to get an evening train to Groningen we didn't want to make it too late. As we we stopped at some shops on the way, his phone starting ringing and text messages suddenly kept coming fast and strong. That's how we found out there had been a bomb in Oslo, as friends and family were worried about Sverre, who works for the Norwegian government about 100 metres from the bomb site. We were in shock and amazed at what happened, and the rest of the evening he received many texts and calls. I felt sad and worried about the bomb; two confirmed dead and several wounded in Oslo, not knowing it was only a decoy for the massacre on the island of Utoya. It has shocked me deeply and I am still feeling very unsettled about it all.

We had some nice sushi and then I put Sverre on the train to Groningen, after which I caught up with Stella and Phizz, and Vincent joined us later too. Phizz and I headed home as Stella and Vincent went for dinner - and we watched an awesome French film called Heartbreaker which made me forget my anxiety for a little while.

Saturday I had made a long-booked date with Mary Poppins, my friend Mel, My mum and her friend Christine. But I hadn't remembered to take theatre-going clothes with me, so Phizz suggested we go into town to maybe get something more suitable than jeans and sneakers - though for a musical like Mary Poppins they would have been acceptable attire. But I wanted to dress up, as I hadn't made myself pretty in quite a while. So when I got into the first store, dread struck me as I am not good buying outfits (under pressure, or otherwise) and especially not in a city I don't know. So I called in my emergency stylist: my sister Stella. She met us in no time and told me that an outfit starts with shoes. Then I told her all I had were my sneakers, and that I had asked Mum to bring my boots from home, just in case. But we found some really cute heels which she had lots of cool outfits to wear with, so we took them home and I tried them all on, until I had a very cute but also warm outfit, as the weather was seriously crap. It is so fantastically awesome to have my sister only a phone call away. I am really going to miss having her close when I go back to Australia.

After a nice afternoon with my sister and Phizz, my friend Mel came and picked me up and we drove in the pouring rain to Scheveningen where the musical is being performed. We met Mum and Christine in the lobby of the lovely Kurhaus hotel (where Phizz and I had a fabulous time a month or two ago) and enjoyed a late afternoon tea and some dinner.  It was very nice to be out and to chat with some lovely ladies in the conservatory, while the rain lashed the windows outside and the sea was wild and windswept. We indulged in lovely antipasto platters and then cakes after. The walk across the square to the theater in the pouring rain on five inch stilettos was, however, no piece of cake. I almost fell but luckily Mel was right next to me and I latched onto her just in time while my ankles kept buckling another few steps - I felt really silly as it was very crowded with musical-goers, and I was the only one all dressed up and wearing very unsensible shoes! But I did look very nice.

The musical itself was awesome, I was a bit disappointed a few weeks ago when I realised that the musical would, of course, be in Dutch and I have only ever known and loved it in English. But I was amused and entertained by the translations and it was a very nice evening out altogether. I was home just before midnight, unlike a certain fairytale princess, and thus managed to keep my shoes on while ascending the stairs to Phizz's place.

Sunday was shockingly wintery and miserably rainy, so we planned a movie or three and I met Emily for lunch in town, which was lovely, after which Phizz and I caught Harry Potter in 3D at the cinema. As a Harry Potter fan I have to say I was anticipating the Ron-Hermoine kiss more than the defeat of Voldermort, and I'm sorry to say I found the moment of the kiss a bit awkwardly chosen, but I don't remember if that's how it was in the book or not. Been a few years since I read the HP books, so I think I will re-read all seven of them consecutively when I get back to Australia.

Anyway, after the movie we discovered a fabulous Sushi place around the corner from the cinema and ordered some delicious sushi to take home and snacked on warm Edamame (Japanese salted beans) as we walked through wet and miserable but tourist-ridden Amsterdam. Home we settled on the couch and watched Kong Fu Panda in anticipation of going to see Kong Fu Panda 2 in 3D soon and ate our sushi. Then we ended the evening with a very corny and therefore very amusing movie called Gigli. Movies, Lunch with Emily, and Sushi on the couch made for a very lovely rainy Sunday.

Today is Monday, and we took it quite easy, Phizz hired a bike for a week so we can ride places together, it really is the best way to get around Amsterdam and since the rain is hopefully mostly behind us it should be great to ride bikes everywhere. My bike is currently being fitted with a 'bakkersrek' (baker's rack) at the front, like a lot of Dutch bikes have. I like the look and hopefully it'll be convenient too. I love bikes!

I returned Stella's outfits to her place just now and fixed the hallway light as I was there, and I might see her for dinner tonight or coffee tomorrow, and Sverre might return to Amsterdam tonight or tomorrow as well. I have a cocktail night planned with Emily and Phizz for Thursday, and this weekend Phizz, Mum and myself are driving south to enjoy the countryside and also see some family.

Lots of fun ahead. I will try and write more again. I've missed blogging. See you soon!