A 2012 Amsterdam Outing

When we found out blogger friend Tor was going to be in Amsterdam for a week visiting his "sister" Sylvie, we knew we'd accept his invitation to join them for a day.  Which we did a week ago Friday!  Remember Tor from Norway?  Yes, that Tor.

[To add to the excitement, I'm trying out a new collage program passed on by blogger-friend Victoria.  All the images that follow today are from PicMonkey.  After one time, I really like it...an added option to PhotoScape!]

Anyway, our rendezvous spot in Amsterdam was the Rembrandtplein.  

So we drove to the Amsterdam AJAX soccer stadium where we parked for the day with 2 roundtrip tickets to Rembrandtplein for €8 total.  Unbeatable price if you know anything about European parking!

Rendezvous time was noon but since we were early,
we walked around and took lots of pictures, of course.

We caught the sun on his back when we arrived...and on his face when we left!

There he is, my twin brother (born 2 months early).

Sylvie is originally from Chile but has lived in Amsterdam for 25 years.

Now we're all brothers and sisters!

Both before and after spending most of our time in Vondelpark,

we walked around Amsterdam spots I almost knew by heart.  So fun.

We even ate lunch over by the Leidseplein, near the apartment from my past life...

...just a hop, skip, and a jump from Vondelpark, Amsterdam's 120-acre urban park. 

 And that was the beginning of all kinds of photo ops!

 

(click any image to enlarge, of course)

Don't you love being a little kid?! 

I couldn't resist the "toppers," of course....

 Or the gevelstenen, as we walked from here to there.

This city holds so many memories from so many years and Astrid said,

as we headed home by ourselves, that we now need to go back to Utrecht!

Some of your know we're in the middle of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship

 right now, hosted by Poland and the Ukraine.

That Friday, June 8, was the first game of the tournament,

decorated to the nines both in Amsterdam and back at our apartment complex.

Since then Holland has played and lost 3 games...and is finished!  Boo Hoo.
But as Astrid says, they're more EGO than TEAM and deserved to lose!
Hup Holland!  Zo was het.

Seasonal Dutch

First of all, there ARE tulips in Holland in the wintertime! Donica always stops at the corner flower stand when we arrive in Amsterdam and buys flowers for the apartment. You can imagine my delight when she brought home these tulips. They didn't last long and we're already on our second batch, but, HEY, WHO CARES!

Last Saturday when we were out-n-about (and saw Sinterklaas, remember?), we were down on the main shopping street in the Centruum. Yup, that's what it looks like right now.

And closer to our apartment, at the Leidseplein, everything is lit up just gorgeously. The Bulldog cafe is so appropriate for us Georgia girls, you know. Son Mark graduated from the U. of Georgia, the Bulldog school! I think of him every time I see this place.

Turn around from the last photo (Bulldog, remember?) and this is what you see across the tram tracks. Amy, remember when you and Angie sat at that outdoor cafe with all those tables and chairs and had a drink while people-watching? It's been turned into this ice-skating rink. How cool is that!

I pretend I'm that lady waving! It takes me back to high school days when we did all that ice-skating down by the river where they flooded our baseball diamond each winter. Talk about memories!

Then, to put frosting on the cake, just yesterday afternoon, just before 5p when it was almost dark, I heard the organ grinder! MY organ grinder! I couldn't believe my ears. This time it was Christmas music and yes, he stopped right outside our windows, as always. I did not throw open the sash to see what was the matter, but I did tear down the stairs with camera and Euro coin in hand. I was not disappointed.
BTW, if you squint, you can see the stand of Christmas trees there at the end of our street under the lights.

So you see, what we're missing in Atlanta right now we're NOT missing here. This is MY first December/winter in Holland (Donica has been here at this time of year many times on business the last 12 years), and I'm like a Child. Full of wonder and delight.

This is our last weekend here before we fly home for the end of this year, but more on that later....

Hope you're all enjoying this season wherever you are! PLEASE.