We exchanged homes with Jim & Nanny back in 2008. We looked after their cat Frau Doenitz while we were in Amsterdam. Frau Doenitz comes and goes as she wants. She roams around the roof tops and comes in to eat. One of her favorite places is to lay in the rain gutter on the front of the building and watch what goes on in the street and canal below.

Jim and Nanny are a big reason we came back to Amsterdam. We went out to dinner before they leave Sunday to spend a couple of months at their farm house in France. I know it is tough duty, but somebody has to do it.

Jim is originally from Chicago. He is a musician and moved to Amsterdam as a young guy. He retired last year from the National Ballet where he was a percussionist. Nanny teaches piano and still is among the working folks. We are staying in the apartment that her mom had lived in. 

July 6, 2012 Our Amsterdam Friends