Thursday Oct 24, 2019 – Amsterdam

One of the reasons we don’t get out of the apartment very early is that the BBC TV show “Homes Under the Hammer” comes on at 11:00.  It is about deserted homes that are sold at auction and the people who buy them, and how they rehab them.  It is an acquired taste.  After the show we went grocery shopping and then came home t have lunch.  After lunch we set of The 9 Streets area of Amsterdam.  On the way I took a photo of Dam Square so you can see that it hasn’t changed much in over 350 years.   The 9 Streets is a shopping area (surprise) with upscale shops.  We (Sue) didn’t buy anything, we just like to see what is there.  Surprisingly many of the stores were still there that we’ve seen on previous visits.  I wonder how some of these places stay in business.  After all, how many stores selling just blue jeans do you need?  I think the sock store in the photo album might have a better chance than the store selling specialty tobacco, where you can make your own mix.  But as I often say, they didn’t ask me.  If you search for “The 9 Streets Amsterdam” in Google Maps it will outline the area with a red line, if you are interested.  Anyway, this worked for me.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that I like quotation marks, not sure why, but I do.

After seeing all that we headed to another of our favorite bars the Café Staalmeesters on the Kloveniersburgwal canal and Staalstraat in our “old neighborhood”.  It was such a nice day that we were able to sit outside and have a beer.  The inside of the Café is very small.  Once when we were here eating inside a girl’s hair caught on fire from a candle on the next table.  Her date put it out quickly so there was no real damage.  There was no such excitement today.  On our way home we stopped at the Rubber Duck store to find out who the duck with the red star on his right eye with lip stick.  It is David Bowie.  Did anyone get them all?  On the way home we passed the new Metro station on Rokin, so I had to take a photo of all the bikes at the stop.  Wait until I show the three level bike parking at Centraal Station, it is almost unbelievable.  Something to look forward to.

Thursday Oct 24 2019 Amsterdam