Another weekend

I know everyone wants to hear about my life in Amsterdam but – I just finished the most incredible book.  It’s called The Art of Racing in the Rain – written in a dog’s perspective of life.  There were tears, joy, laughter, sadness, more tears and hope.  I would recommend it especially to anyone who loves dogs, if you enjoy race cars or if you just enjoy a creative story.

Friday afternoon we went to the Rijks Museum where there is an extensive Rembrandt collection.  We saw many famous paintings of his and also Vermeer’s Milk Maiden, which had been out on loan, was also back in the museum.  All of this famous artwork you see in other mediums, i.e. books, TV, internet, etc. – it is incredible to see it live.  Then, at the end of the museum right outside of the gift shop was one more small gallery room – each year Amsterdam has a contest for artists to submit their art for a new children’s book and they had the winner and five finalists’ artwork on display along with the book that was created from the artwork.  There are so many talented artists of all mediums and all styles in the world.  We purchased the winner’s book named De Boomhaus – The Treehouse.  It is a delightful story with only artwork and no words depicting a story from some animals’ perspective of how they would play in a Treehouse.

Before we left the apartment to go to the gallery Dave said it’s not too cold out today so I put on my lighter coat and then since I had carried my umbrella all week whenever I went out, I asked him, should I bring the umbrella?  Of course, he said, no I don’t think we’ll need it!  You guessed it, as soon as we came out of the museum – raining and cold!  We quickly walked over to the tram and headed home.  On the way from the tram stop to the apartment, we picked up some soup and salami from the deli below us and came up and had soup and sandwiches for a late lunch.  The evening was quiet at home.

So the weekend was mostly work for Dave as there are two guys from Taylor here to help him with some of the set-up of the European Offices.  But in between meetings we had some fun!  Saturday morning Dave headed to the train station to pick up one of the guys from Taylor who had just flown in.  We couldn’t find a hotel room for him for Saturday night so he was our first guest in the spare room.  After Dave brought him to the apartment and got him settled, Dave and I took another trip to IKEA.  We needed sheets and a blanket for the spare room!  The afternoon was a meeting for Dave and the Taylor guys and then I met up with them for an Italian dinner at a restaurant just down the street.  Very yummy, so Dave may get that some night when I don’t feel like cooking!

Sunday we woke up and while drinking our coffee I noticed a lot of people in running clothes walking down our street.  Then barricades were put up so I got on the internet and found that Amsterdam’s largest marathon was Sunday and the course ran down the cross street right to the left of our apartment so we could watch from our baywindow.  It was quite fascinating to watch almost 20,000 runners run by your house.  Dave had an appointment to go to that afternoon so Ted, our houseguest, and myself rode the tram to the Central Station with Dave and while he was busy, Ted and I headed out to find an “Underground Market” I had heard about.  It wasn’t underground – the premise is that they don’t let large corporate companies in and the location is not disclosed until the day of.  They apparently have two each year and this was the autumn one.  It was quite interesting.  We found it in a small warehouse type of building behind Central Station right near Amstel River.  There were homemade jams and jellies, food items, wine tasting, baked goods and all kinds of other tasty treats.  It was very small but a lot of fun.  Ted is a “foodie” like me so he was much more interested than Dave would have been!  Dave met us there and we ended up walking back up to the Station and headed back towards the hotel where the other Taylor guy was staying and we had an early dinner – Greek food this time.  Then headed back to the apartment, and on the way we got Ted settled into his hotel for the rest of his stay.  When we arrived at the apartment we started Skyping friends and family – I love Skype!  First we talked to Gabriel at our house and we got to see Tank!  Then, we talked to my friend, Corinne, then my sister and brother-in-law and then my mom.  However, poor mom couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t hear us – she emailed this morning and said she thought she had her speakers on but realized they weren’t.  Next time she will be able to see and hear us! Dave had one more meeting to go to and while he was gone I got to Skype with Rachel and Joaquin.  It was good to see everyone’s faces and get to talk to them.  If you have friends or loved ones that are far distant-wise from you and you have never used Skype – you are missing out!  Try it, you’ll like it!

Dave is very busy this week and I will keep myself busy cleaning, reading, doing bookwork for him, taking walks and shopping.  I may meet up with some of the women I met at the newcomer’s coffee last week also.  We will see what the week will bring.

Hugs to all!