Friday Night in Amsterdam

We have just returned home from our 5 day excursion to Amsterdam.  What a wonderful getaway!  I scooped Jeri up from the office Friday afternoon, and we hopped on a little plane that was to take us across the water to The Netherlands.  It seemed impossible to fathom before we departed, but yes, the flight only took 45 minutes.  As soon as we took off, we were preparing for landing.  Jeri and I read through our Amsterdam guidebook on the short trip over, and discovered quite a few wonderful secrets about this city.  To our amazement, the population is about 700,000-- and the number of bicycles in the city is approximately 650,000!  You really had to see it to believe it.  We were shocked as our taxi (the only car on the street) pulled up to the hotel, and we had to dodge cyclists as we crossed the street.  The hotel was beautiful, and my sweet girl had arranged for us to have a room overlooking the canal.  

After we unpacked, Jeri was sure to get us right to the gym.  She is so good!  We did a quick workout, and then got back outside to explore the city as evening approached.  It turns out that we were staying a block from the church under which Rembrandt was buried.

We used this church as our point of reference, as we discovered from our reading that the one and only gay monument that exists in all the world was right there.  Yes, in Amsterdam, half a block from our hotel, on the grounds of this beautiful church, lies the Homomonument.  It is made up of 3 large marble pink triangles that are embedded into the stone and water.  The pink triangle was chosen because gay people were forced to wear a pink triangle patch on their clothing during the holocaust.

Here we are, happily taking our own picture in front of the triangle embedded into the wall of the canal.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a beer at one of the many outdoor tables that line the canals.  The sunset was perfect, the company of my love was divine, and the beer was interesting...

Oddly enough, we had great Indian food for dinner.  This was ironic, being that London is supposed to have fantastic Indian food, and yet we still have not gone out to an Indian restaurant there.  Amsterdam is known for not having good Indian, and yet we had a spectacular meal.  That being said, Jeri did comment that my homemade super spicy tikka masala reigns supreme.  I have happily cooked this for dinner quite a few times now upon her request.

We walked home stuffed and satisfied, and were surprised by the silence as we drifted off to sleep.  Even though we were right in the heart of the city, there was no noise at night.

Well, occasionally we would hear a bicycle bell--

Amy