Amsterdam .. Esra's pictures part 3

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Something appears to be really funny. It's probably me.
Oh my god, Kory's captions are HIL-AAAA-Rious!!!! Hooo! Oh, hey, look out the window. it's a bridge! see what I mean? hilaaarious.
The girls pose it up in the houseboat. Hey look, it's still the bridge outside! ok, fine - bridges aren't funny.
In Vondelpark. I'd give your... lessee.. what do you have left? umm... let's go with your right boob, y'know.. for symmetry... to be there right now.


Duckies.
Esra eats alien fruit that she first had in Malaysia (but which I now associate with Amsterdam) - rambutan - ever heard of it? Good stuff.

Hay-Ohhh. the one armed bandit snaps a blurry-but-otherwise-perfect-one-arm-er. Damn you're good, One Armed Bandit.
These ducks swam away from me in the middle of a conversation.
R-UUUUUDE!



Esra had to hold me back from jumping in and kicking their asses. I do not take social snubs lightly. nice reflection, eh?

I was told later that Dutch water conducts reflection better than American waters. The person who told me this wore a very official looking white suit with arm straps, so I was inclined to believe him.




Esra hides in almost plain sight in the Vondelpark rose garden.


Let's see... trading... your... how'bout your 401k. Yes.. your 401k to be there right now.



I play chef making brussel sprouts with Jutterje (tastes like a refined perfection of Jager) and balsamic vinegar and .. 3 other dishes, none of which rocked the house(boat) like the brussel sprouts.

Sandy's laughing. I must have said something hilarious.

Dylan waits for food and photos.

And photos of food. and us. delicious delicious us.
Marisa demonstrates the fine Dutch art of of venetian blind raising.




Papa (or mama?) mallard takes the long voyage across the canal to look cute & score more food from us.


the view out the front of the houseboat. hey, look! the bridge.

juggling is considered the sport of kings in Holland.

Esra's perfect day - kickin' back by the canal, beer in hand (well.. close to hand), reading, relaxing, sunning. Most importantly, sunning.



I have nothing funny to say here. Only your kidneys to trade.


the little paddleboats are the bumbling-tourists of the canal waters. Big yet nimble canal boats raider shoulder them aside with often comical results (to me, probably frightful results to the paddleboaters)



Some paddeboaters just give up and steer for the walls. the rental companies come get them at the end of the day.




Old and new. - ... make that new and old. Yes, that building was built in 1724.

I think this was my favorite houseboat of the canal cruise. not visible to the left is probably another 50 feet worth of (the same) houseboat. Yeah. hee-uuge.




the Amstel river leading into Amsterdam and the canal cruise. even the boring stuff is beautiful. and not boring.





3 or 4 types of building architecture, side by side.




Bridges. pretty.



Artsy photo taking sometimes demands that safety NOT come first. (I am hanging out the side of the boat here)


built in 1590. repeat: 1590


Canal cruise sunset(ish).


Esra peeps in on Marisa who unlike a good victim of peeping-Tom-ery, waves enthusiastically at us.


At the front door of our houseboat, looking left. you're seriously running out of body parts.


Awwww. Friends.


A great pic, if I do say so myself even if I didn't take it myself even if it looks like I might have one armed it myself.

Amsterdam .. Esra's pictures part 2

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Raymond took us out to an amazing Indonesian dinner. Good lord it was good.

After dinner, we headed back to the bar that ended up being across the street from our houseboat & had a drink. There was a guy playing keyboard with a lady (not this one pictured) singing - normally, public singing is enough to annoy me right out of a place.. the fact that it was all in Dutch just made it... cute. Oh and we were nicely buzzed on delicious beers. This lady (pictured) took the mic in between songs and with a little "do you know ___?" to the keyboardist, belted out some awesome tunes. Here, she's singing a song about Amsterdam.. coincidentally called "En Amsterdam".


One of a million billion amazing churches we ran across.

Speaking of churches.. these automats were my holy shrine to deliciousness. See all those little windows? They all contain tastiness! All of them. Get some coins and go nuts.


Esra tries her hand at guessing what the hell she's about to eat. She proclaimed the verdict to be: Scrumptious.

The one-armed bandit, now refreshed by automatty goodness, springs into rare form - capturing in the picture everything he intended to.



No, just one more! no, it's ok, really. We've done so much walking! we're gonna ... Hey, look over there - something distracting! [plink go the coins!]
As if to prove how small Amsterdam is (or how much we really walked last time I was here).. I found another of my well-remembered places. It's not 100% clear, but that's a Moby-Dick-ish (hee hee) whale planter.

The cool shopping road leading from cheese shop to the whale.

Esra makes a friend near the whale.

I have no pants on in this photo. Shhhhh!!

Window shutters! it doesn't get much more Dutch than this.


A piece of one of the few moveable bridges (near our houseboat).
Ok, this isnt the real poezenboat - (which just got towed away, it seems cats dont pay rent too well) - sidenote, there's a lotta cats in Amsterdam. people let 'em roam around, it's awesome (for me)


All over Amsterdam, buildings will often have a graphic sign placed on the stone placed either on the house's front gable or lower (here) that told a quick tale of what that family might have done for a living. This family apparently made horses.


Our favorite tree, on the way to & from Hennie's place.


Kickin' it canal-side.





Looking super cool, canal-side.

Esra calls upon the power of the sun.
I would give your left boob to be right there right now.
Rembrantplein (park)

Esra tried to steal this statue but settled on a different one.

outside the Rijksmuseum Oh wait, that's me!


Esra strikes the statue's pose.














I am (sterdam) kinda annoyed 'cause I had to pose and pose again for 5 full minutes so Esra could get the perfect shot that wasn't perfect. I swear, woman! I love ya but just take the damn photo!
I made Esra backtrack about 10 blocks so she could take a picture of this cool statue I ran across.


"We've secretly replaced all Dutch flowers with these wooden flowers.. let's see if they notice!"

So many churches, they grow on trees! HA! Ah. ha. ... ha. ha ha. umm... ....ha?

Still life with cafe accoutrements
Many believe this to be a monument to Amsterdam's sex industry (no really, they do). It's actually the national monument to the victims of WWII. It just.. um.. happens to look like ... well... yeah.
Pictured to the right is the Hotel Krasnapolsky
In that hotel is the Winter Gardens.. the glass roof pictured here.
And hooooooo! who's got the artsy photoness goin' on??? The camera is actually upside down & pointed at a huge mirror. One armed photo mastery!! Holllllannnnd!