Out for Dinner

Amsterdam has an abundance of good restaurants, so one night after craving dumplings for the last 3 days, we made our way over to the Good Fortune Restaurant. We got the window seat.

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I was too hungry to get a photograph of the first course, and of course that was when I had the dumplings I’d been craving. We had Gyoza, a Japanese style chicken dumpling, and some steamed pork buns which are one of my favourites!

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For my mains I ordered Peking Duck on noodles, and it was one of the best dishes I’ve had in ages! Himself had Cuttlefish for starters and then a Szechuan dish with rice.

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As you can tell by how little remains, it was delicious and we enjoyed it immensely!

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And no washing up!

Football Season

This has been an eye opener.
It’s a bit like State of Origin, only, it goes for more than three games.
Most of the streets are decorated in some manner. Some more than others.
The Orange is back on.

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Then there’s what they’ve done to Dam Square …

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It is now host to “Beach Football” or Sand Soccer as I have newly dubbed it.

This takes up valuable real estate that could be filled with living statues!

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My favourites so far have been the White Rabbit, Death, Freddy Krueger, and Kali! Though, one day I did spy Batman …

Himself had a birthday

Himself had a birthday. We decided that in honour of this occasion, we would go somewhere we hadn’t been yet; Leidseplein!

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With a high concentration of bars, pubs, clubs, and cafes, we knew we’d be sure to find something that suited us.

The first place that had looked likely in an online search provided us with pre-dinner drinks.

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Not the cocktails we were hoping for, but it was the poor nervous barmans first night on the job and he was a touch clueless. Sweet, but clueless. By the way, that is how you get mixed drinks in Amsterdam. If you’re lucky it’s the liquor (vodka) in one glass and a bottle of what you decide to mix it with. If you’re unlucky it’s a glass of each. They turn up as 4 separate items on the receipt too!

We were the only patron in that bar and it was 8:30. It was also a Tuesday night. We shuffled on.

ambling up the road a bit we stumbled across an Italian Trattoria. You’d think after Leichhardt we would have had enough Italian food, but in we went. Himself likes Italian!

We began with a wine selection

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Then antipasto

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Followed by calamari fritti

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And as usual, we were too busy eating it to get a photo of the veal saltimbocca. (Veal with prosciutto and cheese) Trust me, it was delicious.

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We were the third couple in there. Of the other two, one were English tourists, and the other were American tourists, and as we were leaving another group of Americans came in for pizza.

The two staff who were on seemed very taken with the fact that we were practicing our overly rusty Italian on them. We all had fun. 🙂

The fountain outside hotel Americana puts on a good show too.

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Then it was time to take in the final sights as we waited for the tram to take us home.

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Thank you Leidseplein, it was a truly lovely evening.

And happy Birthday Himself. May the adventures only continue My Love. *smoochies*

Loving where we live

So much has happened, and continues to happen. Yet it’s all settling down and shuffling itself into a routine now. We both have local mobile numbers and Skype has been set up to keep in touch with those slightly further away.

Letters and postcards are being, and have been, sent to people we love, and with the abundance of beautiful cards available, will continue to be sent too! If you’re so inclined to return the gesture, leave me a message and I’ll email you our postal address! 😉

Himself heads off to the office each day, while I maintain house & home, and work at having merchandise in my store before it re-opens.

Things that continue to take my breath away and bring massive grins of disbelief to my face when I see them are the swans floating down the canals in the centre of town. Doing what swans do, just swanning around. Getting in the way of the boats.

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There are so many little alleys to explore, all with hidden secrets and gems to be discovered.

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So many times (to the frustration of Himself) we’ll be powering at speed down a street and I’ll stop and veer off to one side to get a closer look at a marionette,

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some intricate masks,

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or a shop where the entire theme is ROOD! (red) (I’ll take one of everything!!!)

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I could spend a lifetime exploring these streets. Everyday there is something new and different to find, explore, and experience.

Oh! And I’ve been knitting too! I’m finally on the edging of the shawl I began on Boxing Day back in Robinsons Bay!

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Just 44 more repeats to go!

Summer Evenings

Suddenly we woke up one morning and it was Summer. We’ve had days of high twenties (Celcius), warm breezes, and the light doesn’t really go anywhere until 10pm.

In short, the perfect weather to sit in a cafe, by the side of a canal, have a beer, and watch the canal traffic try and navigate their way around each other.

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Welcome to Summer in Amsterdam!