Today was the last day to explore and really be with Amsterdam. I kind of want to go home and I kind of want to stay here. I miss people in Seattle, and I am aware that I have only experienced a small slice of the whole Amsterdam Pie. I am also really not looking forward to the jet lag, ugh!

(Almost the) Last Breakfast in Amsterdam
We got up around 9am knowing that the breakfast place we have chosen is open at 10am. We get there close 10am. I did not bring my umbrella and 1/2 way to this place ( only 6 blocks or so from the houseboat) it starts to hail. I am upset about how wet and cold I get. We get to our lovely Mediterranean deli owned by a beautiful man and his son. Jim and i had lunch here yesterday. Jim had a lamb brookjie ( sandwich ) with garlic sauce. I had this little lamb meatloaf patty and something that was a cross between a croissant and stromboli. Mushrooms, peppers and onions on a thin crust, like a pizza, but rolled up like a burrito and then baked. Delicious!

Wow, I really want to finish this post but I’m in the houseboat and my feet are freezing. I have socks on and I turned the heat all the way up but it is not making a significant difference. I will put a towel on the floor and if that works, I’ll keep writing otherwise it will have to wait until i get home.

Okay there is a towel on the floor and I’m still cold so we’ll see how long this lasts.

Back in the deli Jim and i are having a lovely conversation with the owner, most of it translated by his 20 something son. I have asked where to get all these lovely little coffee spoons that they have everywhere. The guy actually goes in the back of his store and comes back in a few minutes with spoons. He offers me the spoons and they are some really lovely ones with inlays and designs. Jim and i explain that we need ugly dirty spoons for an art project. We tell him we are going to Albert Cuyptmart and he tells us where to buy them inexpensively. After chocolate croissants and tea we go 3 doors further up the street to a lovely chocolate shop. I am not going to tell you what I got because i want to surprise several people. Suffice it to say that I spent an unreasonable amount of money on an unreasonable amount of chocolate. Yum! We go into a few discount clothing stores and get some stuff. Kristen is going to love me when she sees what I got her !!! We realize we have too much stuff to carry and i still want my umbrella. Jim keeps looking at shoes and i head back to the houseboat. I unload and am ready to leave again but no Jimbo. I decide to leave anyway and meet him on the path. I communicate that i am going to go to the graveyard down the street to take pictures. Jim will meet me at the Tram stop.

The graveyard is very old and lovely. There are headstones from 1901 and up. Vines everywhere. I take a lot of pictures. There is a young couple eating lunch. There bikes are parked in a space between trees that leads on into the horizon, a field, a pond and an incredible sky with wonderful cloud formations. I take a lot of pictures. I am frustrated with the flash. I want to ask David to teach me more about cameras soon, so i can achieve the results i want. I meet a Dutch biology teacher who tells me what a special place it is. he comes there on his horse a lot. Today he is just on a bike. He tells me about the artist who lives in the house on the property. he tells me there is a book coming out about the graveyard early in 2007. he tells me about the 800 apartment complex being built across the Schnikel canal and the roadway they are going to put in between the houseboat we are staying in and the graveyard. I am sad about all of this. I leave and walk to the Hoofenstraat square. Jim finds me and we go to Albert Cuypmarkt.

Albert Cuypmarkt

The biggest and oldest outdoor market in Amsterdam is 101years old. Jim and I have a lot of fun and buy stuff. Jim eats raw herring with onions. The idea of it grosses me out but I try some. Jim reminds me how much i like sushi and I realize i am being ridiculous. I may write more about what happened at this market when i get home. I do not want to tell the people I got stuff for what I got them. I went to the spoon store and bought 120 small caffe spoons for 20 euro. This is a great deal. I now have enough spoons for 120 more copies of my Dirty Spoon chapbook. They are the perfect size! This makes me incredibly happy! Jim and I leave the market 2 hours after arriving. We take a Tram to Central Station. We think we are going to the museum of Modern art called the Stijlmuseum ( this means Style). When we get there we don’t wanna go anymore. We decide to split up and keep shopping. I go to a store called “Old Man” I can’t tell you what i got yet there. What a tease I am. I realize i look like an outrageous ( my hat and scarf are “very dramatic” as one of the lesbians commented), middle aged tourist from America. I realize that I am an outrageous middle aged tourist from America, and “so what?”

I get on a #2 Tram and go back to the square by the houseboat. i decide I want to go to a pub and have a beer and some authentic Dutch food. I have two Amstel Bock dark beers and a wonderful meal with beans and sausage and a fried egg, there are also pickle slices and pickled pearl onions. I enjoy it. When i comment to the waitress how everywhere I have gone there has been American music she puts on some traditional Dutch music ( see how accommodating they are here?).

I get home and Jim is there already watching TV. He is surprised I arrived after him. he is wanting to get ready for the palm reading he is doing at 9pm. He met a guy on line the other night and arranged to meet him and his two friends for dinner. I decide I want to go to the Deco Sauna and get a massage. We both pack our bags first. We leave together on the tram and split after two stops. I am anxious that I don’t have enough money so I get off at the Dam where I know there is a money machine. I get back on the tram for another stop and head to the Deco Spa. I find it adter some struggle. It is on a residential street ( like most of the coolest things are). It just has a tiny sign. I walk down and enter the door. I am greeted by a nose full of fragrant moist air. It is amazing in here. Real Art Deco. Go see the website, you’ll be amazed www.decosauna.nl

As it turns out getting on and off the tram for the money was a mistake. i had enough money and They close at 11pm which means people stop being in the sauna and getting massages at 10:30. I have arrived at 10:20 . She won’t let me in. She gives me the name of another sauna and says they are open til midnight. i go as fast as i can across two more canals and cobblestone streets. The Sauna Kaizer is also closed and only open to men from 7pm-Midnight anyway. oh poop! Now i am tired and disappointed. I decide to stop and rest and look around and just take in what is there. I drink in my surroundings. I take a few more pictures. I walk back to the kafe where Jim and I ate our first meal here last Thursday. I go in and notice there is a green man etched into the glass on the front door. I sit and drink two hot chocolates with kahlua. I talk to the bartenders. This bar is 250 years old. It is beautiful. The wood is so worn and dark. It is so comfortable. They have lit a candle at my little table. I take some notes for my blog entries. I leave slowly and get on the Tram. It is the last Tram i will take in Amsterdam. I come to the houseboat and start writing to you.

Goodnight! See some of you this weekend. Love, Teri