Amsterdam, Netherlands August 22nd - August 25th, 2008

My lovely sisters (I always wanted sisters and never got my wish so now that I have them by marriage, I refuse to call them "in-laws"), were very generous in their wedding/Christmas gifts to us and gave us flights to Amsterdam and tickets to the Van Gogh museum (one of Eric and my favorite artists.) We decided to go over the English bank holiday weekend at the end of August, at a time when the weather was hopefully going to be decent.

Part of the Red Light District at night

We arrived on Friday night, quite late from the London City airport (very convenient, little airport right in the heart of London proper - you basically go from entrance to gate in under 10 minutes.) We took the train into the city and then walked under some sketchy bridges to our hotel - The Movenpick (like the ice cream company). It was situated at the North End of the city a bit out of town. But, it was built just two years prior, was in supreme condition and a great value. I didn't feel all that well so (the old lady in me) decided to head to bed. Poor Eric wanted so badly to go out and explore the city and he didn't let my illness stop him. He wandered around the city for about an hour and a half all by himself.

Saturday

I woke up feeling like I had been hanging upside down and shaken by giant until my brain rattled around in my skull, but knowing we only had a short time in the city, I pushed through the pain in my head. We rented bikes beneath our hotel (because Eric is obsessed with riding bikes and Amsterdam is notorious for its cyclers) from a very nice Dutch man who looked and talked just like Goldmember from Austin Powers. Our breakfast at Bagels & Beans was so good, a perfect start to the day before heading to the Van Gogh museum. The most fascinating part about the museum was seeing the progression of Van Gogh's work and each of the stages he went through during his career. A few months experimenting with colors, a year with different brush stroke techniques, a year of drinking Absenth and cutting of body parts, etc. He is a popular artist to the Dutch and the city's visitors as evidenced by the huge crowds that visited his museum to view his works. Upon leaving the museum, Eric and I mounted our bikes and explored the streets of the Canal District and the Jordaan all whilst "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry ran on repeat in my head.

Indonesian cuisine is supposedly highly rated in Amsterdam, so our first proper meal was lunch at an Indonesian restaurant. I can't remember the name of it, but it doesn't matter because it was just not good. Eric liked his spicy beef, but my dish was quite a weird combination of random veggies (green beans, zucchini, bean sprouts, and pea pods) swimming in a sweet peanut sauce. I got a little ill just thinking about it now. Following lunch, we headed back to the hotel so that I could rest and get ready for our big night out at SupperClub. Eric left me at the hotel and went exploring further on his bike. He went to see the giant windmill and road around a few of the other parts of town.

Supper Club...we're early, but it's all lit up

Early evening came, and we dressed in the funkiest outfits that we had (read: you know we are not funky people at all so this proved difficult). The theme for the evening at SupperClub http://supperclub.com/ was Sunglasses at Night. Let me just mention that we don't usually go to places that have a set theme, so we knew we were in for something special. Seeing as my illness was slowly taking over my entire body, I knew that in order to get through the night (at a themed venue no less), I was going to have to numb the pain. We headed to a bar (as the rain sprinkled down) and began the mission. Three vodka diet cokes later, I was ready to take on SupperClub. The place is down a non-descript alley and if you don't have address in hand and bifocals, you would miss the entrance. I really don't want to give too much away (just in case anyone decides to experience the mayhem - Heather and Russell are currently heading there this week). Therefore, all I will say is that the experience involved: dining on 5 courses, in a bed, sans shoes, with entertainment by 5 waitresses in beaters and tighty whiteys, 3 DJs and 1 burlesque dancer named, Trixy. The pictures should help fill in some of the gaps. With so much sensory stimulation it would be easy for them to serve mediocre food but it turned out to be delicious (especially the halibut served to us in the dog food dishes )and the liquor was my saving grace - mission accomplished. I forgot all about my illness and we headed home around 1:30 (which is late for us when we are travelling!)

Sunday

Lots of Cheese.  Seriously, that's the name of the place.

I bet you are thinking that I would be ridiculously hungover seeing as my mission was to essentially drink away the pain, but it seems that the pain of the illness made any impending hangover non-existent! It was (in a way) fantastic! We left the hotel late morning and biked our way to breakfast at The Letting in the Jordaan. A fried breakfast was all we needed to get us through the afternoon. We tooled around on our bikes and eventually made our way to Anne Frank's house. She was an extraordinary girl, and we left her house enlightened and inspired by what she was able to do given the situation. Eric and I both had read her diaries in school at one point, but it really helped to see the enclosure in which they lived and hear more about the others involved in the hiding and the cover-up.

I had heard from my parents that cheese was something readily available in Amsterdam, and since I can never have enough cheese, we set off to find some lunch of our own making. I had spotted a shop along the route to the Anne Frank house called "Lots of Cheese." My kind of place. We picked out an Amsterdamy cheese and a safe alternative chevre and headed to the supermarket next store. The remaining lunch items (salami, strawberries, bread and the crucial dark chocolate dessert) were purchased, and we headed to the edge of the canal for lunch.

Of course once lunch ended and my stomach was full, my illness was back in full force. We cycled back to the hotel so that I could rest. This time, Eric joined me. For dinner that night, we went to a TimeOut recommended cafe in the Red Light District called Cafe Bern. We ordered the fondue and a salad that had a really good garlic dressing. Following dinner we walked around the Red Light District, which was such a fascinating experience. My expectation was to see really good looking girls in the windows, but honestly there were girls of all types for every type of fantasy that one could have. It was like a drug, I wanted more but at the same time my head was telling me, this is so weird and wrong! Once the addiction subsided, we headed to a coffeeshop, because when in Rome... The coffee shop was aptly named 4:20 Cafe.

Rows and rows and rows of houses like these line the canals

Monday

Eric headed back on his bike to Bagels and Beans on Monday morning to get some take-out breakfast. I stayed in bed to try and fight the illness a little longer. When Eric returned we had breakfast and checked out of our hotel. We spent the first few hours of the afternoon aboard a canal boat which took us on a historical tour of the canal district. SNOOZBOX! It was quite boring and not something I would recommend doing. The rest of the afternoon we spent walking the streets to do a little shopping. Our last meal was again a brown bag on the side of the canal. This time though we swapped the strawberries for some raspberries.

Check out our pictures here:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.2ggs08gr&x=0&y=-vonofr&localeid=en_US

Stockholm, Sweden August 1st - 4th, 2008

We planned a quick weekend trip to Stockholm, as it was one of the cities that had come highly recommended, especially in the summer. We armed ourselves with a guidebook and as many recommendations from friends and acquaintances as possible. As par for the course, we arrived late on Friday night and brought the wet weather with us as we have been doing lately on our short weekend trips.

The night we arrived, it was quite late so we hopped in a taxi and headed to our hotel in Sodermalm, which is south of the main city. We stayed at a guesthouse called The Columbus Hotel. It had a lovely courtyard with tables out front, and was quite cosy when you first walked in. Our room was a decent size, but the furniture was minimal, it was stifling, and had two twin beds. The biggest surprise was the bathroom and shower. They were communal and down the hall from the room. After having a good laugh at our surroundings, we went to bed to the sweet sounds of teenagers yelling and laughing outside of our window.

We were on the top floor of our hotel and it was very hot when we arrived. 

We got up the next morning and went for a run along the river. Eric and I like doing this so that we can see more of the city in a short amount of time. The run was a bit hilly, but nice. The breakfast that was waiting was a welcome reward for the run. It was phenomenal. We had a choice of meats, cheeses, muesli, bread, cereal, the works. It was really good and set us up for a great day of sightseeing.

We walked into town and made our way to the marina where we had hoped to catch a boat to one of the 20,000 Archipelago Islands that make up the country of Sweden. The next boat to Fjaderholmarna was a half hour later, so we decided to stroll through the old city - Gamla Stan and explore the narrow cobblestone streets. At noon, and as the rain poured down, we boarded the boat. We arrived on Fjaderholmarna about 25 minutes later.

The island was really cute and would have been a perfect place for lunch on a sunny day. There were a few little shops and restaurants dotting the island. Alongside the commercial posts were pieces of history (an old machine gun, a touret, and chain anchors embedded in the side of bunkers.) An even stranger sight was three old women skinny dipping in the rain in the freezing water. After a quick tour around the island (in the pouring rain) we grabbed some ice cream and boarded the boat back to Stockholm. The skinny dippers ladies were on our boat too. They were throwing back a bottle of shared whiskey. I think I would have needed the whiskey before jumping into the water (with or without a swim suit), but I supposed it helped to warm them up quickly.

Wandering Gamla stan with the Lees 

After disembarking the boat, we saw the main street lined with spectators. We couldn't quite figure out what was going on, so we decided to join the crowd and await whatever was to come around the corner.  About 10 minutes later, amid rainbow flags and whistles emerged a sea of Euro Pride members and supporters. The costumes were hilarious. From really tame (men dressed as women) to Adam and Steve and leather and straps. It was definitely a sight.

Once we'd seen enough, we made our way back to Gamla Stan and to one of the recommended restaurants, Kryp In. A tiny place, it's translation is something like "Trip In." We tried a few traditional dishes and they both turned out to be really good. Some friends who lived in NY and swam with us at NYAC are now living in Stockholm and met us at the end of lunch. We spent some time catching up with Jeff, Asa and their 6 month old baby Kasper. Following lunch, we braved the weather and took a walk down one of the main shopping streets in Gamla Stan.

Jeff, Casper and Asa

The view from the park next to the Vasa Museum.

On Sunday, we headed out for brunch with Jeff, Asa and Kasper. The brunch was amazing! The chorizo/potato and onion mixture with an omelette and salad was delicious. After such a heavy breakfast, we decided to go for a long walk to the Kungsholmen (King's Island). The weather was much better so we spent as much time as possible outside. One of our stops was to the City Hall (where the Nobel Prize dinner is held). Then, we made our way down to the Vasa Museum which houses an old war ship that sank about 100 yards from the harbor on its maiden voyage in the late 1600s. It wasn't until 333 years later that it was pulled from the sea floor and restored to its original condition. It looks just like something Disney would copy for the filming of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The museum is built around the boat and gives a very detailed history of the materials used in the building, the purpose of the boat and even so much as the people on board. Apparently, the boat was too top heavy and keeled over in a light breeze. That point marked the beginning of the decline of the Swedish kingdom in the Nordics and what is now Germany.

Multiple ways to take your pickled herring.

Jeff and Asa were great tour guides. They took us all around the city pointing out the main buildings and sights. After a few hours, we took a bus to their apartment up in Vasastaden where we were going to stay for the night. Around 8, Jeff, Eric and I headed to another recommended restaurant, The Grodan (The Frog). We tried pickled herring and a few other traditional dishes and caught up with Jeff. We had a really nice time.


Jeff, Asa and Kasper left us after the museum and headed back to her parent's summer house a few hours south. We went next door to another recommended drink place called Josefina's. It was a really cool outdoor space in a rather odd area. We relaxed with a drink and a brownie and enjoyed the setting. The sun finally poked through the clouds as we looked across the water at Gamla Stan.

Our flight was later that night, so Eric and I just spent the late afternoon roaming the city. We stopped at a cafe on the way back to Jeff and Asa's and people-watched. I have never seen so many blondes in one place before. Not only were they tall and beautiful, but they were all seemed so fit and happy.

We had a really great trip and would definitely recommend Stockholm as a quick weekend trip. The weather could have been better, but we made the best of it.

For pictures - click here:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.3jxyamur&x=0&y=-8zx6sx&localeid=en_US