veek: (Default)
veek ([personal profile] veek) wrote2002-06-28 12:30 pm

New favorite word.

Stroopwaffel.

That's what I had today for breakfast. Right after a very soft bun with Real Amsterdam Herring. I've eaten a lot of herring in the last 25 years, it being a staple of Jewish cuisine. But this was, hands-down, the best herring I've ever had. Not nearly as salty as anything I'd eaten before; tender and flavorful. It almost tastes raw, except it's lightly cured. Mmm.

Amsterdam highlights:

- Bike rental becomes really fun when mother nature throws three-minute downpours on you several times a day. I've already gotten soaked once, and am certain it'll happen again.

- Random wandering yesterday, while waiting for [livejournal.com profile] moominmolly to get off work and get her bootie into town, resulted in my stumbling upon a fondue place. So that's where we went for dinner. That was very yay.

- The herring and stroopwaffel were got this morning at a weekly streetmarket between Molly's house and the bus station. Too bad that market isn't around tomorrow, as I would have loved to buy some of their chanterelles and other wild mushrooms, and yummy cheese and stuff for dinner. Surely, though, we won't go hungry in this city.

- The canals are fun. The bike trails around them aren't as obvious as I thought they'd be. Which makes wandering all that much more fun, of course.

- Especially after London, the beer here is enh. But it's great for sitting in a main square and people-watching.

- Random road picked for wandering yesterday straight out of the train station led me straight into the Red Light district. Of course.

- Molly r0x0rz. She now has material proof of his.

- Dutch is very cool. I won't learn any of it here, though, because people really do break into excellent English if they smell a foreigner. I've had people greet me in English before I'd opened my mouth. I also witnessed locals randomly breaking into English when talking amongst themselves. It's sad, really, to watch a language die like this, but I've no illusions.

- It is pouring again. As I am dry now, this is good - I can wait out the rain and then have at least an hour of not-rain. Ooh, there it goes. See it subside. Now it's pouring. This is *as I type*, and I type pretty quickly. See? It's almost over now. By the time you get out your umbrella, you're already soaked, and it's already over.

More later. Now I go bike around some more.

wait a second

[identity profile] maga-dogg.livejournal.com 2002-06-28 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
Sooo... it's an internet cafe. A *cafe*, mind. Without coffee?
My brain hurts.

Re: wait a second

[identity profile] veek.livejournal.com 2002-06-28 10:39 am (UTC)(link)
Many EasyEverythings don't have coffee.

I know. How irritating!

But then, I'm in a city where coffeeshops aren't.

Re: wait a second

[identity profile] maga-dogg.livejournal.com 2002-06-28 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, yes, of course. Envy. In which case, why are you worrying about coffee?

[identity profile] moominmolly.livejournal.com 2002-06-28 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
The rain here makes me laugh, too. It certainly does a lot of raining, but it never really seems committed to the idea, does it?

It's like the old saying, said of many places, "If you don't like the weather, then wait five minutes," only the time interval has been swapped to "...six or seven seconds".

Holland and biking

[identity profile] davidglasser.livejournal.com 2002-06-28 06:38 am (UTC)(link)
By some crazy coincidence, my parents just flew into Amsterdam! And soon they will be biking, too!

Although in France.

aaaaaaaaaigh!

[identity profile] dr-memory.livejournal.com 2002-06-28 09:11 am (UTC)(link)
You're in Amsterdam, right now? I hate you I hate you I hate you... I had these grand plans of being there next month for my 30th birthday, which all came to a crashing end the moment I tried pricing out airplane tickets.

Sigh. Go stroll the Vondelpark and ogle the seminaked Dutch sunbathers for me.

You can read about my last adventure in Amsterdam here (http://blank.org/memory/travel/).

Re: aaaaaaaaaigh!

[identity profile] veek.livejournal.com 2002-06-28 10:42 am (UTC)(link)
It's always bewildered me that people will tell people "I hate you" without actually meaning it.