'This spoon is going to be the death of me!'

One week ago today Mike and I were waiting at the Schipol airport in Amsterdam trying to get home. Our planes were delayed due to fog. We had spent the last 24 hours alone exploring the wonderful, beautiful city.

On Saturday Nov.19th I caught a 7 am flight from Rome to Amsterdam. The flight was so quick I got in half an hour early. By the time the plane was supposed to land I was unpacking at the hotel with Mike. Mike had met me at the airport and together we took the train into Amsterdam. It was wonderful to see him. It had been 9 days since we had last seen each other and almost 15 months since we had spent 24 hours alone together. My mum was spending some one on one time with a much healthier Veronica!



My first impressions of Amsterdam was wow there are alot of canals and bikes! I knew there were canals but hadn't realized how many. We were almost constantly walking over bridges, along the sides of canals, admiring the architecture and overall lovelyness of the city. BUT, you have to be very careful about admiring things around you because you might just get run over by a bike! There were many bike lanes, like roads and the bikers did not appreciate tourists standing around while they were trying to get somewhere!

Over the 24 hours Mike and I ate outside in the square, went to Anne Franks House (but not inside because the line up was HOURS long), nibbled our way through an outdoor market, went from bar to bar sampling beers, drinking irish coffees, went to Madam Tussauds (totally overrated and expensive) and really just enjoyed each others company. It was wonderful!


One of the things I was  interested in seeing because I had heard so much about it was the Red Light District. Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam and judging by the mass amounts of men who were walking around and curtains that were closed it is a thriving business. Going to the red light district I thought I would find it a bit more.. I don't really know what I thought but once there I found it a little weird and sort of sad. There were women of all shapes and sizes wearing very little lingerie standing behind full length windows. They were often making 'sexy' posses, gesturing and such trying to draw attention to themselves and get customers. They were mostly all lined up one next to the other but blocked from one another (does that make sense??). Behind them was their room. Often we could see in and the rooms were also tiny. Completely tiled with a built in small bed they looked like glorified bathrooms. It was just strange to walk around at night with all these curtains pulled over the windows....

Taken outside our hotel the morning we left. Very foggy.

The other thing about Amsterdam is that marijuana is legal. Mike and I had great fun sitting outside drinking beer, and watching people get and act high. It was pretty funny but again a little weird seeing all these people just smoking up walking down the street or in restaurants. You didn't even need to buy at night because there was smoke everywhere!!

Yes, I brought clog slippers back for her.
She loves them!

Overall Amsterdam was wonderful. It was a great 24 hours alone together. With all of our recent hospital visits it was nice to just get away and relax. I have to say though I really did miss Veronica and called home a couple of times and e-mailed. Mum was very nice and put up with all of my check ups but I was so happy to get home and have my little family back together again.