Amsterdam
I spent a lovely long weekend in Amsterdam last week. Finally being 'on the road' again with Andreina was an extra bonus. She's such a great person to spend holidays with.
Our hotel was bang in the middle of the city centre, we just had to cross the road twice and were in the heart of the shopping street *grin*. Very convenient.
Amsterdam is a lovely place, very buzzing in the main drags and in the red light district (god, what a surreal place!) but immediately very quiet and peaceful in the little sidestreets, which are lined with lovely cafes and restaurants. Exploring the city by boat on the many canals ('grachten') was great, too.
Coincidentially (seriously, it wasn't planned) Steven was in Amsterdam on the same weekend with his friends as we were. We met up for a few drinks on Saturday night, which was good fun. The only downside was that we both had to get up really early on Sunday morning. We went to bed at 4.30am and Andreina had to get up at 7am again to go to the airport. I got up an hour later because I had arranged to meet up with Aafke in Amersfoordt *bounce*.
We initially wanted to meet in Amsterdam but with her being pregnant and with the heat we found a compromise. She went on the train for 1.5 hours and I for 50mins. It was great to finally see her again and to catch up. I think the last time we met up was when I went up to her place with Jrène about 3 years ago :0! But nothing has changed, I think. She's still the same good laugh as back then and I really really enjoyed the few hours we spent together *hugs to Aafke if you read this*
Back at work now and trying to deal with the heat. Trouble is that it is so nice and cool in the office that you tend to forget that it's scorching hot outside and when you finally leave after having been 'preserved' in a cold environment for 10 hours is quite a shock. I left the office at 4.30pm yesterday to go up to Steven's, as I flat out refuse to go on the tube in these conditions unless it's just me on there (which is highly unlikely, as you can imagine). So I took the train instead and I got there so quickly, it was great. Mostly since I had my personal 'chauffeur' picking me up, that is :).
We spent a lovely evening in his backyard (I figured out that the place is in desperate need of some 'romantic' lighting so I might go and buy some of these metal sticks with little tealights on top... that'd be so nice), drinking spritzers and eating take-away.
Off to Switzerland again tomorrow for my godson's christening. We'll have bbq at my mum's place on Saturday night, which should be nice. Just my parents, my sister, her doctor boyfriend and Jrène.
Life's good.
Our hotel was bang in the middle of the city centre, we just had to cross the road twice and were in the heart of the shopping street *grin*. Very convenient.
Amsterdam is a lovely place, very buzzing in the main drags and in the red light district (god, what a surreal place!) but immediately very quiet and peaceful in the little sidestreets, which are lined with lovely cafes and restaurants. Exploring the city by boat on the many canals ('grachten') was great, too.
Coincidentially (seriously, it wasn't planned) Steven was in Amsterdam on the same weekend with his friends as we were. We met up for a few drinks on Saturday night, which was good fun. The only downside was that we both had to get up really early on Sunday morning. We went to bed at 4.30am and Andreina had to get up at 7am again to go to the airport. I got up an hour later because I had arranged to meet up with Aafke in Amersfoordt *bounce*.
We initially wanted to meet in Amsterdam but with her being pregnant and with the heat we found a compromise. She went on the train for 1.5 hours and I for 50mins. It was great to finally see her again and to catch up. I think the last time we met up was when I went up to her place with Jrène about 3 years ago :0! But nothing has changed, I think. She's still the same good laugh as back then and I really really enjoyed the few hours we spent together *hugs to Aafke if you read this*
Back at work now and trying to deal with the heat. Trouble is that it is so nice and cool in the office that you tend to forget that it's scorching hot outside and when you finally leave after having been 'preserved' in a cold environment for 10 hours is quite a shock. I left the office at 4.30pm yesterday to go up to Steven's, as I flat out refuse to go on the tube in these conditions unless it's just me on there (which is highly unlikely, as you can imagine). So I took the train instead and I got there so quickly, it was great. Mostly since I had my personal 'chauffeur' picking me up, that is :).
We spent a lovely evening in his backyard (I figured out that the place is in desperate need of some 'romantic' lighting so I might go and buy some of these metal sticks with little tealights on top... that'd be so nice), drinking spritzers and eating take-away.
Off to Switzerland again tomorrow for my godson's christening. We'll have bbq at my mum's place on Saturday night, which should be nice. Just my parents, my sister, her doctor boyfriend and Jrène.
Life's good.