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In Amsterdam, we stayed with Sarah's friend Kacee, who lives there, and Josh, whom she lives with. They were incredibly gracious and incredibly fun. The following are a few shots of their beautiful apartment.
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When I have a home again, I want to rip off their plant style--orchids and cacti. Beautiful!
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The couch on the right was my bed.
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After a first night of eating tapas and meeting a couple of Kacee's cool friends, we went out shopping and for a quick lunch.
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Naturally, we were distracted from grocery shopping by the Heineken brewery/museum. Here are Sarah and I by a big old copper drum for...brewing, one can only guess.
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And here we are in the bar, conveniently placed halfway through the museum. Three beers were included in the price of admission, and we ended up with a few more...
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After a 2-3 hour break, we staggered out into the light to buy dinner. Here, Sarah pokes a fish in the market.
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Okay, so I looked like a tourist in the market taking this shot. But really, how could I not? Look at all the flavors!![PICT0044](users/overt/_data/i/users/overt/menalto_albums/travel/20030610/PICT0044-me.jpg "PICT0044 (1531 visits) Sarah said hello to every dog we met in Europe, usually calling them "le chat" ("cat&...")
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Sarah said hello to every dog we met in Europe, usually calling them "le chat" ("cat" in French). She wanted her picture with this one. He was pretty cool.
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The market. The blue sky and 80 degree weather was very atypical.
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Kacee buys olives, etc.
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Dinner.
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Attempt at a representative Amsterdam shot: red row buildings, bicycles, trees, the corner of a canal.
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Another, featuring the canal more prominently. This was just outside the Anne Frank House.
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You get the idea.
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Sarah and Kacee with bikes! (EVERYONE rides a bike in Amsterdam. Usually a heavy, old one with a squishy seat and peddle brakes.)
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We went on a long ride (well, long for us non-cyclists) through the Dutch countryside. We stopped for a photo-op with the sheep. It also features the perfectly aligned trees that mark most of the fields I saw in France, Belgium, and Holland.
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We were riding out to see a (humble, Dutch) castle, but it was closed. So we just stopped for a cola in a pretty little town.
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As the only first-timer in Amsterdam, I occasionally set off to sight-see by myself. The next few shots are in the Van Gogh museum.
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Beautiful architecture, I thought.
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This was an exhibit of photographs of places where Van Gogh lived and worked.
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A little courtyard action.
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Okay, I just thought it was a cool building.
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I reunited with Sarah and Kacee, who found some nice frat boys from Georgia to hang out in the big park with us.
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Bikes, trees, sunlight (informative caption)
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Deciding she'd rather have fresh armpits than her dignity, Sarah applies some deodorant in the park while Gary watches, bemused.
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The people watching in Amsterdam was world-class. We liked our neighbor picnickers--the gay skinheads.
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The group. We didn't move for 6 hours. Except for very exciting trips to the bathroom.
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Kacee, and a statue of Mr. Vondel (of Vondel Park, where we sat all day)