highlifer

Amsterdam, Day 2

Happy Birthday, Tom!

Today, we started with a leisurely brunch at Cafe Luxembourg. Very tasty and relaxing, as well as full of Euro-people watching. Then Mike and Amber went one way and Tom, Montie and I another. We didn't really have any agenda, we just wandered around and looked at things. One of the places we wanted to check out was Fat BeatsWe didn't buy anything because we didn't want to deal with packing vinyl, but Montie and I mentioned that we both could have weeded our own collection to sell at Fat Beats for waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than we could get for it in the US and A.

Tom discovered while he was there Black Petewhich he claims has given him a new lease on Christmas. I managed to find a treasure trove of Black Pete wrapping paper, so if you are getting a Christmas present from me, look forward to meeting Black Pete. I've enjoyed learning about Black Pete's history, and the controversy around it.

So, then, shop and walk around we did. We mostly just window shopped, then ate some sweets (and of course a macchiato). We found another record store, where Tom bought Lily Allen and I bought Jimmy Sommerville. Perfect! Then, while I browsed Dutch children's books, Tom and Montie bought us wine and meat and cheese (pictured above) which we then took back to the apartment, listened to music and relaxed and enjoyed.

Tom chose an Argentinian steakhouse for his birthday dinner. Damn, I've eaten a lot of meat on this vacation! After that, Montie, Amber and I took a walk to the red-light district while Mike and Tom went gambling. (Tom won! 300 euros!) There was a LOT to look at, which surprised me that we were actually gone for an hour. The ultimate plan was to go to the American sports bar at (2 a.m.!) for the WVU-Pitt game. I was skeptical about this from the get-go, but once we decided to go back to the house before going to the game, I knew I was done for!As it turned out, the ladies went to bed while the dudes went back for the game. I think WVU won that one!

posted by jamie @ 9:14 PM