Lexi's Birthday in Holland - Day 1 - Poker

Our train ride was much longer than the ride to France, which meant we actually got about 7 hours of sleep. The cots were a little stiffer than the last ones, which caused Lexi's shoulder to get a little sore, but she said it cleared up after the first day.

We picked up some I Amsterdam cards, which get us entrance to all the museums and free use of all public transit. The cost came out to a wash, but it was nice to have complete freedom to go wherever we want, whenever we want.

Our first stop was at mega-brand HEMA. A quarter of the dutch population wakes up to HEMA alarm clocks. A third of dutch men wear HEMA undergarments. A quarter of all women do the same. HEMA is to holland what ACME is in the old roadrunner cartoons. They make everything. They are a very brandless sort of brand. We really needed something warm to wear as it was raining when we first arrived. My HEMA jacket and Lexi's HEMA hoody sweatshirt came to less than 30 euros. They might have also helped us to camouflage ourselves as natives a little bit.

On the canals in our new HEMA clothes

On our way to the hotel, we tried a chocolate covered waffle from a local bakery. The waffle had more of a soft donut-like texture. It was sooo heavy, it was practically a full breakfast for both of us on its own.

The canals near our Hotel

There was a little trouble with the hotel. Our electronic reservation was not on their books, but they got us a room at their sister hotel for the same price. The hotel had a 24 hour concierge, so we had to drop off the key every time we left. It was a small room, but the bed was comfy and we had our own shower. The place we stayed was on prinzengracht along one of the many canals.

I could've sworn I parked in 2407. Or was it 2047

The bike is the ride of choice in the netherlands. There were more bike lanes than car lanes in the Amsterdam and Rotterdam. There was this huge bike parking lot outside the central station in Amsterdam. There must have been thousands of bikes parked there.

After we checked in to the hotel, we went to the Van Gogh museum. The museum isn't very big, but it's almost all Van Gogh layed out in chronological order. It was fascinating to watch his style change with the new influences he picked up in his travels through France and the personal tragedies he endured. You can really see the way his fading health affected both the quality of his technique and his choice of subject matter. My favorite piece was The Sower. The theme of rebirth combined with the subtle religious imagery was painted in a period where Van Gogh was recovering from another set of attacks. Lexi's favorite was Trees and Undergrowth, which is a great example of Van Goghs tipple effect. Color has not only a sense of depth, but direction. The jabbing strokes form swirls of color that create a sense of movement.

After the Van Gogh Museum, we took a walk around Vondelpark. It feels like the pan handle in San Francisco. There was a whole lot of hackysack going on and a whole lot of dreadlocks. Wandering back from the park we came across caffepc (not an internet cafe). We had an early dinner of a chicken wrap and a set of mexican tapas. The tapas were really good, lots of bits of crusty bread and cheese and seafood. Lexi's wrap was really good too and came with a sweet pepper toppenade.

After dinner, we took a cruise of the canals. Taking a group of friends out on a boat for drinks and sometimes even a floating barbecue seems to be the Friday evening thing to do. It's a pretty chill way to see the city. We passed the Nemo science museum, one of the examples of the ecclectic modern style that shares the landscape with cathedrals from the golden era of Dutch trade.

Nemo the Science Museum (Not the fish or captain)

After the canal boat ride, we went to the Holland Casino in Amsterdam to play some holdem. They had one 10-20 euro limit holdem game going there. Lexi put up 200 euro and I put up 300 euro and we walked away with 900 and 700 euros respectively. We haven't actually hit a cash machine in a euro spending country since we first got to France. We've turned our 400 euro into cash enough for two trips plus about 900 leftover to boot. Lexi was really on fire. She was catching cards and getting action. I was doing all right, but got drawn out on 2 big hands, which hurt my profits a little. The action was great, everyone there was desperate to play, not desperate to win, so they played too many hands too far. All we had to do was wait for real hands and rake in the winnings.

Mmmm FEBO!

We stopped at FEBO for some snacks on the way home. FEBO is a dutch fast food chain, where they put the burgers, kaasouffles (Melted gouda inside a fried crust. Yes it's as good as it sounds), and croquettes (Meat and gravy inside a fried crust. Do you see a theme forming?) inside little windows which you pay a few euros to open. Nothing costs more than 2 euros there and it was a nice little guilty pleasure on the way home.