We stayed with Jeff and Nicola in their apartment on the Keizersgracht canal in central Amsterdam, not far from Leiderstraat, one of the main streets. It's always a very different perspective of a city when you are with 'locals' rather than staying in hotels - especially when you get to stay in an awesome apartment in a very lovely, super cool area of a city. I really can't get over how brilliant this apartment is - 18ft ceilings, exposed beams, massive open-plan living space, marble entry way - and overlooking a beautiful canal! I want to move to Amsterdam!! From the outside (the second and third floor of the grey building) -
Looking out the lounge room window -
On Saturday we woke up to a great day and after some breakfast (courtesy of Jeff and Nick who had picked up some croissants and coffee from a local bakery), we took advantage of some nice weather to wander around the canals and up to a local market. From there it was a long lunch canal-side at Cafe Smalle. The canal -
Jeff, Nicola and I -
We split up in the afternoon - (pregnant) Nicola back for a nap, Jeff and Nick off to some record stores and me off to some art galleries and shopping. Dinner was some great Thai at a local restaurant.
On Sunday we headed out for breakfast and then took in some art markets and the flower market which featured many bulbs -
and the ubiquitous (but very beautiful) tulips -
We walked some more, taking in the Rembrandt statue where Nick forced Jeff (somewhat reluctantly) to take part in his usual antics of mimicking statues -
Another of the many beautiful canals -
Jeff, Nicola and Nick -
We left Jeff and Nicola (and their great hospitality) mid-afternoon and made our way to an exhibition at the CoBrA Museum in Amstelveen (featuring the artist Corneille) before taking a cab to the airport for our flight back to London.
