from cats to ostriches to ajax

the rain continues.

one might think that would stop us, but one would be wrong. one doesn't understand that many of us live in seattle and cannot be scared by mere rain drops or lightning or thunder or torrential downpours! hahaha.

(ha.)

thankfully, the rain let up by about 11 and by noon i was on my way adventuring! first up, after a nice wander through the albert cuyp market (oh how i love markets!), was a stop at the katten kabinet - a museum that is exactly what it sounds like. a museum dedicated to the depiction of cats in art - as i'm in a bit of kitten-withdrawal, it was a necessary start. i'd thought it was part of the museumkaart, but apparently not - but i figured it would be a worthwhile investment. it was certainly an experience... more cat art than i'd ever imagined. but i found a kitten sleeping in a chair, and now i've seen the kattenkabinet, so there we go. awesome.




after the cats, i took my pear-mango-mint smoothie (this is just dying for some rum, omg. alex we must make these.) and wandered along the canal down toward my afternoon destination of brouwerie 't ij. the brewery didn't open till 3, though, so i had some time for wandering... and boy, did i make use of that museumkaart this time. first, the willet-holthuysen museum - an old canal house that has been preserved as of about 1900 - and then on to the rembrandt huis. yeah, that's actually rembrandt's house. apparently they did an inventory of his house when he died, and they've managed to recreate it pretty spectacularly. it's huge - and totally evocative.

his painting studio

crazy stairs! i thought the ones at my hotel were steep? these are crazy.

so after the rembrandt house, i was off and wandering again... through rembrandtplein, by the hermitage museum and the botanical gardens, the zoo - which is old enough that you can still walk by the fence and see the animals!

the ducks are forming a zone of containment for the flamingos. watch out, flamingos!
(eeeeevil ducks. eeeeeeeeeeeeevil ducks.)

betchya didn't expect to see this guy at the zoo, eh?

ok, so i survived the evil ducks and t-rex, and continued on my way. i knew there was a molen somewhere nearby, so clearly i had to find it and love it. it was also almost time for the brewery. i am suddenly torn. molen? brewery?! i decided i would go to the first one i found. deal. go with the flow, erica. it's all good.

and then, i see the molen from doom!

ok, not quite the molen of doom. but kind of. i told you it was raining.

and wait. what's that building to the side? can it be? the brouwerie! quite scrumptious, of the quasi-belgian variety. yum! also, my favorite part? the ij.p.a. (i've been having lots of issues with the dutch vowels. i can now always remember the ij is "eye"! haha! i love it. especially as it's "with extra hop.")

at the brewery, i tested some of their lovely beers, met a new dutch friend from whom i received all sorts of suggestions about other good dutch beer-selling establishments, and took a tour. where i actually felt quite proud of my beer-brewing knowledge! it was an exciting afternoon for erica. (also the brewery used to be a bath house for the city - perfect for brewing! easy to clean, lots of drains on the floors... i love the dutch practicality.) also! who doesn't love a brewery with an ostrich AND molen on the logo?!

after 't ij, i ran down to muiderpoort station and caught a train to the biljmer arena to meet up with alex's friends paul and wendy - former traveling friends from antarctica, who happen to live north of amsterdam. we missed seeing them when they visited vancouver a few months ago, but they were absolutely lovely and invited me to see the ajax game that night! clearly, i jumped on the chance - we may be going to see a netherlands national game next weekend in eindhoven, but an ajax game at home is not to be passed up... and was definitely a highlight of my trip so far. not only was the soccer exciting, the fans entertaining (on many levels), but i got to hang out with a couple super awesome new friends.

this. is a big. stadium.

ajax overhead! (named after the greek hero, seen above. this took me far too long to figure out. thank you, paul :)

so, the ajax fans like to show their firey team spirit. yup.
(what may not be clear at this point, though, is the closed roof of the arena... and the smoke that filled the arena for the rest of the night. thanks guys.)

so much fun! thank you paul and wendy!!