Spent one day in business in Frankfurt on Friday....nothing of interest to report other than quite a cool view from the office:
12 hours later, and via a night in London, I found myself at midday on a canal in Amsterdam - stinking drunk and surrounded by over a million people in Orange and a haze of sweet-smelling smoke. Welcome to Queen's Day! What a party. We spent the morning having brunch at a friend's place, drinking home-made vodka shakes at 10am with 20 strangers, who soon became good friends...as ya do.
Things carried on until late in the evening when a combination of riots, blisters on my feet and utter exhaustion drove me home to bed. Thankfully so, as the next day was packed full of sight-seeing. I hadn't quite appreciated how many of the great masters were Dutch, so was amazed when I went around the museums there. Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer (at the Rijksmuseum), of course, but so many other masterpieces were in one place and were utterly fantastic to see. My personal favourite was the Delft earthenware, which I had never seen other than in pictures. Up close, they are mesmerising.
After that, my tour-guide Von Dutch took me "Von Dutch" on the back of a bicycle along the canals, to the palace, to the parks, to the markets and to the red light district. I never realised that the "ladies" just sit behind glass, filing their nails, texting their mates or reading a magazine while they wait for their next customer. Very different to the red light districts that I'm used to (!). And to answer PK - no persian rugs at all for this Princess. Amsterdam was beautiful and crazy enough without hallucinogens!
Next stop in 2 weeks - the Dominican Republic!
/me smiles :)
Oh - who are the people in the photos Nic?
/me goes back to listening to Bjork.
Posted by: PK | May 05, 2005 at 01:19 PM
Well...the guy with me in the pics is Von Dutch, and the other two are his sister and brother-in-law. Von Dutch is a little complicated to explain now...
Posted by: Princesshalfu | May 07, 2005 at 06:17 AM
is von Dutch an acronym for this guy or is he one of those 'folk' -> http://www.rennfaire.org/
Posted by: PK | May 09, 2005 at 04:09 PM
love the pics... mmm... great to speak to you last night. I'm most pleased to say I'm online! yay.
Posted by: glittergirl | May 12, 2005 at 05:07 PM
So glad to see you had a great time in Amsterdam. Yes, there are many of the masters in those museums. Thanks for brining back some memories. :-)
Why are you going to the Dominican? Awesome food and beer as well as beautiful scenery, but can be a bit scary, as well. Have fun!!
xoxoxoxo
Posted by: Kimbo | May 16, 2005 at 01:52 PM
Hey Kimbo! Lovely to have you back :-) How was the US?
PenPen - missed you mucho as well. Great to speak to you the other day xxxx
Posted by: Princesshalfu | May 22, 2005 at 07:23 PM