Netherlands

We had another lucky fabric find in Amsterdam. The person we stayed with, Joel, happened to live just across the canal from a very big market. As we were waiting for our laundry to finish we thought we’d take a little walk, sit by the canal and write some postcards, and wander through the market. This proved to be an awesome idea. We got our postcards written and then set off through the market.

There were all types of stalls in the market. Clothing, food, and fabric! Justin was able to get some things he needed for our upcoming dance camp and then we took a look in the fabric shop. There weren’t too many choices of fabric suitable for quilt-making, but we were really happy with the one we selected. It’s a little whimsical, just like Amsterdam.

We also had success finding a post office and mailing our recent fabric purchases (and the postcards)!

Fabric from the Netherlands

My brother really came through for us in Amsterdam. Of all of the places we were looking at going we were the least satisfied with hostel options in Amsterdam. They were very expensive and very poorly rated. It’s one thing to pay for quality, and a totally different thing to pay 30 euros each per night for something that gets a really bad rating! So, my very kind brother got in touch with his friends and found us a place to stay! One of his friends lives in Amsterdam with her husband in a nice apartment close to the center of town. She was away while we were there, but her husband, Joel, was amazing and let us stay with him. You can imagine that we were feeling a bit shy about all of this, especially since Joel had not even met my brother, but it turned out so well and we enjoyed both Amsterdam and Joel’s company.

It was an easy train ride from Bonn to Amsterdam, with just one quick change in Cologne. The scenery was nice, and we got to see first-hand just how flat the Netherlands are. Once in Amsterdam we followed Joel’s very detailed directions and had an easy time finding his apartment. We chatted for a little and agreed to meet up for dinner after Justin and I had a few hours to walk around the city and see the sights.

The center of Amsterdam is a really nice size for walking around. We walked for about 3 hours and saw most of the central city. We especially liked seeing all of the canals and houseboats. It is a very pretty city and absolutely chock full of bikes, boats and other unique modes of transportation, like the mini car we saw! Because we were only spending one night in the city we just wanted to take in the atmosphere and get a sense of the place. Amsterdam has a really unique feel to it.

Justin with a mini car

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