Thirty-Three: Al and Judes

After galavanting around northern Italy and then Paris, Greg returned to Amsterdam bearing the gift of Francie. We start having fun immediately. We suss out a popular frites stand in the Jordaan. Greg and I soften Francie up for some big spending (which she is somewhat loath to do), then we hit the 9-Streets. Who can resist hand made leather boots from Spain? Not even Francie! She also springs for a vintage motorcycle jacket from Zipper.

Over the next three days we sit in some cafes. We dine at favorite restaurants (Quatfaas, 1900, La Vallade, De Oude Smidse). Greg and I ride bikes while Francie - maintaining her marathon training schedule despite all the fun - runs. We play Taboo; hilarious to the 10th degree.

On some days Francie has to work because her job is hectic. While she works, Greg and I play. We visit Van Gogh, wander aimlessly, eat.

We spend their last day shopping in Den Haag (Francie is totally off the thrift wagon by now). When Greg returns to Seattle Francie heads to Paris for unplanned business meetings. Happily she manages to schedule one more day in Amsterdam at the end of the week. Greg laments that what began as his European vacation has morphed into an extended holiday for Francie.

Francie gets the Parisian Microsofties back on track then returns via high speed train. En route she discovers an anti-snurking advertisement in a Dutch magazine. It provides her hours of entertainment.

We have a mellow one-day visit. Jogging, biking, grocery shopping. In the cereal aisle Francie falls in love with Honing Hoepels. She snaps photo after photo with her gigantic professional camera. For dinner, she makes fresh pasta from scratch and gooey chocolate pudding/cake. Afterwards Kim introduces her to 'Inky Pinky' - an old Landau family word game. The two word nerds play for hours, discarding one rule after the other until they have created a new game entirely.

The next morning Francie heads back to Seattle leaving Kim and I sans friends once again. On the bright side, I'm almost certain we could convince these two to return, or at least to meet up somewhere in the world for more travel adventures.