DORDRECHT

Took the train out to Dordrecht to visit a friend of one of my mom's friend's. It's a really pretty little town, although I only have pics of the train. It was very odd to people in the AMD office that this was like the second or third time I had ever ridden on a train in my life. Not a lot of call for them where I come from. Mostly easy to figure out, especially once I found the manned ticket counter at the station compared to the automated machines that wouldn't take my credit card. Had a great dinner then came home. It was nice not to eat alone or out at a restaurant for once.

ARTIS - ZOO

Went to the zoo, which is actually a zoo, planetarium, horticultural museum, and history museum. Was impressed with the what they had, although disappointed that only about 10% of the signs were in English. Mostly just went through the zoo and the historical museum. Favorite exhibit was the snowy owls. They had 5 chicks last year, and they were all in a single mew called the Owl Ruin. Large crowd around it speaking every kind of language possible, although they all had a single cominality: "blah blah blah Harry Potter." :)

Other insights include fuzzy chickens, boneless monkeys, kids and mud, dino skeleton the size of my home office at the top of the stair well, super quartz crystal, the Japanese garden, AMD on just the other side of the walls, Buddha, penguin apartments, penguin almost in house, same penguin almost in house 1 hour later, measuring the human wing span, two bronze cheetahs that are very impressive once the little monster children stop climbing all over them, where the buffalo roam, stealth llama, too sexy for my fur, an image from home and artsy bird shots.

CITY SIGHTS

Spent part of the day taking pics. Everybody walks or bikes. Someone told me there are like 3 bikes to every person in the city. I saw one bike completely covered over with ivy outside the Van Gogh Museum. You have to get up / in line pretty early to get in there, as they only let a certain amount of people through, and since I saw it last time I was here (Jan 2000), I opted for other attractions this time. And sleep. Sleep is good. Have gotten used to the whole walk and tram to work and back, but some many things are different from my life at home, that just functioning here makes me tired. One thing I seriously miss in non-smoking. The weather is still nice which is fortunate for me as I can sit outside for dinner. At some point during my meal I will inevitably end up downwind of a smoker, but it is usually temporary. Have found several good Italian places and a nice sushi place. Steak place left much to be desired, but then I'm from Texas and we know how to do steak. ;)

HOTEL DE FILOSOOF

My hotel - Hotel de Filosoof. Each room has a different theme, both in terms of philosophers and colors. My room wasn't one of the ones on the website, but it was purple, which is the Prosperity color, so it works for me. I believe the correct descriptions would be "quaint" and "European". Some features include the hole-in-the-floor shower and floating toliet. The garden was a great place for breakfast, and I *love* European breakfasts - basically cold cuts, cheese, dark breads and fruit. There was also a delicious museli-type mix that I know I won't be able to find in the States when I get home. My new suitcase barely fit in the narrow hallway, but at least there was an elevator. Although I was so tired and jet lagged that by the time I got in the elevator, I had forgotten my room number and had to go back down stairs to ask for it again. And I never learned the name of the street the hotel was on, I just kept walking until I saw the puppy poster and then turned left. :P

AMSTERDAM - TRIP 1

The Amsterdam office has work for me, so I'll be over there for the next 2 weeks. Then home again for 2 weeks, then back again for 2 weeks. Yeah. Kinda short notice, and while most of my maintenance stuff like monthly bills are already handled online, there's a lot of daily stuff I do that now has to be stopped or set-up to self-run.