Walking and no pancakes

On the morning of Friday, June 14, the weather reminded our travellers of a February in Chapel Hill. It was grey and drizzling as we set out for Jordaan, a neighborhood of shops and artisans between the apartment and the city center.

We walked to Winkel, a cafe that had a top rating on Yelp, and had a light lunch and shared a piece of apple pie. The pie was to have been legendary, the best in the city; and it was, in fact... (wait for it) .... pretty good, really. Okay, it was legendary.

We have tended to mention the food in our travels often, and we will continue to do so. It's so satisfying to find the very best places, and a great meal so far from home is a great comfort. Service was very friendly, but slow, as was to have been expected. By the time we finished, we were raring to go.

Friday was to have been museum day, but the sun peeked out, and we spent most of the afternoon strolling. Winding our way through tiny streets, we found many crafts places (including a lovely yarn shop where Devon bought buttons for a scarf she is crocheting for Matt) and the Lambiek, which is the oldest comics shop in Holland.

We ended up delaying museum time to Saturday, because the clouds broke up more and more as the day went on.

At one specialty red light clothing store, the clerk took such a shine to Devon that she gifted us with a large 100-page, full-color catalog. Many of the models inside are adult-only, if you catch our drift.

After a long afternoon of walking, we returned to the apartment for a short nap. Matt got in touch with Verizon customer service and restored full functionality (yay!) to his phone. Hello walking *and* transit directions through google maps. The days of stumbling around are over.

We returned to the Leidesplan, because why not. Dinner at a little counter- service noodle place called Wok to Walk (think Noodles & Company with more customization) that was super-cheap and really hit the spot. More strolling, this time south to a giant plaza outside the national museum. The sun setting against the buildings was very romantic.

We enjoyed a quiet beer at an outdoor cafe near the concert hall, and at twilight realized it was already 11:00. We are so far north that the days are crazy-long. Neither of us felt like a party, so it was the tram and a short walk (without getting lost!) then bed.

Matt stayed up to do the laundry in the sink. How charmingly domestic.