a dam good time!

again, i have been lacking internet....and when i do have it, i lack time to sit and update, so these will be short as i attempt to catch up...

july 24:
i met hannah at our hotel, Hotel Groenendael. during our stay there i fell in love with the run-down, laid-back hotel (more like a motel for young backpackers) right in the center of the city. when i had called to make the reservation the guy had asked which nights and how many people. when i told him 2 nights for 3 people he said ¨great! see ya then!¨. i asked if he needed my name. ¨sure, why not - whats your name?....ok kerri see ya on the 24th!¨. i had been a bit worried that he had even made the reservation - he hadnt asked for a last name or a credit card number or anything. so i called the weekend before arriving. ¨yeah, kerri right? 3 people; 2 nights - see ya then!¨ very low key, very easy, very chill... very amsterdam!

that first day hannah and i wandered around the entire city - around dam square, through the red light district and coffee bars and sex shops, along countless canals (they call it ¨the venice of the north¨), all the way across town toward towards the quiter Vondel Park area. then we went to the van gogh museum - a major let-down. it was really expensive and kinda unimpressive - despite being the largest van gogh collection in the world, it lacked key pieces like Starry Night or the Cafe Terrace. later we caught some interesting street performances, including a middle aged man performing acrobats in nothing more than a neon green thong! gotta love it.

afterwards we went back to the hotel to meet up with dave and begin the evening! a fun night of coffee shops (not your typical starbucks, if ya catch my drift), falafel, and drinks. but it was a pretty early night - hannah was jet-lagged and i hadnt gotten any sleep on my 12 hour train ride, so we were exhausted.

July 25:
- dave and hannah discovered Bagels and Beans, which they really enjoyed... cheap bagel
sandwiches! yumm
- live jazz in vondel park
- more wandering around the redlight district
- a visit to the Bulldog, the oldest coffee shop in amsterdam
- tibetan food for dinner - delicious!
- out to a few bars
- grabbed some supplies and headed back to chill at the hotel

July 26:
- we went back to Bagels and Beans for breakfast
- saw part of a beach soccer tournament in dam square
- caught the madrid vs. egypt soccer game in a pub near the redlight district
- HANNAH GOT A TATTOO!!!!!
- dave left, but we had a fun weekend together!
- vegetarian dinner for kerri and hannah
- some drinks and cards and an early night