King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Five New Songs
King Crimson - Red
Herman Van Veen - Zweitausandeins Compilation (Disc 1)
Up at 6:30 and a taxi to the airport at 7:45...
Breakfast at the airport branch of Witherspoons – much better atmosphere than the big canteen situation we usually experience at the “Food Mall”...
A bonus is the presence of Hearts’ Greek star Fyssas at the next table – he’s seeing his father, wife and child off to Greece...
On the flight I am landed with the most fidgety booby in the world next to me...
I try and blank out his annoyingness by listening to King Crimson’s “Starless and Bible Black” – apt due to the fact that around half the album was actually recorded live on 23 November 1973 at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouwe...
Luckily it’s just 70 minutes to Amsterdam and I am soon rid of him. It’s hot here as we step off the plane. We have hand luggage only so it’s straight to the railway station to buy a couple of return tickets to Centraal Station...
A quick and efficient service sees us in Amsterdam around 20 minutes later and we quickly buy 72 hour tickets to take us through to Sunday afternoon...
We walk through the Re Light District to the Neiewmarkt and sit in the sun enjoying the first of many drinks we’ll have between now and Sunday night. We sat here in October 2004 on our anniversary and celebrated the 03/04 New Year in this very Square...
We grab a delicious filled roll from a nearby delicatessen before heading for Dam Square and boarding the No 25 tram and validating our tickets – they will last until 14:30 on Sunday...
We had been told it was a fifteen to twenty minute journey to the terminus followed by a short walk to our houseboat...
However, roadworks and a long walk to the boat put paid to this timetable – it was worth it though when we got to the boat...
So quiet, lovely and clean, with the water of the Amstel River lapping against it, just a few inches below the level of our windows...
After unpacking and having a bit of a rest, we headed back out, this time walking 10 minutes up the river bank to Amsteldijk...
...for a No 12 to Museumplein where we buy some drinks from the underground Albert Hein Supermarket before jumping on another tram up to Spui (pronounced Spow though we have always called it Spewy)...
We sit outside at the Hoppe and partake of a cool beer in the hot sun. I foolishly opt for a Tripel (9% proof) and am immediately inebriated...
But hey, it IS my birthday after all...
We walk to Dam Square and sit at a café enjoying a coffee/hot chocolate and then back along the canals to Spui and to the Antelope and Tiger Indonesian Restaurant, reputedly the best in Amsterdam...
Not having booked, we have a 10 minute wait for a table, during which beer and gin is consumed...
We decide on a huge 12 dish Reisstaffl – 12 various dishes are delivered to the table all at once around 15 minutes later. The food is delicious and consists of:
Beef curry
Chilli Prawns
Coconut and Peanut Garnish
Fish kebabs
Fried Vegetables
Giant Crisps
Halved Boiled Egg in a Coconut Curry Sauce
Pork kebabs
Rice
Sati Sauce Salad
Scrambled Egg Salad
Small Sweet Crisps
It is accompanied by more beer and Anne moves from Gin to Wine...
At 8 o’clock, a two minutes’ silence descends on the restaurant, we observe it but don’t know what it’s for – we had seen a line of dignitaries going into the cathedral up at Dam Square earlier on and guess that perhaps someone important to Holland has died......
We leave the restaurant, full to the brim, and sit in Spui Square watching the world go by before walking down to the Leidseplein where we buy some fruit juice for the boat, catch a tram to the Concertgebouwe and a number 12 back to Amsteldijk...
I am asleep by 10:30 – a great day...
Highlight of the Day : Birthday meal at The Antelope and the Tiger (Indonesian)
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