Day 2 in Amsterdam

Its 6:30 pm and I'm sitting in the back courtyard of the Hotel Annemarie.
We have come back to the hotel to rest after walking the city all day but I'm fairly adjusted to the time here and couldn't sleep, so I'm out here. The building has the courtyard in shade, I can hear birds talking back and forth, and a basket ball is being dribbled nearby. I can hear talking too. A restaurant must be nearby and I hear water running in one of the rooms. I also hear the hotel's tabby cat meow as Ginger joins me. Meagan is catching up on sleep upstairs.

Its lovely and surprisingly quiet in the city. I don't hear cars. There aren't many really, far more people on bicycles in suits, heals, and clothes that are effortlessly stylish in a completely non-American way.

On day 1 we walked all over the city. Not intentionally, we just keep getting bad direction after bad direction on where to find a bank we could exchange money at. To be fair, we missed the first one because we were so busy smelling flowers at a sidewalk shop we walked right by one. But we were exhausted from our travels which for me included an 8 hr layover followed by a frantic hour when Ginger and I weren't sure Meagan would make the flight from ATL to AMS. She just barely did (phew), but her bags didn't (bugger).

Then on the plane a man fell unconscious to the ground of the aisle while walking past our seats. He hit hard, we all scrambled, someone yelled "Is there a doctor here?" while others switched on their overhead lights and got the flight attendants' attention. There was a doctor and a former EMT within two aisles of the man and he seemed alright after his wife brought him blood pressure medicine and he used an oxygen tank from the plane.

So our first days was rather dramatic and eventually we got money. We stopped at a cute restaurant named Small Talk and got checked in to Annemarie. We then walked through the Antique District and saw a protest by Spanish people with signs saying (in English) something about not being slaves and education. Its already a blur but hopefully my pictures will remember for me.

The cat is now asleep lying on its side curled awkwardly over a thick extension cord. Animals are universally cute. Ginger rubs the cats belly as it rolls over and says "Everyone is content in the summertime".

You can probably get a sense of how laid-back I feel here. There are people everywhere and at first it the threat of stepping in the bicycle path and getting run over was constant. But we are already getting used to looking for bikes and the flow of people is so smooth it doesn't feel like a bustling city. When a car goes by its almost obtrusively loud.

But back to the sights, we walked through the Albert Cuyp Market and the flower market too. The Cuyp Market reminded me of the Cooper Young Festival in Memphis. Lots of artisan cheeses, clothes, purses, shoes, the list goes on. The the flower market was cool because it was mostly bulbs, not grown flowers. We have also walked through countless parks and squares with cute sidewalk cafes. Its really charming.

Well off we go to picnic in a park and see the harbor. More later!