Florence in Florence

Hey! So, I am now sitting in a lovely room with a lovely view in the Florentine hills, after having spent a lovely sunny day mostly riding a bike. I couldn't be more pleased, it was a lovely day.

Our Tuscan adventure didn't start quite so glorious, considering we had had quite the weekend in Amsterdam before and we were exhausted, plus it rained. You see, it was Queens Day on Monday, which meant it was Q-night the night before which means party time. I myself am not much of a partier, I prefer coffees with friends, but hey, I managed to have that earlier in the day. Perhaps I should begin at the beginning?

Sunday morning we took a train to Amsterdam, where we made it to my sister's lovely apartment and I was quick to drag my husband to Screaming Beans for my first delicious coffee since leaving Melbourne. It was delicious. We went for a stroll through the lovely area called De Negen Straatjes (The Nine Little Streets) where my sister lives and made our way to a little diner I remember from last year called Het Buffet van Odette for lunch. Since last year, however, it has gone through a bit of an upgade and moved to an even fancier location in the city and grown considerably in size. It took us a bit longer than I had expected to get there and when we arrived we were told they were no longer serving lunch as they were closing early for Queens Day. But when I told them we had walked there especially from their old location because I remembered how nice it was and wanted to introduce the place to my husband, we were told we were very welcome and looked after very nicely. The food, as I remembered it, was fantastic. The new space they now occupy is also very nice, though a bit less rustic and cute than their former location, it's now quite fancy!

We then made our way to the Westergasterras, a restaurant/bar in the Westerpark where I had organised some drinks to catch up with some of my lovely friends and family in Holland, however Ajax (Amsterdam's soccer team) was playing and mysteriously nobody showed up until after the game...It was lovely to see everyone.

That evening we planned to tag along with my sister and her friends to a party at Hanneke's Boom but when we got there, it was already packed out and we were not ever getting in. So we ended up drinking in on the Nieuwmarkt and later made our way down the Zeedijk and ended up in Amsterdam's smallest and oldest gay bar called 't Mandje. This is where we were when the clock struck midnight and the barman rang the bell and requested we all sing happy birthday. After singing it, Stella asked: "Who's birthday is it?" Why, the queen, you dill! We were offered a shot of Oranje Bitter by the bar lady. Ash sniffed it and said it smelled quite nice. To which she responded: "Smells nice, tastes like shit."
To be honest, it wasn't too bad.

We ended up on the street a little further down, couldn't go any further as there were drag queens putting on a show (which we couldn't really see but hear all the better) and that's where we ate some lukewarm, sauce drenched but delicious spring rolls and I was told by a rotund policeman that I was boring for choosing to stay sober to look after my friends...

Not long after that Ash and I headed home, I had been up since 6 am thanks to my jetlag, so I was dead tired. We walked back to my sister's, a good 20 minute walk, and totally crashed around 3 am. My sister and her friend came back around 4.30, but we were all sitting eating a very delicious breakfast prepared by Stella around 10 am! Some lovely freshly squeezed OJ, eggs and bacon with tomato and cheese, crusty rolls from the oven, a cup of tea and an espresso later and we all felt ready for the day ahead. Outside my sister's place on on the Naussaukade the party was beginning...

The gang having their first taste of beer out on the town.

Nassaukade warming up for the day

Our friends' little girl playing her recorder, her brother in the background.

The white woonboat on the right is our friends' one!

Busy on the Prinsengracht

Ash and I walked around the area and made a tour through a small part of the Vondelpark before we realised it really was quite warm and we were in need of some water, so we headed back to Stella's, where we met some of her friends and all of us went out into the now full-on party that was Amsterdam. It was slow going at times, and I am guilty of sining along to 'Een eigen huis' while squeezing through a massive crowd in front of a stage. We had a quick hug and chat with our good friends who own a woonboot (houseboat) on the Prinsengracht and were informed their kids (9 and 6) were raking in stacks of coins with their respective games-stall and flute playing. There is a chance I might get to stay on that boat for a little bit later on...

















Oh dear, in the meantime I've run out of time to write. It's late and Ash has already gone to sleep and it's early days tomorrow. I shall continue my story of Queens Day and Tuscany tomorrow. A domani!