Amsterdam 2006

What can I say?  I've always loved shoes!

Seven of us went to Amsterdam in 2006 to celebrate Tim's birthday and we were met there by my wonderful friend Bartley...

From left to right the men are Dave, Randy, Bartley, Tim, Ed and Russ - the other gal is Cindy.

We stayed in some nifty apartments attached to the Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel.  This is our building with the black door and the two ground floor windows to the left are our apartment.  The building has an amazing facade and it is topped by a coat of arms that sort of goes with our experience, in a weird sort of way.

The inside was large and elegant and we spent many fun times gazing out those windows which over looked a canal...

Our first full day on the town was Queen's Day when the city is packed with people and everyone wears orange and the town turns into a big yard sale...

The coffee shops sell marijuana and hash and offer an extensive menu. 
And they are everywhere - one of our favorites was called the Grasshopper 

We ate a lot of good food in some really fine restaurants...   We saw some lovely canals and boats... 

And then there were the tulip gardens....

But for me, it was mostly about being with friends.

In all we spent 9 days and had as much fun as we could. 

We saw Van Goth's and Rembrandt's and Caraveggio's... It was Rembrandt's 400th Birthday...so we drank good beer and ate great food... we walked the whole town and had a great time!