Following our pleasant stroll through Waterlooplein Market, we hopped on our bikes (oh, we're so Dutch), and pedalled off in the direction of the Dam. We stopped at some vintage shops along the way, and Lisa got two adorable little dresses. There were awesome pink pumps I wish I could have bought, but at this point, I'm still keeping my luggage restrictions in mind. I feel like I may end up getting to a place where I need to buy another suitcase.
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| Carnival in Dam Square |
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| look at those baby condiments! |
After our bite to eat, we realized it was too late in the evening to give enough time to the museum we had hoped to visit, so we hit up the museum of modernly chic and moderately priced Swedish clothing, perhaps better known as H&M. Oddly enough, this shop (1 of 4 in the area, Lis tells me) featured a lot of similar clothing items to the WR store, but also other ones, obviously. Super sweet and different though, was the fact that they had a housewares section!! Pillows and candles and towels and stuff! If I lived here, I would totally be decking out my room in that shit.
After H&M, most of the other stores on Kalverstraat were beginning to close, so we decided to have dinner. We went to a place with full glass for the front wall, and sat at a table where we could people-watch and just gaze out at the busy square as the sun set and gave way to warm lamp lighting. Although the restaurant boasted "authentic dutch cuisine", Lisa and I stuck with what we knew (and what was much cheaper), and went for Spinach Salads and Salmon Caesar salads, respectively. Yummy.
Although many of the Amsterdam museums close at the reasonable hour of 7pm (9pm if you're lucky), we managed to conclude our evening with the one museum open later: The Hash, Marijuana and Hemp Museum. It started to rain as we biked toward the museum. T'was a little freaky adding water and darkness to my already shaky bike-confidence, but I managed. The museum is split into two parts, a few doors down from each other. The first, the Hash and Marijuana Museum, was super informative and had lots of eye catching posters and displays, rounded out by a legit grow room. The second part, the Hemp Gallery, was less exciting, but it was cool to see the many different ways the "billion dollar crop" could be used. The Gallery also boasted a hilarious photo booth whose results can be seen on the facebook and the twitter.
We left the museum rather inspired.
Its 3am! Nothing for most Amsterdammers, but jeez, I'm still not used to it. More to come!
