The Fit of Amsterdam

Very few overweight people here in the city. What with biking most places, walking and climbing stairs at home and everywhere (and hopping on one foot and then another while waiting to find a place to use the restroom) - not much chance for flab to attach itself. I did notice that middle-aged people are wearing more tennies and comfort shoes, versus the high-heeled boots of the young. As for the elderly - the very few I saw were very fit and still riding their bike. I didn't mention what the men wear - it's mostly jeans or slacks, ankle boots or running shoes with a shirt and leather or wool jacket. Haven't seen those ankle boots for awhile in the US but they are going strong here.


Women are all about the boots. I would have succumbed, but as you know if you are a larger woman, once the boot leaves the ankle area, finding one that will fit a larger calf and leg is well nigh impossible.



Everything is very good quality leather - jackets as well as boots. There are still a bunch of women wearing Ugg boots. Crocs and Birkenstocks stores were both in evidence - supposedly because they had products close to Dutch clogs. I have to say though that aside from souvenir shops selling miniatures, I did not see one person wearing clogs of any sort. This was disappointing since I live in clogs most of the time and I was hoping to find the creme de la creme of clog selection here.

I was determined to find yarn stores. We struggled through bewilderingly-numbered streets (even after carefully mapping them on Google beforehand) looking for "Maglia;" a yarn store that had all types of yarn, but is now sadly and definitely gone. There is supposedly a Pinguin yarn store in Amsterdam but it was too many more convoluted blocks to navigate in the same trip. You'd think I'd have learned after India. Look up the store. CALL the store to make sure they are still in business.

We finally arrive at De Afstap - the main knitting store in Amsterdam. Mr. Chirpnavigator reaches it first.


De Afstap is basically all-Rowan all the time - with a little embroidery thrown in.

This picture is for the crochet-loving homies. Took it in front of the Kid (crack) Silk Haze wall. Nice! Wish they were out and displayed.

Who could not love the Rowan bunnies? Were they a pattern by Debbie Bliss for Rowan originally? Can't remember.

Looking at the shop entry area from the embroidery loft above.


Rowan DK everything...(except marl Rebecca!).

Another cute place on the way was EggMercantile, which has cute trendy things - homemade felted creatures like you'd find in an Etsy Shop if you were online in the USA. They caught my eye because they also carry Manos yarn. Look in the upper right of the picture below and you'll see it (barely) sitting on a shelf.

A groovy trick for finding places that Mr. Chirptechie showed me: Go to Google, click on Maps, type in the city name, press return. Now, look up above the map and below the main typing box and click on "Find Businesses." Type in the name of the business in the "what" box that comes up. Bingo - assuming the business has a site or is in a directory - it's mapped for you! This is pretty fabulous when in another country! Geeks bear with me - I know you know this already.

This restaurant had a row of electrified glass tulips on their windows.

Some Art Neaveau tiles on a building I passed.


I do love the blue and white patterns on Delftware - they're very fresh - I just prefer them on fabric. The building below is both tiled and bricked.

Street views of lovely ironwork - here in the functional house lights.


Some are ouchier than others.

We were lucky enough to come opon a grey heron on one of our walks. At first we thought it was a fake - kind of like the fake owls - it was so perfect and motionless for so long. It was standing on one of the long canalboats.

Mr. Chirpchecky thinks I should clarify that we went to various Cafes for coffee, not Coffee Shops. When you go to coffee shops in Amsterdam, it's not for coffee, but for marijuana in all its forms. All of the coffee houses say the words "coffee shop" somewhere in their name. Some of them actually serve coffee as well.

Back at the cafe - Mr. Chirpjava has a giant cuppa. This is from their "heaven and hell" series. Monks are flying around the cup doing heavenly things, whereas the saucer is strictly hellfire.

At one cafe, "Bagels and Beans" (a chain) I was amazed to see on the back of the napkin...

...part of the speech attributed to Chief Seattle. It says:

The doors in Amsterdam - just like in the UK - are all distinctive and of different colors.

In the picture below - see those holes on each side of the building's garage doors halfway up the picture with little balconies under them?

They're quite small but I'm convinced they are some type of little bird condo with its own separate balcony. What else could they be? You can actually see light inside the hole so maybe they have a window too?

Some buildings will have one or two windows where a tenant has had an "outie" balcony added on.

The older light poles are all beautified.

Perfume and smoking indoors are unfortunately still very popular in both Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Marriott Hotels are always all non-smoking in the US so it's been hard to adjust here.

I've also been having trouble with tea. I'm so used to the English Breakfast blends from the UK or the States that I couldn't figure out why it was so unsatisfying in Frankfurt and Amsterdam. A. I was drinking hotel tea - in-house brand. B. It was Ceylon tea. No matter how strong I made it - it seemed off. I'm a pretty dyed-in-the-wool Assam person, so it took me a while to read the leafy ingredients. I "just assumed" that English Breafast blend would taste similar the world over. Wikipedia says that a variety of tea types are used to make the English Breakfast blend, including Ceylon. Never Assume! I'm pining dearly for some Peets Assam Golden Tips or Taylor's of Harrowgate! The hotel does have a clever way of packaging tea bags.

That pretty much wraps up Amsterdam - I'm knackered now.