Good friends = Lekker

The Dutch love to use the word "lekker" to describe things that are awesome, yummy, fun, tasty, great, enjoyable, or anything that is just fantastic.

Fortunately for us, we have been counting the days until Ryan and Kait Keating were to come visit us in Amsterdam.  We have known for a while that they would visit about 2 months into our move.  We have been saving many of Amsterdam's tourist sites for their visit.

Kait arrived early on July 16th (carting a 40lb suitcase containing our winter coats), and after a few strong coffees, she was ready to see the town.  We walked to the Noordermarkt for some Saturday morning market shopping, then strolled through the Jordaan, some more shopping districts (and more coffee) and had a nice picnic lunch on Herengracht, just across the canal from the mayor's house.  Kait was an absolute champion, and stayed up until 9pm.

Kait trying on some clogs at Blokker on Kalverstraat

Due to Kait's perserverance, we were able to continue our walking on Sunday, hitting the Museumplein, the Iamsterdam sign, designer windowshopping on P.C. Hoofstraat, and then proceeded to get sufficiently soaked at Vondelpark before lunch on Liedseplein.  We wound down the afternoon by finding a great new wine shop where you fill your own bottles from the barrels!

Back of the Rijksmuseum and the Iamsterdam sign

Kait chose a random letter since "Iamsterdam" does not contain a single "k"

After testing the wine we bought, the rain started, and it was time to collect Ryan from Centraal Station.  We grabbed a quick dinner of one of our new favorite foods, Turkish Pizza, and then we showed him around a bit.  One of our stops was one of the oldest bars in Amsterdam.  We let him decide if the Heineken really tastes better here, and then shared a round of jenever, the Dutch juniper liquor.

Heineken and jong jenever

Monday came with more rain, but we pressed on despite this.  We admired the Rembrandt paintings and sketches at the Rijksmuseum, and learned some more Dutch history, including the rise of Delft pottery.  We also visited the Heineken museum and had a nice evening canal cruise.  Ryan also tried on some clogs.

Entrance to the Rijksmuseum during the (perpetual) renovation

Photo op at the Heineken museum

Ryan's clogs

Kait's second pair of clogs

Tuesday finally brought some dry weather, and we took the opportunity to do a bike trip to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel for a picnic.  After wearing ourselves out, we did some more strolling, and made a cursory visit to the seedy red light district.

We left the Keatings to their own devices on Wednesday while we went back to the real world.  They successfully found their way to the Anne Frank house, van Gogh museum and Onze Lieve Heer op Solder (the church in the attic).  We then followed a colleague's advice and visited a few traditional Amsterdam beer bars to try some Belgian and Dutch beers.

Canal picture of Ryan and Kait in the Jordaan

It was wonderful to have such great friends visit our new home.  They seemed to have the same positive experience and impression of this great town, and were sad to leave.  We hope to welcome them back soon (and hope they will share some of their great pictures with us to post here!)

Night shot of a glowing bridge in the Jordaan