Rain, Rain and Now....Sunshine!

By late Friday morning the showers had slowed down. This was perfect as we had not thought of leaving the apartment until about that time.

With umbrellas in hand, we headed down the Haarlemmerdijk in search of food. We found a small, dark pub with a menu posted that we could 'somewhat' translate and went inside. The resulting order was 2 fairly good sandwiches (Bob and Brian) and a nice Greek salad (Jessie). The only misunderstanding was when we thought the soup of the day was a mozzarella, bacon soup. Instead it was a MUSTARD based soup. I liked it. Jessie, not a fan of mustard was happy she had also ordered a salad.

From the pub we stopped at a cheese store for snacks to take home. A couple of apple tarts and a brownie sustained us as we continued our walk.

The Red Light District during the day was our next destination. We stopped along the way at some souvenir shops and continued to walk.

By early evening Brian and Jessie were ready to head out on their own. We walked them to the Leidseplein. There is a temporary outdoor ice skating rink in the area. Music was playing in all directions. Christmas lights are hanging brightly. There are stands selling waffles and poffertjes. We knew they had found a place to have fun! Assured that they could make their way back to the apartment either on foot or by taxi, we left them for the evening.

Heading back to the apartment in light rain, I opted for the couch with a book and a blanket. I think I read the same page 15 times before I decided to give up!

Their last day with us arrived so quickly!

We headed to the local Farmer's Market in the morning. We picked out some cheese, some bread and some salami to go with our brunch. A quick stop at the grocery store for the rest of our ingredients and we headed home to cook. Jessie and I put together a nice brunch in record time! Allen joined us for the afternoon. Bruce and Eelco stopped by for awhile too.

All too soon it was time to walk to the Central Station for their 6:30 train to Frankfurt. With threats of rain but nothing actually coming down, we headed to the station.

We are watching the stand by list as I type this, and are glad to report they are comfortably seated in row 1. Of course, the sun has been shining all morning. There are no clouds anywhere in sight!

Time for us to do a few last minute things in Amsterdam and get ready to wrap up this amazing chapter!