Before we start on our little endeavor, I have to own up to something. This post is going to be RIDICULOUSLY LONG. Confession number 2: The following photos were NOT taken on September 3rd. The only travel photos I have for September 3rd are, in short, bad. They're photos of the journey to the airport and taking off in the airplane in 2014. Rather than torture you with that, I'm throwing back to 2005. My first ever trip to The Netherlands! I had just married my Dutchboy on May 5th, he went home to pack up his life and file his immigration paperwork on May 18th and I flew over there the May 30th to file paperwork at the embassy in The Netherlands. This is called a Direct Consular Filing. I went, established a home in the Netherlands (for three days!) and then filed the paper work there, versus in America. Total time to approval: 55 days. In America, it would have taken at least eight to ten months. However you can't do that anymore. K1 Visa is your only option, and gives the rest of us fine television programming like 90 Day Fiasco, I mean Fiance.
But, alas, I digress. On to the photos! I find it odd what I opted to take photos of, what I thought was magical enough to deserve a photograph. So many of the places that were odd, have become familiar and very dear to my heart. The place that made me feel so strange, feels more like home that I could ever imagine. Fun to look back, see how things have changed, and remember being a newlywed on her first trip outside of America, experiencing the world for the first time.
Let's start at the beginning. The door to his apartment on the Kramatweg. Or Kermit the Frog street. Don't ask. It's what I heard and I couldn't say it Dutchboy's way. Anklebreaker stairs to the top! And the view once I got there.
The days that followed were filled with seeing Amsterdam, time meeting his family, and traveling to Marken, Leiden, and Muiden.
The photo below is NOT the gay monument. It's a public urinal. Much to my shock, Dutchboy used it.
This IS the Gay Monument. A tribute to homosexuals that were shipped to the camps and killed in World War II.
Palace on the Dam-- Dam Square.
Theater Tuschinski. I adore this building. We saw Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith!
Paradiso. The Amsterdam equivalent of the Ryman-- old building that is a TEMPLE to music of all kinds.
"A wise man does not piss in the wind". Good advice.
Flevopark, near Dutchboy's apartment. One of the few places I was brave enough to wander around alone, while he worked.
Vondel Park. The statue is Joost van den Vondel-- for the sake of simplicity, the Dutch equivalent of Shakespeare.
A couple of photos from a night boat tour of Amsterdam.
The point at which I was panicking about being in a tourist canal boat, leaving fingernail marks in Dutchboy's palms and begging him to "GET ME THE HELL OFF THE BOAT". I'm better on boats, now. REALLY. I hardly panic.
Enough of Amsterdam. Now, we''re on to Marken! A small fishing village on the Markermeer. It's very touristy and cute.
I was amazed at how many herons they had, and the fact you can walk right up to them! I took a MILLION photos. And I don't even LIKE birds.
Next on the tour, Leiden.
And then on to the beach! At Katwijk aan Zee! Wide beaches, meant for soccer!??!
And finally, to the quaint and beautiful Muiden! And their lovely castle, Muiderslot!
A rare photo of a Dutchboy in a reflective mood.
My best Princess Di impression-- I was flying back home the next day, without my beloved. I was a sad panda.
Now, that''s quite enough of the boring, really old, stuff. I promise, the camera and my photography skills improved drastically! As did my appreciation of finer things.
Tot Ziens! Until tomorrow!
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