Holland. Holler.

Look, that's me in Amsterdam! I was there!

Taking pictures of window displays! I missed a bunch. A lot of small shops had really simple classy window displays. Couldn't tell you what they sold.

but I love these twine balls. Seems like a pretty easy DIY.

Day three was a lot more walking. I kept tempting a boat tour, but figured walking was free and exercise and I could see all the same stuff any. All the quaint streets:

and canals

And bridges

and more canals

tram tracks

and gd bikes. It felt like the city of simulated frogger. There were cars, bikes and vespas whizzing in every direction on the road. I'm pretty sure there are no rules, save, "death to pedestrians"

Cousin and bf went to the Heineken Brewery. I passed bc I'm cheap and bc I've been to at least 25 breweries in the past three or four years. The way companies make beer just does not change enough for it to be interesting anymore. Also, Heineken beer is meh. I find enormous sweet potatoes wayyyy more exciting! Look at those suckers.

Amsterdam didn't have a lot of dark beer at all, but they at least had a selection. In Nice you asked for a beer and they asked light or medium. That could have been bc they didn't want to list off a bunch of names or that I didn't speak French, but thought it was interesting.

City Center, I believe. Or at least City Crowded.

With people and pigeons

The guy gives you seeds and then the pigeons give you avian flu

I found a shop with foccacia for ONE Euro! One! And was so delicious. Soft, chewy, sesame seed foccacia bread with roasted tomatoes, pesto, onions and I'm guessing artichokes from the looks of it. It was so good. And over all too soon.

That strawberry juice turned out to be a damn fine sweetener for my plain oats. I had it every morning with some vanilla yogurt dolloped on top.

And banana and pear on the side. I take a lot of food pictures...
But I get more comments about food on this thing than anything else so deal with it. I do feel like I'm painting a misleading picture here, tho. I eat a lot of crap, too. Here is an apple crumble from Harlem.

And a chocolate (fanciest gd chocolate muffin I've ever been served) muffin from Harlem.
People standing outside an eating establishment is the best way to lure me in. Everyone was walking around eating fries out of these cones and we finally indulged the last night, mid pub crawl. They serve them with mayo (lobster, if you read this you are so grossed out right now) and garlic sauce. There is a thing in Ireland called "garlic chips and cheese" I may have mentioned it before, but I know I have yet to take a picture. They are amazing. These fries, also good
I was going to get it from the place on the left as they had a sign up that said they won best fries in Holland, but their line was too long and I was impatient and there was no one on line in the maaz place so I made an executive decision (and just did the opposite of what I was talking about two seconds ago about crowds making me want to join in on their eating). My cousin and bf waited patiently on the Manneken Pis line. While I was waiting and eating the competitors fries the fry guy told me I had bought the wrong ones. "Prove it!" and then he gave me some free fries. And I liked maaz better.

Everyday walking around I stumbled upon a lady of the night in a window, except it was daylight. They stand in the windows talking on the phone or doing their hair or knocking on the glass to get your attention. We decided to go to the main strip our last night for a quick walk through. A few guys stumbled out of the doors looking dazed and delighted, but was not as crazy as I thought it'd be tho. At least the area we were around. No pics for obvious reasons, so here is this one!

and oh, hey, remember the entrance? Fell down it last night. From the top step...I got lucky with the few bruises and sprained ankle. This is a long way down onto a hard floor.

I can't believe we're gone and back already. It feels like I just got back from France. My Aunt is back from France tonight which may change the whole course of my stay as I no longer have a room to myself which will make me feel more intrusive on the house.

I can hear my wallet whimpering in my pocket some days. And then full on balling when we go to bed at night (bc I sleep with my wallet?). I haven't checked out the state of my checking account in a long time as I know it will be a disgrace. Mama needs a job.

Oh and my thyroid meds came! I'm sure that was quite the cliff hanger. I thought having no thyroid and then no thyroid meds for a week would have more than of an effect than a couple extra lb's, but I only felt drained the first day I took them again. Sorrry bodyyyyy. Sad news is they lowered my dosage. The last dosage was enough to sustain a 200lb gorillas metabolism (maybe they said man...probably gorilla). I don't even know what kind of animal this dosage is comparable to. Gazelle? Tiger? That's just not gonna do.

We're all home now with a bit of the hangover/post vacation blues. I have nothing else lined up so it's Ireland ahoy from here on out. I just don't think London is going to happen unless this lottery thing pans out for me. I was thinking I'd seen so many different kinds of bathrooms in the past month it would make a good book and make me millions, but alas it has already been done. The world doesn't need two books about toilets, do they? Do they need vitamin fortified cigarettes tho? Still think I got something with that.

This isn't even a crazy bathroom, I just like the red
Something about red lately
Don't get excited, haters of my ancient phone. That fancy talk machine is not mine.