Green lollipops and the like

What other place in the world do you go where you walk into a ‘Supermarket’ and find ‘special’ lollipops (plus all your other needs for ‘special’ business) for purchase?  And where else do you find male urinals in the middle of the street?  And what is that funky smell that wafts past my nostrils on occasions  Is there any other option but Amsterdam?!?  FYI no ‘special’ items were brought, no funky smells contributed (well not that kind any way) by us, and as far as I’m aware, Jono didn’t use the oh so public urinal.  

Just an aside or two.  I don't understand the appeal of concrete rivers when you could have grassy banks.  How can concrete be more romantic or appealing?

One kinda cool thing that most EU cities have that NZ cities don't really do is have foot only centres.  I do quite like this.   Does seem to make looking around nicer/easier or something.

Highest on the list to do in Amsterdam itself was Anne Frank’s house.  We were surprised to find a long queue that was slow moving.   So we ventured off elsewhere only to return and leave and then return again (lots of walking, little progress).  It was really cool (despite the wait and tooing and frooing) to see the house she lived in while she wrote the diary.  The place was tastefully done with quotes from it all round the place, and of course her actual diary is there.  Sadly once again, no photos.  These places that don’t like to let you take pictures are kinda annoying!

Amsterdam in some ways seems like a more spaced-out modern Venice, so a canal cruise was in order.  

I've never seen so many bikes in my life before!!!

The outside of the Kings palace was a buzz because it was a day before the very significant thing (for Amsterdam anyway).  The significant thing was the old Queen handed her throne to the new King – we decided that it may not be wise to venture into town that day, with about 800000 people meant to be there, it might be a bit hard being in an unfamiliar city, plus everything touristy would be closed.   Not very royal-spirited of us – but who even knew that the Netherlands had a Queen. 

Front of the palace

Back of palace

Monument near palace

King/Queen day we headed off to the famous keukenhof gardens.  Considering we are meant to be in late spring there were still quite a number of flowers that hadn’t bloomed – must be a very late season.  It was beautiful none the less. 

Paddocks of flowers

How can you not love big clogs??

Yea - we totally conquered the maze

The lonely planet guide says gouda is a must – so gouda we did (to me it’s just cheese that’s plastic like, give me a cheddar anyday). We had also a dutch waffle, which was good in an interesting way.  We ate more lonely planet guide ‘must eats’ in the Netherlands – French fries with sauce (we had mayonnaise and tomato sauce) and Kroket – Kroket is completely overrated, what a waste of a food, I can’t believe this made it in there. It's like a blob of bad mashed potato that has been rolled in bread crumbs and deep fried. 

Prayer thanks
- For safety and enjoyment while we travel
- For the time we've been able to spend with family (yes it's not been mentioned cos I am ages behind on blog).
- My back has been pretty good, only an occasional niggle.

Prayer requests
- Continued safety and enjoyment.
- That Jono's foot/ankle will recover
- That God will continue to be highest priority then our marriage