A Week at a Time: April 23-29, 2011

On Saturday the 23rd, Mr. Traveler and I decided to take advantage of our last weekend before three solid weeks of company and go shopping for orange shirts for Queen's Day (or Koninginnedag). While we weren't successful in that endeavor, we did have fun walking through the center and eating at La Place at the V&D. Later in the evening we brought our dinner out to the park, where we sat among other groups that had the same idea.

Apr 23 - Dinner in the Park

Sunday was Easter, but we didn't do much in the way of celebrating. Mr. Traveler had his weekly baseball game, and I went to watch in a tank top, shorts, and plenty of sunscreen! I couldn't believe it was so warm. Even though their team didn't play too well that day, it was still nice sitting on the bleachers in the sun. I managed to snap the following picture just before the batter hit a home run over the fence.

Apr 24 - Home Run!

On Monday, Mr. Traveler's friend arrived early in the morning. I've already written a little about his visit here. Since it was Easter Monday, or Second Easter, and the marathon was taking place, the bus and trains were not running on their normal schedules. Mr. Traveler got in touch with J and had him navigate to our place. After we visited for a little bit, we headed off to grab brunch, walked around town (and around the Utrecht Marathon, pictured below), had a beer at a local cafe, and ate at an Indian restaurant for dinner, where the waiter insisted that I didn't want to order the Chicken Vindaloo because it would be too spicy. I assured him I could handle it and enjoyed every spicy bite!

Apr 25 - Utrecht Marathon

On Tuesday, while our guest was meandering around town, I started working on my to do list. I sent off cards, purchased a present for a friend who is getting married this week, bought the next book for my book club, and went for a run. As I came in from jogging, I noticed a new flower in our flower bed out front and went back outside to take this picture:

Apr 26 - Pretty Weed

On Wednesday, J and I rode the bikes out to the pancake house for lunch. Later, Mr. Traveler had baseball practice, so I ran over to one of the smaller grocers and picked up some ingredients for veggie and black bean tacos. As I was preparing dinner, I noticed how similar the pepper on the cutting board and the flower picture from the day before looked.

Apr 27 - Pepper

Thursday, I had to run to the bank and to the beer shop to pick up the "best beer in the world" for our guest to try. I thought it would just be a quick bike ride to do both, but I couldn't unlock my bike since Mr. Traveler's bike was connected to it and his friend J still had the key. I enjoyed a nice long walk around town, though, and walked back through the park, where I took the picture below of two men transporting several canoes.

Apr 28 - String of Boats

Friday, was perhaps to most eventful day of the week. Mr. Traveler took the day off to spend with his friend, and I decided to let them have some "guy time" in Amsterdam. Since it took them a while to get going, I left just before them on a mission to finally buy some orange shirts. I was rushing to get out the door, anxious to forget I was getting left behind (even though it was completely my idea). I rode the bus to the center of town, where I almost immediately found some orange shirts for 4 Euros at the C&A department store. I purchased 4 since more friends were coming in for the holiday and then picked up a ridiculous hat at an accessories store called Girlzzz. By that time I was getting hungry, but I wandered around a little bit before heading back to our house to eat leftovers for lunch. However, when I got home, I realized I didn't have my keys. The compartment of my purse in which I normally store them was unzipped, so I wasn't sure if I left them at home or whether they fell out.

I didn't have my phone with me, since it tends to set off the theft prevention alarms at stores, so I decided to walk to the rental office to see if they had a spare key. When I got to the rental office, the lights were out, but the door was unlocked, so I walked inside. A girl met me at the door and informed me that the rental office had moved. She gave me directions to the new office, and off I went. At the new office (a significant walk away), I was welcomed by a sign that indicated they were "open, but out on appointments". I waited around for a little while, but no one came to change the sign, so I decided to grab lunch and coffee.

When I came back, the sign was gone, new hours were posted, and the doors were locked. Since the office wasn't supposed to close for another hour, I waited around for about 20 minutes, but then gave up, figuring that they might have closed early for the holiday weekend.

I walked back to the C&A to see if anyone had turned in a lost pair of keys, even though I wasn't even sure I had lost them. The woman working the register looked through the drawers and decided that no one had turned in any keys.

At that point, I decided I was probably going to be locked out for a while, so I ran by a bookstore and picked up a new book to read. I walked to Grift Park and sat and read until 6. Then, I walked back to our place and dropped a note in the mail slot indicating that I was locked out and would be at Wilhelmina Park reading until dark or until someone came to get me. Around 9:15, I left Wilhelmina and came back to our street, hoping that the boys had returned and just missed the note. They weren't back, so I sat under the street light for a while at the end of our block, continuing to read my book. At 10:00, I decided I was tired of being outside (and I needed to use the restroom), so I left a second note, this time asking Mr. Traveler to meet me at the bar next to our house. At the bar, I found an empty table, ordered a beer, and read for almost two more hours, until I glanced up and saw Mr. Traveler's face.

While it was a long day, I felt like I stayed pretty upbeat throughout the whole ordeal. Buying the book was definitely the best decision all day. Ironically, I took the picture below when I first headed out shopping. I marveled at how patiently the dog seemed to be waiting for his owner, outside of the store, in the middle of a giant crowd of people. I just didn't know that later, it would be me doing the waiting.

Apr 29 - Patient