The walk / my old house

I took the bus to work this morning because I'm going out straight after work! :-)

I decided to walk into town from work, which is about an hour's walk. The weather was great so it was very nice.

I walked past my old house and was able to look inside and see what they've done with the place!
There is a kitchen where my bed once was.

They made a bedroom where my old kitch was and put a wall around it. I would've done the same thing except I would have made the bedroom smaller so that the little window would be in the kitchen. It's a dark hole now, the kitchen...

The living room door is some black metal thing with a lot of glass in it. Glass = OK, black = shit.

The windows got fresh paint but no green which looks odd compared to the other windows.

I continued my walk along the beautiful canals of Amsterdam.

When I got to Mulligans I was hot and very thirsty so I ordered a cold, juicy pint of cider. Wonderful stuff this is!

Gerrit joined me for a few drinks and a great Indian dinner and we left 10-ish. A lot of things changed in the area lately so I was quite amazed to see that whole streets had another look now, like this part of the Rokin.

The drinks

I took the bus to work again for a change because after work I was going into town! :-)

The city district council and ChipSoft have teamed up to display a Christmas wish on our building.

At work there was a bit of an emergency as I was seriously out of coffee... I had to run out and get more.

After work I took the tram down to my old place and from there I walked into town. Lovely little walk along the canals.

Max was behind the bar in Mulligans. The place looks extra cosy around Christmas.

Gerrit was running late so I stared at the wall for a bit ;-)

After 3 pints of Guinness if was most certainly time for some food. We wanted shoarma but the place was closed so we went to waga's instead. The food was niiiiiiiiice!

After dinner we had a few more drinks and then walked back to get the bus home. I had a very enjoyable evening and so did Gerrit by the looks of it ;-)

The terraces

Mic. On his phone.

Gerrit. Also on his phone. Even the guy behind him is on his phone.

Actually this was one of the few moments we used our phones ;-)

We hit a few terraces for dinner and drinks and we finished in Mulligans. I was tired by 10PM. Must be getting old...

The Dutch movie

Some days I walk the stair to my office. It's just 17 floors, no biggie ;-)

I start to breathe heavier after the 7th floor. By the time I reach the 17th floor I'm just about fed up with the exercise so that's good.

In the evening I met Gerrit to go see a movie. It was a very nice movie. Not a big international blockbuster but one made in Holland, with Dutch actors doing a Dutch story. The crowd was small and civilised. Nice.

It was at the Tuschinski cinema which is known for it's stunning architecture.

The street where the cinema is, has changed a fair bit over the last couple of years but not to its advantage unfortunately. Normal shops are replaced with more tourist traps. Souvenirs and nutella everywhere. It's bad.

Afterwards we had a lovely pint of the black stuff.

Hanging out with the G.

Our own coffee machine is fucked so now we have to use the one upstairs. It's very, very fancy. Too fancy. I now have to think too much when getting coffee. I don't care how awesome the coffee is that comes out. I can't taste its awesomeness anyway. I WANT MY OLD COFFEE!

Walking towards the ferry after work. Beautiful skies.

I met Gerrit at a new burger place at Central Station.

The burgers aren't cheap but they are very nice. I managed to make Gerrit smile for a picture.

Walking home from the pub I saw this light-sculpture close to my house. I liked it a lot.

Meet Piet Haas (Pete Bunny) / Seasick Steve

My mom and dad brought my oldest left soft-toy from when I was a kid. He is called "Piet Haas".

I reached the gate of hell in World of warriors. Sounds promising...

In the evening Gerrit, Mic and I had dinner before we went to a concert. There was a guy sitting next to Gerrit who could've been his (much) younger brother.

We went to see Seasick Steve.

It was a nice concert. Steve's cool.

The new year's dinner

There was a beautiful moon hiding behind the smoke (which is actually steam...)

After work I went to Mulligans to meet up with friends. We were going to have a little new year's dinner and a wee drink :-)

There were Danny, Marjolein and Gerrit.

As well as me, Mic and Jos. Nice evening but you can tell we're getting old coz almost all of us left at 10PM ;-)

The second proteine diet, day 24.

My little fake bonsai tree at work has given up. One of the trunks is rotting away and it can't manage anymore. It tried making a few new branches but it was too late. It's gotta go now...

After work I went to Mulligans. I saw a contraption from the Amsterdam Light Festival.

In Mulligans it was nice and quiet and all the Christmas decorations were up again. Very cosy :-)

Because of my diet I'm not drinking alcohol. I had to stick with diet coke and cups of tea. Crap...

Gerrit and I went to Wagamama for dinner. I don't think Gerrit smiles for pictures ;-)

Of course I couldn't eat just anything, it had to kinda fit my diet as well so I got this salad. It was delicious!

After dinner we went back to Mulligans. My old friend Birgitte also dropped in. She lives in Melbourne and is visiting for Christmas. It was nice to see her again. On my way home I saw the Christmas tram!

The EYE

SCORE! I guess I have 3 movies to watch this winter :-)

Gerrit and I went to see a movie at the EYE film museum. First we had dinner there which was very enjoyable! Great food in a great place. Loads of little lights everywhere, great view over the water towards Central Station. The customer-base dresses very nice which is nice. All age groups etc. Very civilised place ;-)

The movie we saw was the new Coen Brothers movie.

I liked it but have seen better movies coming from them.

The EYE restaurant where we had a few beers after.

I also received some more Christmas cards today, nice :-)