Today was sunny and Tomorrow Justin Arrives!!!

Today was sunny - which is somewhat of a rare occurrence in late October here in Amsterdam.

They daylight hours are slipping away and the weather is mostly overcast, with occasional rain and wind.

see. gray skies. and a toy camera filter.

That sounds kind of dreary, but its such a light rain and the trees are aflame with a golden tone and its just so beautiful in general that its not at all bad.

beautiful! and a vivid color filter.

(Sounds a little bit like San Francisco: its cold and windy most of the year, but its so rad and mythical that its okay, plus you can always go the Mission for a patch of sun.)

With today's bit of sun, Daphne and I set out to see the Bloemnmarkt. As you can easily imagine, I was VERY excited about this.

FLOWERS! no filter.

My high school ambition was to be a florist and while I eventually realized that I didn't want to be wet and underpaid with bad hands, I still LOVE being around flowers. So the prospect of a visit to the flower market was very enticing.

And Daphne was down for the adventure. Daphne is pretty great for that.

meet Daphne and Joachim. and my reflection.

Our housemate's girlfriend arrived last week and not only is she a great cook who made me amazing healing soup after I returned from an hours long walkabout earlier today, she is also down to go on little a.m. adventures before I start work.

So we went to the flower market, which is billed as the world's largest floating flower market.

I'm not sure how many competing floating flower markets there are, but this one was pretty big.

And it mostly sells seeds and bulbs, not flowers.

and cacti

But its still very festive and there was enough color to keep things lovely.

So we cruised the market and tasted cheese. Daphne had gone to a tasting over the weekend and when we saw a cheese store, she took me in and aimed me towards the best selections.

you have no idea how delicious this cheese is.

I'd been needing a snack.

And cheese really is yummy here. But I've been saying that since Paris.

In real life I pretty much only ever buy goat cheese. Just a basic chevre to stuff in things. But here it is a cheese party. To go with the bread party. Washed down by the beer party. Complemented by other parties, but I'll abstain from going into that here.

edit out photo of "coffeeshop" insert mesmerizing bird picture

Beer really is as cheap as water and that makes it so delicious.

Dre and I also have done other things, like go the Stedelijk and see important art. And I don't think the enormous bathtub shaped addition is awkward and out of place. And I think that is one of the wonderful things about Amsterdam. It so unblinkingly blends the modern with the not-so modern in a way that doesn't come across as garish or contrived.

So we liked the museum. Especially after stopping in the cafe for a treat and a beer.

my favorites from the entire collection

another good one

the best one. Dre.

Okay. Off to bed. I have a Justin to get in the morning!!!