11 - 13 July Amsterdam

Lynne has been at the Conference the past few days, and is having a good time. Her poster is at 2pm on Wednesday. While Lynne's been in the conference Robby has been walking around and sketching, or drinking beer at weird taverns and cafes all throughout Amsterdam.

This is an interesting city... built along canals and rivers, it has a very relaxed feel and the people are really nice. It somewhat resembles New Orleans, and our theory is that it's the New Orleans of Europe, with all kinds of kids coming here for the weekend to smoke marijuana legally, party like rock stars, and make a great deal of noise. Like New Orleans, there is a lot of wonderful architecture and art and there are lovely quiet neighborhoods where the locals and "older" tourists hang out to avoid the partying crowds. We haven't met anyone who doesn't speak English. It's an easy town to get around in if you stay out of the cyclist's way, this town is ruled by the cyclists, with paths marked off on every street, alley, path, highway, and bridge.

July 11 (Monday) we had our breakfast in the hotel, then Lynne went to the conference. I (Robby) walked over to the Melkweg and got tickets for the "5 Days Off" electronic music festival on Saturday, where we'll get to see M.I.A. and Fischerspooner, and Claire will join us again. Then I went to the Van Gogh museum to see more of those great drawings, I spent most of my time upstairs in the drawing wing of the museum. Fantastic!

I found a great record store near the Paradiso, they had a bunch of mid-60s Dutch Beat (Nederbiet), but it was pretty expensive. I settled for a great compilation of mid-60s Dutch Girl Groups, looks like a goody (the guy at the store said as much). I plan to dj another Garage Rock show on WXDU when I return, and I'll feature this disc as well as my other Dutch Beat collections.

Back to the hotel after this and then met Lynne at the RAI, then we all went out to dinner with Bill, Alia, Kim, Piku, Julius, and Irving. We ate outdoors at a Thai Restaurant near the Nieuwmarkt, then took an interesting stroll through the Red Light District where the epidemiologists discussed the merits and pitfalls of legalized prostitution. We bumped into other people from the conference over there as well. It's interesting to note that Holland has one of the lowest STD rates in the world, as well as very low crime.

JULY 12 Lynne was at the conference all day and I went up to the Centraal Station to rent a bike. I rode all around the canals and up the river a bit, it turned into a really gorgeous day. I also went to the Vondelpark, a sprawling park just south west in the city, and did some sketching and leisurely riding. Then I headed up to the docks near the Centraal Station and watched boats chug around. I ate at an asian fusion restaurant that was quite good, a Japanese vegetable curry dish. The skies were cloudy for the first hour or so, then cleared up later and really was quite pretty.

The conference over for the day, Lynne met me at our local bar downstairs "Onder de Ooievar" or Under the Stork, and had a beer. We met up with Bill, Alia, Julius, and Piku, went to the Anne Frank House over on the other side of town. This is a really interesting and sad place, the exhibits are well done and describe mid-40s Amsterdam quite well under the Nazi occupation.

After this we wandered up to an African restaurant in the north part of the city. Piku, Julius, and Bill (all whom have either travelled or lived in Africa) noted that our service, as well as our food, was typically African (Veeeery slow, the owner of the restaurant took our orders, made our drinks, and then disappeared for an hour to prepare our food...). It took us an hour to get our food, and after it was all done, we'd been there for nearly 2 hours, leaving at midnight! Still, the food was excellent.

We walked Julius back to the Metro at Centraal Station and then took the tram back to our hotel.

July 13
Today is the last day of the Conference, and Lynne has her poster session from 12-3 (see above) Robby's going to the Reijksmusuem and meeting her at the conference to cheer her on and take photos (and also use the free internet!).

Piku and Alia flew out this afternoon to continue their travels in Italy. We met Bill, Irving, and Kim at Rembrandt Plein, then headed up to Marktplein to go to the fondue place. We had almost given up on Peter when we got there, but when we got to Cafe Bern he was sitting there waiting for us! Our reservations were for 6, and we had to wait about an hour, but it was well worth it... a hot bubbling cauldron of rich, creamy swiss cheese and delicious bread. We feasted for about an hour, washing it all down with great white wine.

After this we went on a massive quest for ice cream... odd that in Germany we found an "Eiscafe" on every street corner, but could find none here. We must have walked two miles and all we could come up with was ice cream on a stick... but it was a beautiful night. We all departed at a tram stop near Rembrandt Plein and said goodbye, they are all headed back to the States tomorrow.