Monday, January 12, 2015

Weekend Recap-The one where there was a party in a Church!

This weekend was a pretty fun one I must admit. It was fairly full, yet relaxing. You really can't ask for a better weekend than that...which really is why I am giving it a separate post away from my normal recap in my Menu Plan Monday post!

**(I will warn you in advance, as you scroll down there is a photo of a bronze relief I took that is a hand caressing a breast, I personally do not find it offensive and do not hide this stuff from my child, BUT, if you have children around you don't want to see it or are offended by that please visit the direct link to my Menu Plan Monday post above or check out more travel article I wrote here)**

We had a friend in town so our weekend really started Thursday night. We took him downtown for dinner, a stroll through the red light district, and to one of our favorite bars in the lobby of an old hotel down there.

When we came out at Centraal Station we came upon the House of Cards that is up for the Amsterdam Light Festival. 

Pretty cool huh?! 

After dinner and a stroll through to show him the girls behind the windows we stopped in at our favorite bar. This place is not expensive, it is a little hole in the wall and totally classy as evidenced by the Beethoven plaque. haha

It has two levels and the bartenders are always really nice and it always has people in it but it is never too crowded.

When you order wine you get a whole mini bottle. Really useful when you have two people, but not so much when it is just you. haha

We love this bar so much because you can look down and people watch and with two windows being just under you it is super entertaining! Just remember-NO PHOTOS! 

Here you can even watch people walk on their heads! Not really, but the "hold your child's hand" sign upside down is pretty hysterical. 

This plaque is in the Oudekerksplein, just outside the church, the artist is unknown, but it was installed in 1993.

I love the unknown about this bronze relief, I think it is probably one of my favorite pieces of art in the city.

Just a few blocks away from our favorite bar is another great bar where you can grab a table by the window and do yet more people watching.

But don't take your drinks outside, probably not wroth the €90. 


After this we walked around a bit more then headed home.

This is the metro to Gein, it is always so nice and coming from Centraal there is never anyone on it...but we don't go to Gein, so we get the crappy metro. haha

Friday morning I rode downtown with hubby to meet my friend for coffee and a museum.

I took a different walking route than normal and discovered this awesome courtyard! I love the design of the garden.


After we had coffee we went to the Museum of Bags and Purses. This place is hysterical. First off there was one of those defibrillators on the wall and they had chairs you could carry around with you if you need a rest! I think the average age of visitors here is about 75-80ish. But, it was actually quite interesting and the inside is GORGEOUS! I have more coming but here is a peek.... 


 These are boxes the kids used to use at school. They would keep them at school until Holiday and use them to write on and store their supplies. It did say they didn't have to be fancy, but the child with the most skilled father often had the nicest case. Parental competition even back then! :)

Then, after that I went home to change and met the hubby at work for dinner and his work had a great New Year's party...it was inside an old church! They had been renovating it for quite some time and finally finished it. I would love to get back inside for some better photos during the day.

Sorry for the crooked picture, I was holding wine, my clutch, and trying to take a photo! haha This is the altar where the DJ was. Those fresco's behind him had all been covered up at one point and they really did a great job uncovering them.

This was the Organ...wow! Just breathtaking! How cool is it we got to party under that?!

That staircase! <3 p="">
Then this guy made an appearance. Fire eater, neat, huh?!

Well, after this, where he ate his last bit of fire it just got weird. Like really weird. Like totally freaking me out weird and I can't relive the experience weird. But, ya know, it was entertainment so we just had more wine to get us through ;)

After that we were going to go to a party at a different club but the wind was so bitter and cold that we came home and drank hot chocolate. haha

Then Saturday we woke up to this gem of a day:

The wind eventually blew our neighbors shed over! Thank goodness nothing was in it, but now where will the birds bathe?! 

So, instead of doing anything we stayed in and drank copious amounts of coffee...I mean seriously, I had like 4 cups on Saturday! ha!


We played a little Ohana Mana...this is a favorite for sure!


Sunday was a little more chilled. I took the kiddo to cheerleading, came home to grocery shop and clean up house a little, then once the kiddo was home we decided to go to a movie! I will to a write up eventually but we have unlimited movie passes so we can go to the movies as many times as we'd like in a month for just the cost of our pass, which is an incredible deal and since we don't have cable we do movies! 

We actually got the nice metro this time ;) haha



I found the movie really helped break up the Sunday blues. I think we will do it again next Sunday too! 

How was your weekend? Do you get the "Sunday blues" in your house too? How do you deal with it?






4 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fantastic weekend! I love your Europe and seeing your pictures. I have never been to Amsterdam but I think it needs to make my list :-)

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    1. Thank you JoAnn! It was a great weekend, but Amsterdam can deliver a good weekend to anyone looking for one. If you haven't been and are planning a European trip Amsterdam I think is a great destination. It is a good one to hit as an "in-between" stop because you don't need long 3, max 4 days to see all the highlights depending on how quick you want to move through. :) But, if you are a fan of museums you could easily do a week or more exploring those! haha Amsterdam is known for its many, many museums!

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  2. Sounds like a wonderful weekend! I'd love to go to Europe sometime, and Amsterdam looks great! I especially love that house of cards - how cool! Thank you for the pictures!

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  3. I love organs! I find them beautiful and dramatic. Glad you had a good time!

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