buddies

while it is very fun and exciting to travel in europe with one's husband (especially if it's MY husband), it's also fun to have some friends to share one of your favorite places with. and we are lucky to have friends like laurel and david who came all the way from baltimore for 4 days of fun with us in amsterdam. we had a lot to do, and no time to waste....

laurel reserved our tickets at the anne frank huis, so we were able to skip the line. ryan and i bought a museumkaart when we arrived here; it's been a fabulous deal for our prolonged stay in amsterdam. 40 euro gets you admission to almost every museum here, and you skip the line-- and they just added anne frank to the roster. you still need to reserve on line for line jumping though. david's back is also in this picture. 

on the canal boat tour!

we're so adorable...

last time laurel was in amsterdam, she had food poisoning from dublin. so she ate at hard rock cafe 2 out of 3 times. i told her that was enough hard rock cafe in amsterdam for a lifetime, so we didn't go there again. 

on the canal cruise...

yes, a bike and a bridge!

we also went to the rijksmuseum... 

david was actually looking at me, but thought i only wanted laurel in the picture, when i was trying to get them both. oh well; laurel looks adorable. 

then we went to small talk eating house, across from the van gogh museum. DO NOT EAT HERE. i'll explain later. it'll give the pictures that follow a certain.... doom. 

warsteiner. this was probably fine. 

literally the worst french onion soup ever. it was like beef jello under there, and the cheese was gouda, and it was not good. 

cheese sandwich....

ryan had dover sole, and he ate it all up. while we were sitting here, i was talking to laurel, and ryan and david were chatting. suddenly i hear ryan say, "we need to get out of here before susanne freaks out." i said, "I'm not freaking out, what are you talking about?? i'm just talking, i'm fine!" and then he said.....

susanne--

i just saw a mouse under the table. 

i hate mice. hate and also am terrified by them. hantavirus kills. plus, they are so gross- twitchy noses and long naked tails and their claws that can scurry over your face if you happen to fall asleep while they're near. suffice to say, i flew out of the restaurant and waited outside. do not eat here. 

it's given me a whole new appreciation for the cafe cats. 

we had to go have some amstel's in amsterdam to make things better. 

but i had hoegaarden, haha

take that, pepsi. 

laurel is happy because she has an amstel beer in amsterdam. 

we are both happy there are no mice here. 

we also had some shots of jenever, the ancestor of gin. now, i am a girl who loves her some G&T's. but it turns out that jenever is a little different. first, it's served slightly chilled in a shot glass. 

i took one sip, and that was all. mice restaurant, bad soup, too strong.... bad combo. but since NO ONE believed that i had tried it, i had to have 3 more sips to prove to each individual person that i had given it a shot. jerks. 

ryan got mine. 

there is a rug on our table. 

ryan is a real man. you should see the hair on his chest. 

we walked around the red light district a little, to prove how non scary/tacky/hilarious it is. laurel enjoyed laughing at the prostitutes. i have to tell you something-- the best looking girls don't become hookers. that's all i'm saying. 

then, since they watched us take photos of the tourists all weekend, laurel and david insisted on being subjects in our project as well. 

we are photographing each other. it's meta. 

weekend accomplished! thanks again for coming, you guys!!!