We had to play on Amsterdam FM at 3pm, arrive at 2. So we had to wake up early and catch the 8:30 train to Antwerp. We were supposed to have an hour wait between connections there, but luckily the earlier train that was supposed to depart two minutes before we arrived was late, so we ran down the escalators and caught it, and so had no wait. Very lucky!

We came into Amsterdam Centraal, another painfully busy train station, and the weather was quite soggy outside. We were now early so we went to get some food, and had the worst lunch of our trip. The burger was plastic, and the 'guacamole and tortilla chips' was about a thimble full of green mustard and something, and the tortilla chips were doritio's. At least the beer was good. It poured rain while we sat there. I have only been to Amsterdam once before, and it rained and I had bad food and had a confusing time finding my way. But things got much better after this, so I like the city now.

We were told the radio broadcast was from the library, which is near the station. We walked over in the misting rain, and found our way into this beautiful modern building. We were a bit confused when we saw the big stage set up on the 4^th floor, we hadn't realized it was this big.

We found out from one of the DJ's that the radio broadcasts from a few different locations and that a couple times a week it is from the library. There is a little booth on the side, but surrounded by windows is a big carpeted area, with an interview table, and big speakers.

There had been a 'double booking' so there were three artists there instead of two, but the DJ made it all work and we all got to play our 4 songs. The was one singer-songwriter named Dallas, who was from Austin, Texas. He had a really soft and warm voice, and catchy songs. There was also Chris, who was a local singer-songwriter and had good finger-picking style and good songs too.

We played the first two songs during the first hour where they were interviewing some guy about political stuff, it was a little weird, not because it was all in dutch, but because they seemed to be talking about 9-11 and bin laden, and it was strange to be playing my songs between this. The second half was artist interviews, so all three of the groups got interviewed. It was neat, singing and talking in this cool building, with huge windows overlooking the city.

We had to leave soon after we played to go meet the lady who was renting us her apartment for our stay in Amsterdam. It was a great AirBnB find. The place was more beautiful than the pictures. It was a 15 minute tram ride from the station, and the driver was really nice. We wove through the networks of streets and canals, bars and restaurants, cyclists and tourists. The tram driver helped us to get off at the right stop.

Mariette and her partner met us at the apartment and we chatted for a while before they left us with the keys to this big, bright, comfy apartment. We were sad that were were only there for 36 hours more, it was great to have such a space to ourselves!

Laundry was done, and some stretching out on the couch...

We hadn't seen a movie since we left Canada. So we decided to go out to dinner and see a movie. Mariette had suggested a gallant old theatre, and we bought tickets to the 'Tree of Life.' We had two hours before the movie and so we searched out a restaurant. Most places were quite expensive, but we found a really tasty indonesian restaurant that was affordable.

The movie was really interesting. It is not your typical hollywood movie, and so some of the people walked out. Aliza and I really enjoyed it though, very spiritual and thoughtful.

The night outside was cold and full of revelers. The amsterdam nightlife... we went home on the next tram...

After a nice sleep in, we packed our instruments and stuff for the day. Coffee and croissants at a bakery. Got off the tram at the Flea Market. Then we proceeded to purposely 'get lost,' wandering over bridges and down crooked streets and looking up at the even more crooked buildings that were slowly sinking into the silty ground below. At first you think something is wrong with your vision, because the houses are leaning over. You wonder how strong that last beer was. But then you realize you are not drunk, the houses are...

After some beers and planning in a smoky locals pub, we found our way to our first gig. We were supposed to be playing at the Delicatessen Zeeburg, a place that hosts a weekly songwriters night, and they showcase three or four each session. But the show had been moved to the next night, and the next night we had another show in another city. So Bas kindly worked something out for us, and found us two shows instead of the one. The first was supposed to be at an art exhibition opening, but we ended up playing at the bar across the street, opening the festivities for their six year celebration. The art exhibit was interesting. The artist had been to indonesia and interviewed people. She then wanted to express a way in which people collect things: papers, rocks, memories, clothes... So she made a whole wardrobe, and all these clothes were covered in pockets. Pockets on your boxers. Pockets on your sockets. Thirty pockets on your jacket. It was neat.

We played just a short 26 minute set at the bar across the street, and then set off for the next gig. This was at Zaal100 – pronounced something like Zal-hooondred. We met Paul who had booked us there. He showed us around, it was a restaurant that had live music on Fridays, we got good food and good beer and whiskey as a payment. We played two short sets. Although everyone was eating, and we were playing mostly acoustic – just my vocals were mic-ed – the audience payed pretty good attention. The second set was really good, we had met this really nice high school teacher during the break, and she not only offered us a place to stay (if not this time, next time), she bought our CD and then filmed and took pictures for us on our camera. Very sweet. Most of the people had finished eating by then, so we had a good time playing, and we got an encore request too.

We had been invited back to the six anniversary party, but we were quite tired and had a lot of travel planning to do. We got home and it actually took about four hours to plan our trip to the UK next week; we had to figure out how to get from prague to roscoff, northwest france. And then plan the ferry to plymouth. It is going to be quite the adventure....

So all in all, we were really enjoyed amsterdam. The party scene is bit excessive, but the people are really nice, and the charm of the canals and meandering streets makes us want to come back to explore some more.