Feeding pigeons
Playing with bubbles
More bubbles
Popping bubbles
Street performers in Amsterdam
Meerkoet or coot nesting spot
Our weather forecast had been rain, but we woke up to clearing skies and decided to walk Amsterdam for a bit before I needed to get ready for my conference. The crooked little streets and especially the canal streets are fabulous to walk, and at 9 am it’s not yet so crowded, so we had a great time just looking around. Rembrandt Plein is the next town square over, so we saw that. We walked through most of the old town center, since that is where our hotel is, and the conference venue on the university campus is, too. In fact, we stopped by the conference and grabbed a muffin and a juice there as we walked around. We stopped by the Old Church, which to me was only notable because the red light district begins right across from it, with a few of the famous windows with scantily clad ladies facing the church. But in the daytime that wasn’t so noticeable, and the red light district was a pretty sleepy that morning! We finished our walk, during which we dodged bicycles, scooters and the ubiquitous “coffeehouses” that sell marijuana (I don’t like the smell of pot) pretty much continuously, and grabbed sandwiches to take back to the hotel for our lunch. We have a little fridge andd even two hot plates and a sink, so it was just the thing, and we had lunch in the room after I got down test-reading and tweaking my paper. Then I took off for my conference, and Mark continued his Amsterdam adventure by watching people, especially street performers and kids (not to mention pigeons) on the big Dam square. He then came pick me up, with a raincoat to wear, and we found a nice, quiet Indian restaurant for dinner, before we rested in our room a bit. I went back for conference keynote at 8 pm, and we both went to a fun but incredibly noisy reception right afterwards, and then explored Amsterdam by night for a little while. The red light district is jam packed with tourists, but actually not as racy as I had heard. I had enough fairly quickly–I have no moral issues with legalized prostitution per se (Germany has it too), but I am always worried about how exploitative it is. The women in the windows mostly just looked bored, and the tourist mostly a bit embarrassed. We left the area of three or so streets that make up the red-light district, and went back to the hotel, where the crowds were also a bit lighter and where I slept really well despite the street noise,