Singel
Singel, Amsterdam.
Late lunch
…unfortunately the ink from the next entry slightly shows through this page…can’t be avoided as I used the small thin papered moleskine cahier.
Take a break
It was a good day, except for one thing. The figure drawing workshop I want to do is canceled. One of students bailed out so suddenly, and now the teacher can’t get enough people for the class. 
how disappointing!!
The ghost says …
Honestly, I have no idea what he is saying…I was just doodling aimlessly. This is just one of my ‘rambling sketches’. I was inspired by the fact that I have to go to my biology class this evening (first lesson). However the weather outside is not co-operating at all. It is raining hard and very windy. An umbrella will not stand a chance and I do not have a rain coat!! Phhhwwttt!
Figures
It’s been 10 years since I took a figure drawing class. And I thought that it would be good to follow a figure drawing workshop this time. I made a call to day and (sort of) register myself to take the class. However, the instructor told me that she is still looking for 2 more students, before she will start the workshop on the scheduled date. I do hope she can get them.
Grote Kerk, Den Haag
Easter weekend is always a long weekend. Today is Good Friday. And although it is not a national/bank holiday in Holland, my office is closed anyway. Then Monday is 2nd day of Easter, which is a national/bank holiday. After checking on the internet on how the weather would be in the rest of the country today, I decided to go to Den Haag (the Hague). They said that this afternoon it would be sunny there, and they were right. It was a beautiful day just to be outside. While sitting on a terrace of a cafe and waiting for my lunch to be served, I drew this church ‘de Grote Kerk’ which is located right across where I sat.
In memoriam
Click to enlarge.
IN MEMORIAM
Likamkie “Red”
15 april 2000 - 19 maart 2006
‘Vreugde en verdriet hebben we gedeeld
Met vreugde hebben we gespeeld
Het verdriet gevoeld en
Samen weg gekroeldWaarheen je ook zal gaan
onze liefde blijft eeuwig bestaan’
Vaarwel, lieve Red. Rust zacht. Wij houden van jou.
(Gedicht door Maria Egas voor de SHCN)
——————————————————————
What we had never thought, has actually happened. This afternoon we lost our sweet cat, Red. She was just 5 years old. She was a healthy cat, very persistent but loving. She always washed our fingers or licked our face. If we tried to push her away, she would insist to stay and keep washing. We thought that she would live to be 20 or at least 15. But… apparently that was not ‘the plan’….
Friday night when we came home, we noticed that she was very absent and quiet. Then we noticed that she was incredibly thin. This we had not noticed before, and it was very unfortunate. I hugged her, tried to play with her, she didn’t react as cheerful as usual. She approached me very slowly and I noticed that she was slightly limping.
Saturday morning we called the vet and made an appointment to go in the afternoon. Before we brought her to the vet, I gave the cats can food. Red still had her appetite, but she was clearly lost her fighting over the mood fierceness. The fact that she still had appetite, made me feel better. But the vet’s diagnose said that her kidneys were failing. We asked for a bloodtest right away. It did confirm the vet’s diagnose. The machine couldn’t even determine how high the value is anymore, because it already passed the maximum value set for the machine. We made a decision to leave Red with the vet for two days. The vet thought that she would get better. They usually do.
Sunday morning, today, we got a called from the vet’s assistant. She needed help from us, because she had to clean Red’s cage. Red was not really cooperating and fiercely hissing at her. Nor laughed when he heard this. I felt happy too. We thought, yay, she’s back and is showing who is the boss. The assistant said that we needed to be there at one o’ clock. I couldn’t wait till I could see Red again. But when we got there, the news that the vet gave us was not the news that I wanted to hear at all. She warned us before we saw Red to mentally prepare ourself. Red’s condition has worsened in the last 30 minutes to one hour before hour arrival. She got a very high fever and seemed to be in a dying state.
Finally, we saw her in her cage. Her body was twitching every few second. I guess, it was the fever. The vet explained again that at that state there was no turning back. I kept calling her name, but she didn’t respond. Her eyes were open, but they didn’t respond. The vet left us alone to let us think and make a decision. The decision came, but it was a tough one. We have decided to put her to sleep. When the vet came back, we told her about it and she offered to take off the IV needle and put Red on a towel so that we could hold her and sit down wit her. We were alone again and we took turn in holding her. I called her name again, did the ‘tick tick’ motion with my fingers which I usually did when she did something naughty and knew that something was off limit. Her tail gave some response. Her eyes blinked several time. I was so happy. I thought I would get her back and could take back our decision. But a few minutes later, she went back to that twitching mode and blank eyed again. We couldn’t stop our tears. We were already crying when the vet was there. We were still crying when the vet was back. We just did not care. The vet finally came with a syringe filled with blue green fluid. She assured me that the fluid also contains enough dose of narcotic beside the main ingredient. It just take a few seconds for it to work, she said. I believed that, I watched enough vet series on Animal Planet so it was nothing new. But now it happened to my own pet that I needed that reassurance. She offered if we would like to give the injection. We both refused. So she did it by puncturing the IV tube with the needle and injected the fluid. We said goodbye to Red again. I was silently praying that she would go to a cat heaven if there is one. Or the rainbow bridge.
Tomorrow, the SHCN will pick up her body from the vet and cremate it privately, separate from other pets. Then they will put Red’s ashes in an urn and deliver it back to the vet, where we can pick it up. We will keep the urn and give Red a final resting place, in our house near our heart.
Naturalis-4
Click to enlarge.
The dog is preserved and stuffed. He guards the entrance to the exhibition spaces faithfully. Contrary to the usual sign of ‘Niet aanraken (Don’t Touch)’, he has a sign that says ‘Ik mag geaaid worden (I may be petted)’, which encourages kids to touch him. I touched him to for a second. The coat felt real but it gave me a strange feeling, which I could not explain. May be the fact that it did not react to my touch and the lack of warmth. Petting a static stuffed dog felt certainly different than petting my neighbor’s always drooling dog (a real sign of life). Conclusion: Life really makes a difference.
Naturalis-1
Click to enlarge.
I spent a day at the Natural History Museum (Naturalis) in Leiden last Friday. I used the visit to make many small sketches of preserved animals and plants. I considered it as a preparation before going to a zoo. The animals at Naturalis are as real as those in the zoo, only they are dead and therefore, static. It was a good exercise. And I think, I like the challenge of sketching different animals within a short period. The variation is refreshing. This summer, I’ll visit one of the zoo and see how I deal with moving animals other than my cats.
More Poppies
Click to enlarge
I totally abused my moleskine this time. When I finished it was very wet.
I was trying to follow the technique described in a book. Using a sketch I made last year as a reference, I drew the flowers using a bamboo pen and waterbased ink (Ecoline). By the time the pen, which was loaded with ink, hit the surface of my moleskine, the sketchbook sucked up all the ink at once. It was quite difficult to control. I then brush some water over the ink.The sketch is supposed to be a loose ink wash. But the ink didn’t want to spread at all. I soaked the page with loads of water, it didn’t help. Once the sketchbook absorbed the ink, well, that was that then. I then added some watercolor to soften up the sketch a bit. It helped.
This makes me wonder, what kind of paper actually is best for ink wash?
Lips-tick
Everyday Matters Challenge #53. Click to enlarge.
A little note: those aren’t my lips. According to the challenge, I now need to journal about speaking out.
Thinking about it, I am more of a thinker than a speaker/writer. I am so bad with words. So I won’t say much.
Pink Hyacinth
Drip…drip… drip. I made the flower drip, just as my nose. I know it sounds disgusting. But that is how I feel with this irritating cold. Headache that doesn’t want to go away, leaky nose, itchy eyes, dry throat…I am not going to bore you with this. It is disgusting enough.
Click to enlarge.
Happy New Year!
Additional note (22.01.2006): I’ve also submitted this drawing for this week’s Illustration Friday - Cats.
Happy New Year everyone!
Here is my first post and drawing in 2006. A baby Pirozjki.
It is drawn based on a photo we took when she first arrived at our house. It was mid-July in 2002 and she was about 6 weeks old. She was about as large as my palm (she weighs around 5.5 kg now). So cute and so small. We got her from the local animal shelter. Tomorrow we will take her to her new home in Hilversum. We’ve got one more day to spend with her.
I’ve been busy surfing and visiting other illustrated blogs since yesterday. After reading other people’s New Year resolutions, I feel like I have to add a few more ‘details’ on my own art resolution. I will draw more people, activities, plants/flowers, animals especially my cats. I will not be too picky about choosing a subject. I will also draw more from photos, if necessary and when I feel like it. Sketch more, think less. More patience, less worry. Practice more more more…
NOTE: Click to enlarge. Coloured pencils on Moleskine.
Pirozjki is leaving us …
My cat, Pirozjki, will be leaving us next week Monday. A new year… a new home for her. It is a sad fact for us, but it is unavoidable.
More than half a year ago, we started to notice that her behaviour changed. She is afraid of the other cats, especially of the two ex-males. She rarely plays with the others. She often hides under the unfinished kitchen cabinet, beside the mobile pedestal/trolley in Nor’s office, and the latest favorite place of hers is on or beside the TV (a place where the other cats seldom bother her). She doesn’t seem to understand the word ‘play’ in cat language. When Bac or Joey approaches her, they usually want to play. But she seems to translate that into ‘intimidation’. She growls, gets irritated, runs away, and hides. When Bac gives her a cat hug (Bac’s way of showing play mood, usually to Joey but also to others), Pirozjki’s reply is a growl of ‘go away, you brute!’, ‘you’re suffocating me!’ (Bac is heavier and larger), ‘help! I am being strangled’. But she usually doesn’t hiss and doesn’t give Bac (or other cats who is being a pest) a slap or two in his face, just to show his place. I noticed that Red and Salami do this to him or Joey when they are being annoying. However, Pirozjki is apperently not that assertive. Her rank went down to the bottom of the list in our household about 6 months ago, or so we think. We kept hoping that she would somehow ‘fight’ back, but it is just not happening.
So after waiting for months and seeing that the cat is not getting anymore comfortable, we made a tough final decision last week. We would look for a new home for Pirozjki where she will be the only cat. No more cat hugs or attempts to strangle.
We placed an ad online the day after Christmas. Yesterday a young lady called and wanted to take a look. She came with her mom and liked Pirozjki right at once. We like her too and we think she will give our cat a good home. We will take Pirozjki and all her favorite things monday evening next week to her new home and will take a look at her new environment.
NOTE: This drawing is also an entry for Everyday Matters Challenge #44. Coloured pencils on Moleskine. Please click on image for larger view.
Skull with toothpick
….struck by lightning. That’s the title given by Nor for this particular work of mine. I am currently in a ‘doom’ period, as he calls it. Then my drawings suddenly acquire ‘doom’ characters and feelings too. Well, you obviously can see why he thinks this one as such.
This is my entry for the Everyday Matters Challenge #39: ‘Draw one of the works of another artist’. I didn’t go to any museum for this challenge, because I don’t have the time right now. So I just drew this from a book. Do you recognize this skull drawing? The original is an oil painting from 1886, by an artist who is not my favorite but very popular in the EDM group. From all this artist’s paintings and drawings, I like this one the best. It just makes me keep smiling, since I find it quite humorous. The title of the painting is actually ‘Schedel met Sigaret’ or ‘Skull of a skeleton with burning cigarette’ . Nor changed it to ‘Skull of a skeleton with toothpick struck by lightning’.
The one above looks very Terminator-ish…
Now this one is more Star Wars-ish, agree?
I may add some cross hatching later. I already marked where the shades and shadows should go anyway.
‘Puur Genieten’
…or “Pure Enjoyment’ it says on the coffee cup. Well, not in the situation I am in at this moment. Pure confusement is more like it. However, drawing this sketch calmed me and the hot chocolate warmed me up on the way home. The sketch shows a coffee cup, but it actually contained hot chocolate. I was afraid if I drank coffee I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. And decaf coffee is no where to be found, except by special coffee bars. People don’t tend to drink decaf here. So just to be on the safe side, I chose hot chocolate.
I think the simple napkin fold can be considered as an entry for the Everyday Matters Challenge #40 ‘Draw something with folds’. It’s simple, but hey, it has folds!
Note: Click to enlarge.
Oude Gracht/Bakkerstraat
Yesterday was a busy day in Utrecht. Sinterklaas was coming to town. I saw a few kids with black painted faces and dressed as Zwarte Piet (black Pete) walked beside their mom to go the event. Other people were already busy shopping for gifts for 5th December. I was busy shopping too. I needed a new coat, had to go to Bigoli (a wonderful store that sells Italian food products), and needed to shop at Toko Centraal (a store that sells asian produce and other products. These two stores carry ingredients for making Pastitsio and ayam Magadip, that I made this weekend.
In between shopping, I stopped to sketch this building on Oude Gracht, on the corner of Bakkerstraat. It was pretty cold to just stand and sketch. The day was quite grey, but luckily it stayed dry.
Our apartment - BCN part 2
After we arrived in BCN airport we took a RENFE train to go to Placa Catalunya. We walked from there to go to our apartment at the edge of Barri Gotic, close to the La Ribera area.
I found this apartment online. I thought it would be nicer to stay there rather than in a hotel. I picked this one based on the photos, location in old center/near La Ribera based on looking at the map and price, so when we got closer to the location I was starting to freak out. May be the photos were fake…or the area was not safe, I couldn’t tell that by just looking at the map. Shoot! I shouldn’t have done this, we should have booked a hotel instead, etc, etc….When we reached the place, it was still quite early (to BCN standard, I think) and it was Sunday. So the street was a bit deserted. It was a bit dark as well, but that was because most buildings in BCN are quite high in comparison to the narrow streets in the old center. Only squares and courtyards get sunlight. The fact that the street was a bit gloomy made me a bit unsettled. However the lady, who was waiting for us to arrive, convinced me that the area is safe. Wait till tomorrow, the post office will be very busy (the place is around the corner of the main post office), police will be around, and so on. She showed us the place, which pretty much looked like the photos they sent us. It was a cute little apartment on the ground floor. I love the old wall in the living room and the fact that the place has a washer/dryer. Very handy. She also showed us how to lock/open the front door. Then we got the key, paid her in cash and she left. We had the apartment for ourself for 6 nights! Yay!
The sketch above shows the living room. Click to enlarge.
The flight to Barcelona - BCN part 1
Hola! We just came back from our holiday in Barcelona yesterday. We spent 6 nights in BCN to be exact, from Sunday 02/10 to Saturday 08/10. We experience nice and less nice things during our stay. Altogether, it was quite a unique experience. Besides going to Barcelona, we had a chance to visit the monastery on top of the mountain in Montserrat. During these visits I made sketches of what I saw, what I experienced, what I ate… a bit of everything. I will post them in several parts, since they are a bit much to be in one post. Stay tuned!
Day 1 - 02.10.05: the flight
I ‘arranged’ our holiday myself, so we skipped travel agencies. I found out that this way we saved a bit of money (on services, etc), which we could better spend on other things. It certainly needed some patient, but I think it paid off. I booked us a flight with Transavia airline(www.transavia.com), which claimed to offer the best airfare in Holland (at least for flights from Amsterdam). True, it was and is. One drawback to get this airfare was either we flew very early or very late. We chose to fly very early and our neighbor lady kindly offered for her husband to take us to the airport. That was before the husband knew at what time he had to get up the morning we flew to BCN.
The night before the flight we got really nervous about the check-in process. One thing that made Transavia very economical is that passanger can check in via internet, choose their own seat, and print their own boarding pass at home 24 hours before the flight. I think this system is fantastic and I think now that it works really great. It was just our first time to check in this way without going through anybody at the check-in counter in the airport.
That Sunday we had to get up at 3.30 a.m. (including our neighbor too).We left at 4 a.m. and our flight was at 6.20 a.m. I didn’t get much sleep, because I was too excited. It was a bit surreal. At the airport, our fear about the check-in was in the end for nothing. It all went smoothly and we went directly to the gate with our print-out of boarding passes. We passed by queues of people, who had to go through the traditional check-in process, and thought wow, lucky us! We got on the plane, found our seats and enjoy the flight to Barcelona. It took only a bit less than 2 hours from Schiphol airport/Amsterdam. While on the Transavia plane, I made this sketch of the interior. It is slightly different than my usual sketches of public transport (train, tram, or metro).
Click to enlarge.
Autumnal equinox
An entry for the Everyday Matters Challenge #34. Autumnal equinox. I think I like Fall the best. It’s a bit gray and rainy, but it always feels cozy. I know that time moves in constant speed everyday, but somehow it feels like it moves faster in Fall. Probably it has something to do with the fact that the days are shorter. So it is now already the end of September. October is coming this weekend. Before I know it, it’s time again to plan a Thanksgiving dinner in Amsterdam (note: I don’t cook the dinner, but someone else. I just plan, arrange, etc). Then Sinterklaas and his Zwarte piet will be hailed here from Madrid (or was it Turkey? I can’t seem to get this fact right). Time for chocolate letters, yum yum I love dark chocolate letters. It’s amazing that letters such as Q, X, and Z are never sold out. Eating chocolate letters is a good way to wait for Christmas to arrive. After that it will be New Year again and I am so certain that by that time, time will move slower again….at least that’s how I will feel.
Best Hunter’s eyes
We watched a program on the Animal Planet this afternoon on “The Most Extreme, Killer Cats”. Here they list the best hunter and most extreme killer among all the cat family/Felidae in the world. We were so curious about which cat would be on top of the list:
#4 is Cougar/mountain lion in North America
#3 is Jaguar in the Amazon
#2 is Leopard in Africa, a very sleek, beautiful and agile animal
#1 is….DOMESTIC CAT.
We couldn’t believe it and we laughed so hard at this. You can imagine why…we have 8 most extreme killers in our house! Ok, statistically it might be right. Domestic cats kill the most (mostly small animals including insects). Their population is the highest in the world among the Felidae. If it is counted that way, well yes they are the most extreme. We just couldn’t stop smiling at the ‘fact’. We feel that we now have to walk really quitely around the house, just in case, you know.
Just another passenger
We saw this person yesterday morning. He was just another passenger in the tram. Part of his face was hidden behind the tram’s seat. But the part of his face that was visible interested me to draw him. I had to do it quick. He looked a bit sad or possibly just a bit tired. Or it could be that he just has heavy lidded eyes. In general, his feature radiated or said something like, ‘I am a wise guy’. May be that was the thing that attracted me to draw him in the first place. I don’t know.
Just another car
This car was parked on the street near a metro stop. While waiting for the metro to arrive, I thought to better use my time by drawing something. That something was this car. I started drawing the side closest to me, and suddenly the metro showed up. It was unfortunate, but I tried to finish the drawing while sitting in the metro. I think, I got the perspective and the length of the car not quite right. It looks a bit squashed; the nose is too short. It looked a bit bland without any colors, so I decided to add some colors at home. The colors sort of make up for the wrong perspective and length, I think. Now it looks rather cute…
Autumn etc.
Autumn is coming! The air is fresher and getting colder. The trees are loosing their leaves. Stores are starting to sell fall decorative pieces, made of natural materials such as leaves, flowers, nuts, etc. They are very pretty. I’d love to draw them but that means I might have to buy them then throw them away. I don’t think that that’s such a good idea. Therefore I bought a few mags that can last all autumn, to use as resources for practicing sketching some autumn products that I can’t just easily pick up on the side walks or parks.
Oh, that eaten apple is obviously not an autumn item. It was something that I drew in the metro. Someone was apparently too lazy to throw it away in a garbage can and just left it on the metro’s floor. Quite disgusting, but it was quite interesting too draw.
08.09 on 08.09
Yes. This is one of the few times I can post a journal entry on the same day as I made it.
Today I am in a touchy feely kind of mood. And because I know that it gets even more annoying. So my sensitivity level is doubled. Anything anyone says made me think like as if there is another meaning behind it. Oh, did she/he mean it? Is that honest? I am so suspicious of everything. (But that is generally how I feel for the last few months. I also feel like I am walking on eggshells..crack..crakk..crakkk..I wish it gone but it won’t) Then today when I was going home something tripled my annoyance. When I was going home, I felt thirsty. I had to catch the train, but I thought I had just enough time to grab a drink. So I went to AH TO GO to get a bottle of Coca Cola Lime. There was a line in front of the cashiers but I gambled anyway that it would be quick. Well it was so unfortunate that when my turn to pay came up, the cashier went to help his colleague beside him. I mumbled about having to catch a train, he only replied ‘one moment’ without even looking. I looked at my watch for the third time, turned around and put back the bottle and ran out to the platform. He saw me running and called out, “Sorry. I can’t do anything about it”. I looked at him angrily and just proceed with running out of the store. I felt like sticking out my middle finger at him, eventhough I understand that he was being helpful to his colleague’s client (another customer of the store). But I just hate to be the victim of slow service.
06.09
I felt like drawing this type of entries again. Threw everything that made a long impression in my memory on that day onto a page without too much thinking. I told my self not too worry (too much) about how it would look, if the colors would work etc etc. Stop thinking, start scribbling. And I enjoyed it very much.
View from my car
There has been a discussion on the Everyday Matters Group about doing some speedy blind contour drawing while being in a car and stopping for a red light. Hmmm…one thing, it is not advised when you are the driver, but it can certainly be done when you are the passenger. That’s what I did this morning. I didn’t do it “blind” nor while waiting for a red light. I did it while we were on the highway going to work. So everything passed by so quickly that I had to start while the object is still in a distance. If I couldn’t finished the sketch after we passed by the object, I had to draw whatever is left from what I could memorized. So they are very quick sketches of 5-10 seconds in ink. I colored the page in the car too, and at home I applied a bit of water with a brush. It was really fun and challenging to do.
Where were these sketches made? Where are these things located?
- Classic windmill on the left is located in Breukelen.
- Classic windmill on the right is located in Vinkeveen.
- We passed by this motorcyclist while approaching Holendrecht
- Modern windmill on the right is located near Holendrecht
- In the bottom middle, is station Amsterdam RAI
- The cranes are located nearby the station.
- The trash containers in the middle are located near the ING House
17.08 Result of Seminar
Uhm…another entry from that same seminar. I did the drawing in the train, put some color at home. This shows that I need a break. I am stuck in the same theme for 3 entries in a row! And that red eyes! Big mistake….now the character (me) looks like a Dracula.
Click to enlarge.
16.08 Super Strong Cranberry Punch
I realize that I can’t possibly keep up with doing a journal page everyday. If only I had 2 bodies with one soul (kind of scary, isn’t it) that could do all I need/want to do in one day. One would be at the office doing my dayjob….the other one could run around, see, observe, analyse, and draw much much more interesting things…Or if one day could be 48 hours instead of 24? May be that’s not such a good idea either…since that might mean that I have to work longer too… Hmmm. Whatever. I will just have to try to manage/balance my day as good as possible. Or make a better time management.
So here is a journal page of 16.08 on the late side, since today is 21.08. Most of the next pages that I will post will also be “late”. They are not going to be posted on the day they are made.
By the way, I have included a delicious but very strong Cranberry Punch recipe in the drawing. We made it yesterday, and boy, it really helped me forget a nasty week 
Click to enlarge.
Yesterday - color version
OK, this is the color version of Yesterday (a post from a few days back). I am actually not sure which one is better. There is something “unsettled” in this color version, which I can’t figure out. May be it’s the use of too many color in too many areas? I don’t know…But it was still very fun to do it!
Click to enlarge.
I’ve been tagged!!
Oh! Oh! I’ve been tagged! By Maggie at Designerm. I had never been tagged before so…. Maggie, can my Five Idiosyncrasies wait for a few more days? Please….
Click to enlarge.
Yesterday
Just as some other members of the Everyday Matters group, I really like Tom Judd’s work. All of those overlapping lines and doodles. It’s so exciting!. So I also decided to give it a try. Despite the bad day that I had yesterday, it ended really well because of this journal page! It was so much fun to do. The result suprised me. I didn’t intend to make it look cartoony, but it turned out that way. May be it’s just my ’style’. Next time I will try to be a bit looser and may be put less stuff on the page. This one looks just a tad too densed.
Oh and I am planning to color this one too. I will post the result sometime this week.
Note: that derailed train…I didn’t make it up, it was real and mentioned on the radio, in the news.
Click to enlarge.
Mockamore in Utrecht
Many people may disagree with me, but I love Starbucks. I think it is very unfortunate that they only have a warehouse in Holland and not a few coffee bars. (Note: I can’t call Starbucks as a ‘coffee shop’ here, it might just be mistaken as a place where you can buy and smoke pot. So I’d better call Starbucks as a coffee ‘bar’). Yes it may be bad for the local economy (or something like that I heard)…but man, where else can you order a Venti Decaf Fat Free Cappuccino with Whipped Cream??? (OK I am over exaggerating my order here…and OK, in the US you might get this at other places, e.g. Pete’s Coffee in SF/Berkeley) Or a Frappuccino? And something that makes me even more jealous…got an e-mail from a colleague who works in San Francisco….They have Frappuccino ICE CREAM!!!! I drooled all over my desk when I read his e-mail. Even Bali has several Starbucks…why not here?! The closest Starbucks is in London Heathrow. Can they just open a very small kiosk outside their warehouse in Amsterdam’s harbour???
Oh well… while I am still waiting for future Starbucks to open in Holland…I found a place that I frequent most weekends to sooth my annoyance: Mockamore in Utrecht. They do not have Venti Decaf Cappucino or a Fat Free version but they do serve ice cold Frappiato with Bountys chocolate! A good enough substitute for me at the moment.
In my footsteps
Inspired by Amanda’s map on Craftmonkeys, I drew this map of Amsterdam to show the locations I have been to on Aug. 05, 2005. Once I got off the tram, I went everywhere by foot.
- One Friday in Amsterdam
- City Animals
- No Poo Zone
- De Gedempte Begijnensloot te Amsterdam
- Lanskroon Banketbakkerij
Note: For those who do not know, the vertical triple-X is actually the logo of the city of Amsterdam.
Lanskroon Banketbakkerij
After the museum visit, I did a little bit of window shopping. This turned out to be a very good decision! I finally found a great art supply store right in the middle of Amsterdam. How could I have missed that before??? Vlieger sinds 1869 on Amstel 34 in Amsterdam. Lovely st