It seems that the governing body of the city of Amsterdam maintains a sort of ‘fixed use’ policy for land. X percent of the total available is for housing, Y percent for commerce, Z percent for ‘green space’ and so on. As a result, property is expensive, buildings expand upward, population density per building is fairly high and the city is dotted with beautiful parks. I’ve only been in a couple of them so far but their layouts and the level of maintenance practiced within are astonishing. Just a few blocks south of us, for instance, lies Beatrixpark. While less than half the size of the more famous 110-acre Vondelpark, Beatrixpark is nevertheless a very popular spot.
Known as the cleanest park in Amsterdam it is home to a children’s play-pool and fountain, a horticultural garden, nesting swans, beautiful gardens, Huge shade-trees, clean canals and sprawling grassy play areas. As in all of Amsterdam, well behaved dogs are heartily welcomed.
The rain has let up for a while so BJ and I decided that some fresh air was in order and Beatrixpark our destination. Once in the park, it’s difficult to remember that one is still in the city. 
The layout of paths, water, features and trees ensures that there are dozens and dozens of quiet, secluded and peaceful benches and clearings in which people can think, meditate, talk and play with their children and pets.
The other park I’ve been to is at Museumplein. Not so much a tree-shaded, winding pathway sort of park as an enormous lawn in front of the museums. A place to gather and perhaps picnic or just take a break in the sun.
I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that we found a few items lacking when we moved in to our apartment here. One of those items was the barbeque grill. There was none. BJ decided that both apartments should, naturally have BBQ’s on their patios. So, she and Rob made a trip to the Macro store (sort of like a Home Depot). There they found a very nice propane Weber that was the right size for the patio. However, there was only one. They purchased that and two propane bottles (since they’d be returning in a week for a second barbeque), and brought that and all of the appropriate barbeque tools home.
It must be noted here that only propane-powered grills are allowed in apartment buildings in Amsterdam. The prospect of charcoal ash or worse, live coals getting away from anyone living above you is daunting to all and is therefore illegal.
To continue: Rob was very excited and promptly promised an American-style barbeque dinner to us and to a couple of people from work. The appointed day came around and following the work day I met Rob at his apartment below ours and we decanted and assembled the grill. The final step was to attach the propane tank. These grills are build to incorporate the little 500 gram (quart sized) propane bottles. What we had was the European equivalent of our 5-gallon tanks. Sadly, the connectors are vastly different.
We checked at the nearby Blokker (sort of a hardware store) but no joy. One of the coworkers who’d been invited to dinner tried to find the correct adapter on his way over….again, no luck. With disappointment in his eyes, Rob demonstrated his good nature. He put a smile on his face, opened a beer and quickly shifted gears from BBQ’d chicken to Chicken Caccitore. We all (BJ, Eri (sounds like Mary), Ewe (sounds like Uveh), Rob and I) showed up, ate, drank, laughed and had a terrific dinner….(but, no barbeque tonight).
The following evening….(still no BBQ), BJ and I again went to Robs and for dinner. Both we and he happened to have a seeming plethora of leftovers in our respective ‘fridges so it seemed only natural to pool our resources for what amounted to a ‘leftover feast’!
The wind was raging outside, lightning and thunder punctuated the night and rain fell with a vengeance. We who live in San Diego often forget what a storm looks like…..and when we do find ourselves in a real, honest rainstorm we kind of stand there like domestic turkeys looking up with our mouths open until we drown….well, not really but we did truly enjoy watching it storm outside while we had a nice dinner with such terrific company. A little wine, the ‘superb conversation’ (inside joke), and a cozy atmosphere all contributed to the evening. We traded favorite YouTube videos for added entertainment and just plain had a nice night.
Not to be outdone, the next day BJ and Rob received an invitation from Eri to have dinner with her and her husband, Eric, and their young daughter Maike (pronounced micah) for Friday at their home. All accepted, of course.
Late Friday afternoon I rode the tram out to meet BJ and Rob at work. From there we took the car to Eri’s home which turned out to be only a mile or two from work. They own an apartment in a nice building that is constructed in (yes, in) a lake which connects to the canal system. Rob, (Mr Fisherman) was immediately taken with the place. It was spacious, airy and since it was on the 4th floor and occupied a corner of the building had a view that could only be described as spectacular. We sat on her patio and watched herons glide by as seagulls patrolled for stray curmbs and ducks paddled across the little lake.
At the time of our arrival, Eric and Maike were out for a bike ride in the park. Eric is intent on teaching her technique and local bicycle etiquette as is required for survival here.. Children in the Netherlands learn to ride here at a very early age. I have personally seen 7-year olds riding alone along Beethovenstraat which is a very busy street….autos, trucks, trams, busses, and hundreds of other bicycles.
A little later they too arrived and reported much improvement in Maike’s riding skills. Maike, it must be said, is a tiny, lithe, adorably precocious and intelligent little ball of energy. Look out for her in a decade or so…..she will be a force to be reckoned with indeed.
Eric is…..well I don’t know what I expected but Eric is a really fun guy. He’s perhaps not tall…maybe 5’8”, a little bit balding, a little bigger around that he used to be (aren’t we all?)…sort of businessman-looking. Once he’d been introduced, fetched himself a beer and saw to the drinks of all the guests he turned to the BBQ and shortly produced and ‘all meat’ dinner (on Rob’s behalf) a pile of different meats and a good green salad was dinner. Followed up with some fruit and vanilla vla (pronounced flaa….a kind of pudding) …and we were a satiated!
We retired to the living room where Maike serenaded us from the electric piano (she’s 7….there was no real melody….just a lot of notes which surprisingly sounded pretty good together), she finished, we applauded, she bowed. Sweet.
Over coffee and scotch (for me…..different liquors for others) we all got to know one another. Eri is from Mexico city where she was a Veterinarian, Eric does logistics for a shipping company. Being a Dutchman (his word) he was happy to entertain us with verbose and hilarious explanations of some of the behaviors we’ve noted around town. For instance, he said, we Dutch can never agree about anything as a group. Our sense of fair play takes over so that if everyone seems to think that the sky is blue, someone will disagree just so that the opposite opinion gets representation.
Rob broke out a guitar and that’s when we learned that Eric is a metal head! He loves AC/DC and does a credible imitation of their singer. Who’da thunk?
Eri, not to be outdone, picked up her acoustic and entertained with a little Spanish guitar. Geez, everyone here has talent…..me, I play the radio.
The whole evening was fun. My face hurt from laughing by the time we all said goodnight and headed for home. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of these wonderful folks.
