Saturday Stroll, Amsterdam

I like Amsterdam, and not for the reason you do. I'm not allowed mood-altering substances, remember? No-one bombed the centre during any of the wars, so it still looks like it did a few hundred years ago when the Dutch were as rich and middle-class as it got. My routine is to wander around, have lunch, visit a record store, the American Book Centre, get afternoon tea, wander some more and get supper. This is the front of the cafe, on the Utrechtsstraat, which I thought I had collected a card for but it wasn't.

 It gets much cuter inside, where there is a tiny courtyard at the back.

Just up the road is the quite wonderful Concerto record store, over three fronts and with a basement. It has vinyl 12" for serious DJ's and buffs and a decent mix of most other genres. I picked up three Eric Dolphy and two Tomatito CD's. I know I could have got them on Amazon and maybe cheaper, but it's not the same as browsing the bins.  If my companions are very unlucky, I spend a while in Art Multiples on the Keizergracht: it has at its own boast the largest collection of postcards in Europe and I don't doubt it. This time I picked up thirty to make a couple of collages.

 

Afternoon tea on the pavement at Goodies, followed by a stroll with swift dives in and out of art galleries in the Jordaan.  Most of it looks something like this. Everyone who can't afford to live in the centre on one of the canals - which is most of the human race now - wants to live in the Jordaan.

If you're wondering where the foodie photographs are, the Dutch have been adamant about maintaining the simplicity of their snack foods: it's basically eggs, ham and cheese in various permutations, and apple tart with cream. But in the end, who cares? The centre of the town barely changes, and may be the last famous town left in the world with as relaxed a feeling. Just walking round it is enough to clear the soul.