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After visiting in 2000, we returned to Amsterdam in 2003 to go to the Robbie Williams Concert. We were made to feel right at home on the lovely Friendship B&B, a houseboat floating on a canal in central Amsterdam. The kitchen (galley) on the boat was amazingly well stocked with cheese, bacon, yoghurts, juice, and other goodies. We played foosball at the Heineken brewery. Click HERE to see our return visit in 2006.

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Much to our delight, we found an actor well known to us, Anton Elsinski, working in a video store. (You can read into that what you like). Upon recognising him, we asked for his autograph and he happily obliged. Anton later won a national contest and his song, Hey Baboushka is now a popular ringtone in the Netherlands! The bedroom on the boat was comfortable and had portholes on either side of the bed. We handled a lot of real Delft china before making our final purchases: a tulip tile for our kitchen and another tile for my mother.
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The prickly cacti are just like the ones people think grow in Texas. Here they are in the flower market. Two bicycles came with our houseboat package. It was great to feel the breeze as we cycled along the canals. We felt slightly disappointed that the Homomonument was being restored while we were there, but we were able to buy a big chunk of pink granite from the original sculpture to take back home. We bought our granite and some other souvenirs at the Pink Point information booth, just across from the Homomonument (and just a few yards from Anne Frank's house).
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Getting into this rubber shirt at Black Body was difficult, but taking it off was downright painful. Also shown: the famous, and only semi-private pissoir.
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The main reason we went to Amsterdam was to hear Robbie Williams in concert. We heard him once before in Milton Keynes, but this concert was far more entertaining. Shown above are the official tour programmes, which I still have.
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I used to have pages of Robbie photos like the ones above, but they've been shelved (for now). She's still appealing despite his silly tattoos.
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Who would have thought we'd see lederhosen in Amsterdam? The famous flower market, where we bought tulips bulbs for ourselves and my parents. We bought some lovely Christmas ornaments to add to our red and gold collection, but none from the American-themed tree shown.
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This Rembrandt painting reminded me of the Old Dutch Masters cigar boxes I used to keep my school supplies in as a child. The Albert Cuyper Market was packed with things to see and buy. Nick bought some sunglasses - virtually impossible to see through. It was only 161 days until Christmas when we bought our red and gold keepsakes at this shop across from the flower market.
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These magnificent paintings greeted us in the Rijksmuseum.
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A trip to the Heineken Brewery proved to be good value. The entrance price included all the "rides," three glasses of beer, and a free gift at the end. Homer would love it. The Brewery is no longer in use, but these copper tanks have seen a lot of action in their time. We loved visiting the Kaaskamer and dessert was pancake with cherries, kirche, ice cream, and whipped cream. The pink poodle wedding cake was in a shop run by two men who adorned every table in the shop with a similar outrageous cake.
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The nice man at Kaaskamer made us these baguettes with old and new gouda and a sundried tomato tapenade. He also sold us a bottle of chilled rosé wine which we drank with our lunch. At the brewery, we struck up a conversation with these two American boys from Connecticut. We had a nice TexMex meal in Kerkstraat on our first day there.
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We saw this boy juggling fire at Dam Square. the man in the blue shorts kept us entertained for a good hour as we ate our lunch.

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