July 6:

Today was "Find the Pea Soup" Day. Janie and Dan had eaten what they considered the "best" pea soup ever a couple of years ago in Amsterdam and wanted to repeat the experience.

We used the train and took off to Amsterdam with one thing in mind: eat pea soup at the Majestic restaurant.



Actually, it was a multi-part plan: before the soup, first walk up the main drag of the city from the Centraal train station and eat french fries on the street.




That was easily accomplished. Most people eat them with mayonnaise. Its good but you get it all over your fingers as you dig deeper and deeper into the cone.  

A little window shopping as we walked up to the DAM and then a left. As we got close, it was like Janie could smell the soup and she took the lead. We got lucky and found a table outside at the Majestic.

Linda wasn't sure she could have some but the waiter, after some research, assured her it did not contain any dairy. So, everyone but me had a bowl. It came with a small portion of bacon bits and a small piece of butter bread with a piece of thick piece of ham laying on it. I had a shish kabab. I tasted the soup but it tasted just like thick pea soup. Sadly, later back at the house, Janie and Dan decided it just wasn't as good as they remembered. Last time it had more of a smoky taste and contained more sausage. 

Because this was the main event of the day, we made it a very leisurely lunch on a sunny, beautiful day. We had a perfect spot for lots of people watching and looking at the surrounding buildings.











After eating, we headed down one of the main tourist streets and the girls looked in windows and found one large shop that seemed to be selling wizard figurines from Harry Potter. But upstairs, they found clothes to examine. 

The next stop was the Leonidas chocolate shop and then a coffee cafe at the edge of the "weed district". 













As we sat on the street drinking our coffee and eating our sugar, we watched this Dutch couple unfold their British made bikes and take off. Nice way to get around town. They can probably fit them into their car.

As we headed back toward the train station, Linda found an old woman to talk to. Turns out this statue commemorates Majoor Bosshardt,  an Amsterdam woman who was famous for her charity work in the Salvation Army. 

Farther down the street were the "coffee shops" (weed or head shops) and the "red light" district. We had to, it was the only way to go that did not backtrack along the way we had come. And, yes, the girls are still in the windows beckoning for you to come see them. But, I don't think its polite to stand there and take their picture.





In case you didn't "get it", here are some red shutters







On a pretty day in Amsterdam, there are always lovely scenes around various corners. Here's some of what we saw during our walk.










Back at the train station, we always seem to have a little difficulty finding the right train to take us to Baarn. But, within five minutes, we found it and then confirmed our choice with a Dutch couple who has been living in Spain for the past 30 years and are home visiting family.

Then we caught the train back to Soest and later, watched the Wales Portugal soccer game in the semifinals of the European Championships. Wales played so well in the first half but didn't score. At the beginning of the second half, Portugal scored two goals within about 5 minutes. At that point the TV reception got bad and since Wales was losing, I went to bed.