15 January 2014
Ed wrote, "If you and Jack have time tonight or tomorrow, I give the bruin cafe named ’t Smalle, located on Egelantieersgracht in the Jordaan district, my strongest possible recommendation."
While we were at dinner, a 20-minute walk from the hotel, no rain, we figured out how to get to 't Smalle. Google told us it would take about half an hour to get there. As we stepped outside, church bells chimed. I checked my watch. It was 9:30 p.m.
Here's a breeder bike. Notice the reinforced frame.
We lost count of the canals we crossed.
Even the alleys are clean:
After a couple of wrong turns (we were off by a canal or two), we found 't Smalle. We went up the stairs, where my camera lens fogged up:
The "stairs," a glorified ladder:
We didn't stay for drinks. Instead we walked on. It was 10:45 when we reached the hotel.
Jack and I have been trying to figure out how to compare the side streets of central Amsterdam to those in New York and Philadelphia. The best I can do is to compare it to Society Hill in Center City Philadelphia. But where Society Hill is a few blocks around, we walked for an hour on brick sidewalks next to luxurious (but not ostentatious) apartments. When we could see through windows we saw chandeliers, high ceilings, and high-end furnishings. Jack compared it to NYC's Upper East Side. I'm adding to that: where the Upper East Side is vertical wealth, this is horizontal.
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