Amsterdam it all.

The other week I had to travel to Amsterdam for a conference.  I was supposed to meet my brother Doug, who was flying in from Portugal. Since his son Matt was staying at our house, I took him with me for a guys' weekend in Amsterdam. (Sounds harmless enough.) 

Matt was a good sport, and was game to try anything. Unfortunately, we soon learned that Doug had a change of plans and would not be able to meet us. Matt was stuck with me. 

I showed him around the city a bit.  We stopped by the smallest house (#7 -no wider then the front door.)

We marveled at the old buildings, leaning, bulging, and crooked after hundreds of years in soggy soil.

Matt took some time to enjoy the public toilets.  Nothing like the fresh air.

We stopped by the Ann Frank house, which is a not-so-secret annex now.  The lines appeared to take hours, so he decided to skip the tour.

Of course I took him for some double fried Patat, complete with a dollop of healthy mayonnaise...

We even rented bikes one day and did some exploring.  Since it did not get dark until 11 PM, we had plenty of time after the conference. Bikes are a great way to see the city.

We ate a number of foods, from Dutch, to Italian, to Argentine steak!  Here he is with a fresh hot Calzone!

He even tried to the local favorite, fresh raw Herring. It was not a favorite.....  but he tried it.

One day we took the bikes to nearby Zaandam, to see the famous windmills.

The famous painter Monet spent some time here and created some beautiful landscape paintings. In some areas, things have not changed much.  

Of course while we were there, we also had to try some fresh syrup waffle's, hot off the grill and oozing sweet caramel.

We tried on some of the wooden shoes, but they were a bit awkward. I wonder if you could water ski in those?

We happened upon some battling goats.  One seemed to have a distinct size advantage  but the other one had horns.  Interesting dilemma.

Matt wanted to take this car home--in his carry on. It was a two seater.

We got stuck at a draw-bridge, but eventually made our way back to the hotel.

Before long, my work was over and we were off to Belgium to meet doug and catch our flight home.  I am sure Matt was ready for some new company, and to get away from the conference (where he spent some time wandering around the sales booths!)

When we arrived in Brussels, Doug was out exploring the city, so we tried to find him.

We had no luck. But we did happen upon the cities most famous citizen.

He is very small, but they say he saved the city from a major fire by urinating on it?  Impressive!

We eventually found Doug, and visited a few more of the city's hight lights.  Some were better then others.

Doug was determined to have some local food, so we enjoyed a french fry and brat-worst sandwich.  Luckily we were low on Carbs?

The next day Little Man Pis was all dressed up to celebrate a local university graduation. He was surrounded by drinking and singing students.  I wonder if the sound of his 'stream' made it difficult for many of the party goers to 'hold it'.

Of course we enjoyed a Belgium Waffle or two with our friend.

It was a brief visit, and before long we were off to the airport. It was great to explore some of the 'Low Lands' with Matt and Doug. It might not have ben the classic 'guys' weekend' in Amsterdam  but it worked for us!