AmsterDAM, it's hot.

Apparently it's a big heat crisis in Europe. I believe it, it's just that I have no proof since I don't watch the news here. All the shops (if they are even OPEN) have a pitcher of water with glasses for customers. Day Cares have closed — they can't be liable for keeping the kids safe and hydrated. That said, there's lots to see, and the canals cool things down. Walking without getting lost is pretty easy, as it's grid-like and I have my phone. So I walk, stop, have coffee and/or water, and pick up again when I'm ready

Fred's super occupied with the Symposium, so I've had a lot of time to myself. But every day I come back from wherever I am to photograph his workshop. Today there was one. Tomorrow, two. Saturday, one more. Then, Saturday night will be the final reception where they announce where next year's Symposium will be. Kind of exciting — not that there's any guarantee we'll be going, but still, a very exciting moment. They announce it with GREAT fanfare.

As I write this from the hotel lobby while Fred's at a dinner, it's Thursday night. We arrived Tuesday afternoon. The hotel room is air conditioned, which is great. I'm not sure how we would fare if it weren't. It's almost a health hazard for a hotel not to have it because of guests who might not be 100% healthy. We crashed early Tuesday night after drinks and deep-fried cheese balls —which have a much better name than that —at a pub.

Yesterday, Fred had an all-day tour on a bus to the middle of the country where there's an art pencil (?) factory. They gave a really nice tour and lots of cool samples. Then we had the opening reception in a huge hall called the Ziederkirk.. which I'm SURE I have misspelled and always mispronounce. The language is another story. Very hard to pick out anything familiar... some things are similar to Danish which I once had some familiarity with. But they all speak English and are really warm and open. Nice folks, these Dutch!

Bitterballen — deep-fried meat croquettes you dip in mustard.

There is a museum of bags and purses.

Funny words here! I thought it was a restaurant with a really unappetizing name, but it's a business.

My first Dutch cappuccino. 

They have these markers in a lot of European countries.  Each brass plate (tucked among cobblestones on the sidewalk) commemorates victims of the Holocaust.

The Dutch can be very stylish. I can never get my camera out fast enough. So many of the women have dresses that flutter in the breeze. It's like a movie.

This view is at every turn.

Tasty salad. So simple... Goat cheese, pickles (!), hard boiled egg, chives, tomatoes, lettuce.

Houseboats galore.

I wondered what this was... a nursing home. From Wikipedia: The dr. Sarphatihuis is a nursing home named after Samuel Sarphati on the Roetersstraat in Amsterdam-Center. The building has been a national monument since 23 September 1970 and is registered under number 4983. Sarphati House is located next to the former Wittenberg nursing home. Samuel Sarphati ( Amsterdam , 31 January 1813 - there, 23 June 1866 ) was a Jewish doctor , chemist , benefactor and bread manufacturer who played an important role in the development of Amsterdam's education, public health, urban design and industry in the center of the 19th century. Sarphati was at home in all markets and often got stuck in the Amsterdam bureaucracy with his initiatives.