Of Wallen, Appeltaart, Jonge mannen, Dansen, Grachten, RIPs en Hartjes

We're still coming down to earth after another fantabulosa long weekend in "our second home", Amsterdam!

Madam Arcati, Baby Steve, Houseboy Alex and I wandered the grachten, spent hours just people-watching, visited sleazy flesh-pots (Spyker Bar is our fave) and bruin cafes, paid our tributes to Café Montmartre - for many years my/our best-loved bar in the 'Dam - which has closed after 42 years but is due to reopen in a new location sometime later this year, ate at FEBO and Eetsalon Van Dobben, sang along to Dutch songs at Café 't Mandje, and just basically enjoyed ourselves!

It was a joy to once again be in the centre of things [our hotel is in the Red Light District!] for "freshers' weekend" - where loads of gorgeous boys in white shirts and ties (or sometimes just topless) play silly games, drink and dance on boats, and make a lot of noise all over the place:

Amsterdam student house

[see our visit to Amsterdam in 2019 for a photo from that year's event]

We were also, for the first time in years, encouraged - nay, cajoled - to dance by the faboo DJ at The Queen's Head! And dance. we certainly did - for several hours!!

[I would post the video evidence, but it's just too embarrassing]

A great discovery this year was the wonderfully historic Jordaan landmark Café 't Papeneiland, home of possibly the most delicious Dutch apple pie ever!

And, to finish - on our last day, before we needed to depart for our flight home, we once again caught the "indelibly Amsterdam" Zeedijk local festival - where a full breakfast is laid out all along the street for all to consume, and men dress as women and women dress as men - Hartjesdag!

Hartjesdag 2024 - breakfast sing-a-long

Hartjesdag 2024 - parade

We departed, tired but happy.

Is it good to be back?

NO!!

---

Did we miss anything while we were away? Ukraine's still having a bit of a morale-boost as President Zelenskiy's surprise incursion across the border continued to hold, much to that cunt Putin's chagrin; the papers were, and still are, all over the news that a tornado struck a super-yacht owned by one of Britain's wealthiest self-made billionaires and several mega-rich people are missing, presumed dead as a result; a fire in the roof of a wing of historic Somerset House in London took five fire engines and a crew of 100 firefighters to extinguish - with (thankfully) no damage to any of the building's art collections; the world's oldest woman died, aged 117; and, finally - some boffin or other with more time on his hands has proposed that ice-lolly-licking should be in the UK school curriculum.

We missed marking the 90th birthdays of Love Letters singer Ketty Lester and the fine old British actor Sir John Standing, Downton Abbey creator Lord Julian Fellowes' 75th, the 60th of Show Me Heaven singer Maria McKee - and, of course, the birthday of Our Glorious Leader Madonna (66)! Departures during the weekend included US talkshow host Phil Donahue (whose show became popular in the UK when shown on late-night ITV in the 1980s), "Gunner 'La Di Da' Graham" in It Ain't Half Hot Mum John Clegg...

...and one of the sexiest men ever to have graced a screen, the gorgeous Alain Delon! RIP, mon cher! [more M Delon]

---

And finally - did I bring anything back for your delectation, dear reader? Natuurlijk!

This:

Wesly Bronkhorst - Kom allemaal maar in mijn armen

Proost!!