Still Summer

It’s unbelievable, really, but the summer still hasn’t ended here. Basically, there has been more or less constant glorious sunshine since we arrived here on 12th August. It’s going to be an extremely rude awakening when autumn does finally set in.

Yesterday, we walked over to Artis, the Amsterdam zoo, and purchased year-long membership for the two of us. Wiesje, of course, is still young enough to get in for free. We decided to leave the inside animals, such as the reptile house and aquarium, for what they were (on account of the great weather) and concentrated instead on the outside animals. It was especially great to see the new lion cubs and the elephant calf.

That was a lot of fun, but we didn’t get to see everything we wanted to, so we went back again today and saw the seals being fed, plus the penguins. Having membership is great, as it means we can go as often as we like over the next twelve months. By that time, Eloïse will hopefully be interested in what she sees. As of this week, the elephants, tigers, giraffes, gibbons, penguins, polar bear and Uncle Tom Cobbly and all leave her absolutely cold.

Next time there’s less than ideal weather and we have nothing better to do, we’ll go back and look at the inside animals.

Funny; that’s three visits to two different zoos in the last couple of weeks, which must be a record for me.

Geoff isn’t here yet. I thought he’d be arriving on the 12th, but it turns out that he only leaves California on the 12th, so he won’t arrive here until the morning. Another ex-Google friend, Brian, will be joining us on Friday for a hamburger somewhere in town. It was something of a tradition back in California to eat a burger at Clarke’s every Friday. When I announced I was moving back to Amsterdam, the idea arose to have a burger in Amsterdam on 14th October. Not as many people are coming for the Dutch burger, but you have to admire their enthusiasm. I only hope I can offer a burger joint that doesn’t disappoint.