It’s been a while since I wrote anything here and some people are beginning to wonder what’s going on in our lives.
I got back from the US in one piece. My flight had an amazing tailwind and so landed a full hour ahead of schedule. I made it back home to our house in the Jordaan mere minutes after the time I was originally scheduled to land! I had even managed to get some half-decent sleep during the flight, so I didn’t feel too bad when I got back.
Upon my arrival, Sarah and her folks were waiting for me. Her mum and dad had arrived here a few days after I had left for California and had already been enjoying the still glorious weather. Soon after my return, my beautiful baby daughter woke up and I was able to cuddle her again. How I had missed her! She seemed to have grown in my absence, which shocked me, and I vowed to avoid being apart from her in the future.
Although the American IRS tax regulations now preclude my spending any more time in the US this year, thereby preventing me from attending the family Christmas (Wiesje’s first!) in Providence, I’ve made my piece with the sacrifice. This could very well be the last tour that Dead Can Dance ever makes, but there will be other Christmasses. The real justification was in the quality of the concert experience, however. Each gig was magical in its own right. The backstage experience at three of the shows served to augment the event yet further, making for a truly unique and memorable trip.
Of course, I do somehow still need to make up my Christmas absence to Sarah, who is less than pleased with the status quo, even though she understands that I did what I had to do. I’ll have to think long and hard about that one.
I soon discovered that Sarah had set us up with some house viewings for the day that I had got back. In the afternoon, we viewed a luxury apartment and a house that had once been the home of a famous Dutch poet and a sequence of mayors of Amsterdam.
The luxury apartment was outrageously overpriced, but the interior was stunning. The location was good, too, quite near the Vondelpark. However, an apartment is still an apartment and so there was no garden, which is an absolute prerequisite for us. The apartment also had ridiculously high monthly service costs, amounting to more than the monthly rent on most properties in the city. We don’t need a caretaker, nor three garages, nor tennis courts. The place had too many objections to be of real interest, but it was great fun to have a look at it.
The poet’s house was another stupendous property, but so large that one could almost get lost in it. It was approximately 1000m², which is way too large for us. Nevertheless, it was fun to look at and meet the current owner, a (nationally) famous Dutch film producer. It’s actually quite helpful to view houses in which one is not interested, because it helps one become more aware and certain of what it is that one does want.
Sarah’s folks were in town when I returned, so we viewed these houses with them in tow. It was fun for them to have a look inside some rather unusual Dutch properties.
Most of their time was reserved for tourism and family time, of course. This was, after all, their introduction to the country to which their son-in-law had whisked off both their only daughter and only grandchild. It had a lot to live up to!
Sarah’s mum wanted to see the Kröller-Müller Museum near Otterlo, so we rented a Greenwheels car for that. On the way back, we had wanted to visit the Apenheul, but it got too late in the day, so we went to Paleis Het Loo instead. It was more fun than I expected, especially the period rooms, still decked out in the style of the old Dutch monarchs.
Other museum visits were to the Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Historisch Museum, the latter of which was particularly good; I actually hadn’t been in there before. They also went to the Van Gogh Museum and the Frans Hals Museum, the latter during a trip to Haarlem while I was busy watching Dead Can Dance on the other side of the world.
Apart from lots of walking during their stay, we spent one day biking with the whole family. With Wiesje in the bakfiets, we rented bikes for Florence and Mike, took the ferry to Amsterdam-Noord and then proceeded along a scenic route, across the polders to Landsmeer. It was nice to get out of the city and into a village. I think Florence and Mike appreciated the change of pace, too.
In the final days of their stay, we viewed another house near the Vondelpark. Whilst it’s missing its own drive or garage and does not border water, it’s beautifully renovated and has a nice south-facing garden. The kitchen is immaculate, with Gaggenau and Miele apparatus. The living room is spacious and has two real fireplaces. The neighbourhood is very quiet — almost too quiet — and is just a two minute walk from the Vondelpark, my favourite park in the city.
It’s a little smaller than I would have originally considered (about 325m² without the basement and loft) and the basement does not run under the entire house. Its ceiling is rather low, too, so it’s not useful for much other than storage. The same applies double to the loft, which has a very low ceiling and is not comfortably reachable.
That said, the renovations were completed just one year ago and have been done in a style that we might have chosen if we had been having them done ourselves. There’s really very little that we would change. The windows have beautifully custom-made shutters, the parquet flooring is lovely and the bathroom has been tastefully done, with heated stone flooring.
Anyway, Sarah loved this place, too (as did her parents), so, after a second viewing two days later, we decided to put in a bid on it. We’ve officially made the seller an offer and are now waiting to see what happens. This is very exciting for both of us, as neither of us has owned a house before, so we’re very curious to see how this process works and whether it will ultimately lead to our purchasing a new home.
Our belongings have now arrived and cleared customs, but with the prospect of a new home on the horizon, we’ve chosen to postpone the delivery until we know whether we’ll soon have a new home in which to unpack.
My old colleague, Daniel from Google, turned up Saturday afternoon and stayed the night before returning to Zürich for his work. We had a fun time, catching up on events in each other’s life and walking around De Wallen. Daniel caught the train back to Switzerland Sunday evening.
Sarah’s folks, too, left early today, giving Sarah, Wiesje and I a couple of days in which to be alone again.
On Wednesday, another old colleague, Ome Geoff, turns up some time in the morning. Wow; it seems like just a couple of weeks ago I was driving with him down the Californian coast and making an excursion into cheesy borderline Mexico.
In view of the fact that Geoff has been here before, I’m hoping we can make a couple of excursions into further-lying areas, perhaps even Belgium or Germany. We’ll see.
I wonder what’s going to happen with our offer on that house…
