TODAY I…

• Watched a child dance to the notes from a busker’s trumpet.
• Navigated my way through Amsterdam without a map.
• Paid the infamous sex museum a visit and learned, amongst other things, that Marilyn Monroe was paid $50 for the pics that made her famous. The photographer was paid $500 and according to TIME Magazine, the client earned an estimated $750 000 from that one shoot alone. In Monroe’s era, that was a wad of cash and it proves one other point – the client always scores.

• Today I took the #5 tram to Vondelpark – rather apt considering I had just left the Sex Museum.
• I was asked to speak at a conference (daunting),
• and I fell in love with Van Gogh’s Starry Night over the Rhone. Did you know that he painted in excess of 900 paintings between the ages of 26 and 35?

• Today I ate apple pie and whipped cream for breakfast.
• I skipped a comedy show at Boom Chicago and decided to stay in and cook dinner instead.
• I took over 150 photos,
• most of which included edgy Dutch street art

• and then I opted to walk instead of taking the bus.
• Today I stayed abreast of emails, wrote two postcards and took an urgent phone call in the shadow of the Rijksmuseum.
• I walked the 9 straatjies and discovered the ultimate book store. Here I paged through a 4000 Euro book while stealing a sneak photo of the shop’s interior.

• Today I was given a bottle of Veuve Clicquot by my oldest, soon to be married, brother which has been safely secured in my over stuffed bag until Parri and I arrive in Venice.
• While walking up the Prinsengracht late this afternoon, we stopped for a pint of beer and a cup of tea and my tea bag read: “Although your hair is a mess, and you wear a silly dress – I will never love you less.

• Just before, I scoffed the reddest, juiciest cherries which stained my lips and made me happy.
• Today, I watched the sunlight refracting on the water and saw what could be my future.