We made it to Amsterdam! We’ll be here for the next two and a half weeks. We’re staying in the Noord area right across the river. Like so many cool neighborhoods the world over, it was once a gritty industrial area but is now considered edgy and vibrant. It’s also extremely ethnically diverse, which is refreshing after Copenhagen. We found a nice Airbnb here, home to a documentary filmmaker and musician and their two young children. To Theo’s delight, he gets to sleep in a bunk bed. And to nobody’s delight, we’re all sleeping under mosquito nets because the mosquitos are really bad here. Perhaps something to do with all the canals?

We’ve been taking it slow given my multi-day migraine and having to do all the usual getting-settled stuff (finding phone cards, scoping out playgrounds, getting groceries, doing laundry, etc.) but today we went to this funky spot nearby called du Ceuvel, a former shipyard that is now a sustainable development with a bunch of converted houseboats and a cool cafe where we had lunch. Can’t believe we’re already on leg 2 of our trip already!