Today was market day. Right around noon we put our walkin’ pants on and saddled up for a hike down to the Albert Cuyp markt, a large (4 blocks long, at least) open-air daily market in the De Pijp district of Amsterdam. Google Maps puts it at a 3.4 km, 41 minute walk from our place, through what is quickly becoming very familiar territory to both of us. Today also included the first real steady drizzling rain that we’ve seen since we arrived, which seems to be pretty standard weather here for most of the winter/spring seasons — those of you from cities such as Vancouver and Seattle will be well familiar with this. Shannie felt that the rain actually made her grow. She’s still just as short as ever, though.

Plenty of new sights, sounds, and smells at the market. Not only were there mannequins for Shannie to pose beside, but also stacks of severed fish heads for sale and even a couple of bike shops. Much of it was typical Farmers Market-esque fare (lots of fresh vegetables, baked goods, crafty knick-knacks), but there were also some things we didn’t expect to see, such as drug stores and lingerie shops.

Shannie, being much more the open-air-market connosieur than I am, felt that it had a good “vibe” about it, and that the general bustle about the market showed that the locals knew exactly where their regular stops were, and the tourists were able to walk the entire strip and take it all in. A good mix of cultures, both local and foreigners (like us!).

We’ll post more details as we find them.

Apartment One

Pros:

• On a beautiful, quiet little street
• Nice big windows, bright, lots of light
• Red furniture. Like, bright red.

Cons:

• 2 sets of stairs even more treacherous than the ones we’re currently climbing to the temp apartment.
• Very little storage. No closets.
• I could stand in the middle of the master bedroom and nearly touch all 4 walls without moving.

Chances: Probably the third option if the other two that we would like more fall through. The cost of it seems awfully high for what you’re getting, but the location can’t be beat.

Apartment 2

Pros:

• Also in a nice neighborhood (De Pijp), very close to all sorts of pubs, restauarants, shopping, and a really nice park.
• Spacious, huge bedroom.
• Lots of storage space.
• Came with lots of plants.

Cons:

• The storage space mentioned above? FULL. The lady who owns this place, who apparently moved to Mexico or something, appears to be a bit of a clinically insane pack rat and left EVERYTHING behind. No exaggeration: there were close to 30 coffee mugs in one cupboard, and at least a dozen sets of towels, some appearing to be at least 20 years old.
• Pretty ugly furniture.
• Our cats will eat the plants.
• Monthly rent just a shade under €2000.

Chances: not in this lifetime. Way above our price range, and no way do either of us want to deal with the clutter and piles of junk.

Apartment 3

Pros:

• Brand newly renovated. New floor, new paint, entirely new kitchen. Like, they were still finishing it up when we were shown the place.
• The only place we looked at that included a plasma TV.
• Two floors, with a spiral staircase.
• Also in De Pijp, close to everything that we want.

Cons:

• Brand newly renovated. Maybe this is me being a romantic, but I really wanted to live in an Old European Building that FELT like and Old European Building. Though the building itself is older than dirt, the unit itself feels like a condo you’d buy in downtown Calgary.
• On a pretty busy street, with a major public transit tram line right outside the front door. Good for access, bad for noise.
• Slightly more per month than we had budgeted, but not deal-breakingly so.

Chances: we might have a winner here. My romantic notions aside, the place was absolutely gorgeous.

Apartment 4

Pros:

• Right on the Amstel River, with views of the river right out the front windows. Breathtaking.
• Nice stereo sound system included in the living room.
• Really funky art-deco lamp.

Cons:

• No bed. Seriously. Advertised as “fully furnished,” but there was no master bed.
• Spiders. ‘Nuff said.

Chances: this would maybe be the second choice if Apartment 3 falls through, though we’d have to negotiate for something to sleep on.

Apartment 5

Pros:

• First place we looked at with an honest-to-goodness balcony.
• Complex has a community garden
• Nice huge kitchen

Cons:

• Quite a bit farther away from the city center than we’d like to be
• Located right on one of the busiest arterial roads in the city
• Every sofa was uncomfortable

Chances: not so much. I don’t want to live that far away from work and amenities without owning a car, and I’m NOT owning a car. Garden area was nice, though.

Apartment 6

Pros:

• Funky. Apparently this building was a contest winner for “unique design” a decade or so ago. All of the doors were oval-shaped ports about 6 inches off the ground.
• Balcony overlooking a canal with a nice park on the other side.
• Big windows in the living room. Nice and bright.

Cons:

• Tiny. By far the smallest place we looked at.
• No dishwasher, and only one tiny sink in the kitchen. This makes washing anything bigger than a single dinner plate uncomfortably inconvenient.
• Even farther away from the city core than the last place.
• The only place we looked at with an electric stove, as opposed to gas.

Chances: unlikely. Too far away, too small, would have been a killer bachelor pad while I was in college, but I’m supposed to be a grown-up now.

Apartment 7

Pros:

• Had 4 walls and a ceiling. Building was not on fire at the time we viewed it.

Cons:

• Former occupant was a chain-smoker. Not enough Febreze in the world to get rid of that.
• Tiny fridge that had been unplugged and closed for too long, which became immediately apparent to everyone in the room when Shannie opened it.
• Appliances that are older than God himself.
• Every piece of furniture looked like it came from the “as-is” section at Ikea.
• The building is one of those depressing mid-70’s era eyesores.
• Far away from the city core, in an area of the city that can only be described as “less than savory.”
• Mattress on the bed was one of those foamies that you roll up and take camping with you.

Chances: there are numbers less than zero, right?

So there you have it. We didn’t look at anything in the area that we’re temporarily staying in, and the realtor is digging around to see if she can find anything around here for us to view, as we’ve found that we REALLY like this part of town (Jordaan, if you’re playing along at home). If something comes up around here, we’d definitely be interested in jumping at it. We’ll see.

To be continued.