On Wednesday I was at an all-day training even for IT staff for our company and afterwards they took all of us out to dinner (with free beer) at the Kaap Kot restaurant in Amsterdam. It has a lovely dock out back and the sun was out, allowing us to sit and enjoy our beer on a patio overlooking the water while waiting for dinner. What's really interesting about this restaurant is that Kaap Kot is temporary. They temporarily set up the restaurant in a building that's easy to set up and tear down and then when that area gets built up, they tear it down and move it. Currently situation overlooking a lovely bend on the Amstel River, it's a lovely venue. I can't comment on the food quality as we had a buffet and those are never as nice, but the buffet was pleasant, though hardly extraordinary.
While sitting there, a new colleague who we've just brought over from California (his first time in Europe was when we flew him over for the interview), found out I used to live in Portland and asked me if I was a fan of Portlandia.
Huh?
I stopped watching TV about 26 years ago (though there have been periods I've watched it a bit) and I have no idea about it any more. I hear about lovely shows like Firefly only because someone mentions them or I incidentally read about them. So I was delighted to hear about Portlandia, where young people go to retire.
Yeah, that's homesickness talking. I don't want to move back to the US, but I miss Portland :)
Ooh, I know the bellydancing lass in the video :)
ReplyDeleteDid you read it? If so, put a bird on it and check out the farm where your dinner chicken was raised.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of our only worries: Missing Portland. I'm with you whole-heartedly here: Portland is great, but the US is less-than great most of the time. The problem is, the US has a lot of influence over the culture of Portland. Although we've carved out a semi-European existence, once outside of the bubble of the inner sanctum of Portland, the rest of the area is a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI always say this: When I leave Portland to visit another place in the US, I can't wait to get home. When I leave Portland to visit outside the US, I don't want to go home. It has been the case in just about every travel I've had.
The question is, is that grass-is-greener syndrome?