Row row Rozengracht

Marlon and I have been spending a lot of time indoors, what with all the home improvement going on. After all the painting and arranging and unpacking and stapling (I almost said sewing, but none of that took place), I began to feel Amsterdam pulling me outdoors. "Did you move to Amsterdam or did you just move to your new apartment? Get your lazy ass out here and start exploring!" it seemed to shout. (Why does the voice of Amsterdam in my head oddly sound like Sassy Gay Friend?)

So post-market on Saturday, explore we did, still in the context of home improvement. I took copious notes from my copy of VTWonen and noticed that a lot of home stores were clustered along Rozengracht, in the Jordaan. Fortified by a fantastic lunch of pork chops fresh from the market, we headed up and West.

Walking from Frederik Hendrikstraat to Rozengracht, we came upon an alley filled with graffiti, which is something I always stop for and take pictures of. 

This looks like it could be a Banksy. I've been lucky enough to spot Banksy's work in Brussels, San Francisco and now in two places in Amsterdam. The other one was along the Prinsengracht on my way to Westermarkt.

Of course, the Indian half of me had to pose with Ganesh, who seems to have added graffiti to his list of divine skills.

Poor Ganesh was branded a fake. A copy of which artist, I wonder?

Love this, a bitter word in candy colors. I imagine this was the result of a Mean Girls-type catfight or a really bad breakup.

Our first stop along Rozengracht was the wonderfully styled Raw Materials, which marries the two design phases of my life so far: vintage/industrial...

... and Indian/ethnic. Check out the kilim-upholstered benches. Mom lent me several large, old kilim rugs which lasted through most of my Indian decorating phase. When we moved here, I sent them back to her, marking the end of said phase.

I bought a colorful printed letter "D" from Anthropologie last year, so Marlon decided it was time he got himself an "M." You know, gender equality and all that.

Then we stopped by De Kasstoor and Wonen to ogle their gorgeous, but ultimately way too pricey, design furniture. Their little chair garden out back reminded me a bit of the sculpture garden atop SF MoMA.

We found these metal chairs from the same maker as our vintage dining chairs. Yay! But at €500 for these two display pieces (may discount na yan kasi used!), we had to leave them behind. Boo.

At Nordic New, Marlon and I came face to face with the Block Lamp (previously on my bedroom wishlist) and decided that it was indeed a work of art, but ultimately not suited to our (messy) lifestyle. We did order bright yellow pendant lamps from Muuto for the dining room, all while being trailed by this friendly auburn doggie. It says much about the behavior of this dog that he's allowed to spend time amongst so many impeccably designed Scandinavian goods (a number of which were very breakable and very pricey).

At the end of Rozengracht was the Westerkerk, heralded by trippy colours from a mile away. I will return for a closer inspection of this church one day.

Nearby was Kitsch Kitchen, which really tests your threshold for bright colors and, well, kitsch. Marlon was squirming from the moment we walked in. "Narrow your field of vision. Try not to look at everything all at the same time," I advised. And there was really so much to look at, from the pinata party dangling from the ceiling...

To kitschier versions of our hammered tin mirror...

To multicolored iterations of a familiar sight. Yes, folks, the humble banig has arrived. And I'm not talking about the singer.

All window-shopped out, we stopped at a small strip of park overlooking the canal at Nassaukade.

Marlon went to get us some cups of hot tea, which we sipped while sitting on a bench, chatting, occasionally playing catch with a nearby bull terrier named Bugsy (yes, naging close kami), and generally marveling at our good fortune.

At 6-ish we set off for dinner at the nearby Frederik Hendrikstraat, where we started walking. We passed this interesting sculture near the bridge at Nassaukade. I love how jaunty and light it feels, like he's about to blow away in the wind.

If you've had a wonderful day, I would highly recommend ending it in an equally wonderful way. The Tartufata at Yam Yam Pizzeria makes this possible with mozzarella, gorgonzola, mascarpone, parmesan, rocket and truffle oil layered generously on a pizza crust that's wood-fired to perfection. Yam yam indeed.