A palace, a little Dutch girl elephant, and giant Pringles

Today was another sunny day in Amsterdam. Loving it! Cari took off for work, Mark and I drank our coffee, hung out for a while, and then went around the block to one of the world's BEST bakeries, and had lunch. So darn good! We picked up some sweets for later, (and took my picture in front of the McDonalds that is also just around the corner from Cari), and then took off for some adventures. We walked through town, checking out some shops to see about picking up t-shirts for Steven and Doug, but for gosh sakes, some of them shirts! You could tell we were really close to the red light district! Let's leave it at that. We ended up at Dam Square, where the Palace is. The Palace is amazing, so very impressive.We went on an audio tour and this was one of the highlights of our trip! The information they provided about each room brought it to life, and I now know why the folks who live here think it's one of the wonders of the world. Mark has his eyes shut in the picture in front of one of my favorite paintings, darn it. So Cari said to think of it as if he's concentrating: think of it that way, okay? Queen's Day is coming, a HUGE crazy festival, and there is a carnival outside of the Palace taking place. We're guessing the carnival has to do with the festival. We didn't take part in that, but I did take part of the ice cream with me...Mary was one happy puppy! We walked and walked, finding a small little 'Dutch girl elephant': now that's something you don't see every day. Cari laughed when I told her about it and she said she figured we'd find that. We met up with Cari and went to dinner at the Indian cafe across the street from her place. So good! They first brought out a large cracker, for lack of knowing what it actually was. We really enjoyed it, and Cari figured out it was the world's largest Pringle. I took a picture of the cafe while hanging out of one of Cari's windows. Tonight we're taking it easy. Mark has been on the computer, I'm reading a book, and Cari is out with friends. This is a wonderful vacation. How lucky are we????