Chicago, Amsterdam and Kylie

Well, what a crazy weekend we had! Long story short, I had some business to do last minute in Amsterdam and Matt and I decided to make a weekend of it.

As we already had planned to see Kylie in Chicago (yes, she was coming to Toronto but Matt wanted to see her in a smaller venue) on Wednesday it kind of worked out. So we flew to Chicago, saw Kylie (Australia's Madonna) and then flew out the next day and spent the long Canadian Thanksgiving weekend in Amsterdam.

Here's a photo of Matt in line for Kylie. We have a Kylie shrine in our house, I think most gay Aussie men, and certainly ones living abroad, have one. Matt might be a little more obsessed than most, so let's just say that he was in heaven on Wednesday night.

Our flight on Thursday didn't leave until 4pm so we did get a little retail therapy in, this is a picture of me on the rainy streets of Chicago desperately seeking the nearest Banana Republic (we succeeded shortly after this picture was taken).

Matt's always happy shopping.

Me getting cheeky with the Lego man in some mall.

Amsterdam was great. We stayed at a wonderful historic hotel in Dam Square called the Grand Krasnapolsky. It had an amazing winter garden room where we had brunch.

When we first arrived in Amsterdam and got off the train Matt says "It's so European!", I loved that. Didn't let him forget it either. Here's sexy Matt on a canal.

We did hit the Red Light district, which was a lot of fun to see. We didn't get into any trouble as we were there for such a short time we didn't want to waste a minute. I was able to shoot a photo of a 'lady of the night' in one of the red lit windows as we walked by (which you're not supposed to do, but I couldn't resist). Let's just say, something for everyone, what an interesting experience.

The best was probably Anne Frank's House, which was actually her father's business, where they hid upstairs for 2 years. It still has the same wallpaper, all the furniture was removed at the request of her father (he was the only one that survived), which made it almost more stark and dramatic.

For some reason as a child, the story of Anne Frank haunted me. I had nightmares about it, and I can remember laying in my bed at night and planning on where I would hide if the Nazi's came. Strange the things you think of when you're a kid.

It was a very moving and emotional experience, I didn't sleep well that night. I highly recommend it, but buy your tickets online first (you'll thank me for this).

More shopping, this time EURO shopping! We hit this store called Sissy Boy - we knew it was for us. I wanted to buy a scarf as all the Euro boys seemed to be wearing them. Matt told me to stand under the sign with my new scarf...you get the picture.


All in all we had a wonderful time, beautiful city, warm friendly people and nothing else to do but visit museums, eat, drink and be merry.

That's our news, we're looking forward to catching up on all our bloggers updates. Cheers.