Today's pics were taken in alleys. Art is where you find it. I'm realizing that after I finish the Amsterdam Doors series and the Amsterdam Alleys series, I could do another on Amsterdam Bridges, which has got to have more bridges per capita than any other place on the planet.

Here's a twofer, a door in an alley:

I really do need to put some more effort into watching Dutch TV, but the two best programs for language acquisition both have their problems. A man in his sixties can bear only a fairly small amount of children's programming since it tends to segue without warning into stuff like the Teletubbies, which is not improved in Dutch, especially since the show seems mostly to consist of jumping up and down, waving ones arms, and grunting, cooing, and squealing.

Consequently, I wonder how it was that Jerry Falwell decided that the one with a purple triangle on top was pushing a gay agenda. Seems deep in the closet to me. No, Jerry, not the teletubby.

On the other hand, the stuff that's being shown on the news of Abu Ghraib Prison is disheartening, to say the least. I think, well, maybe this is from a Dutch bias, so I go to CNN. Exactly the same stuff except that the CNN photos are prudish, but the more prudish the better in this case.

There might be some satisfaction in being able to say, "I told you so," to my fellow Americans if our invasion of Iraq hadn't turned out so much worse than I had ever imagined possible.

This afternoon, it's over to Edward's again, and he and Rafaël and I go to a gay Chinese place called New Season on Warmoestraat across from the old police station. This place is positively serene compared to the New King, and it's not even hot and stuffy inside. We have the Malaysian rijstaffel for three, which consists of ten dishes besides the soup. I am beginning to wonder whether rijstaffel as a way of eating is over-rated. Can there be so many good little dishes that they all blend together and then none is memorable? Hmmmm. Well, maybe not, since I do love dim sum. At any rate, the food is excellent and abundant and we barely finish it.

This time bill is €57 something and they grudgingly concede that leaving an entire €60 would not be completely outrageous since the service was so fawning that it verged on complete....as in those massages delicately described as "complete."