Above, Birre in Siena, 2001. Below, Birre in Amsterdam, 2012.
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Monday Night F*ckball indeed. We were sitting outside at De Kat, the five of us (Brothers Ruiten, mt, DB, KK had just departed), cluttering and recluttering our tabletop with full/empty glasses, when Birre randomly cycled by. Mara squeaked "that was Birre!" and yelled her name and she stopped and came back.
I hadn't seen her in 11 years or so. Birre is our Dutch classmate from our Italian class in Siena, Italy, back in 2000. Her existence (and attendant dorky coolness) was the impetus for us visiting Amsterdam for the first time for New Year's 2000/2001, thus setting in motion whatever further machinations led to us eventually moving here. She turns 30 on Sunday. 30. Time is flowing like a river.
Birre stayed for a beer and invited us to her birthday party. Then she went home for a nap (she has a new baby) and we stayed outside at De Kat til it closed at 1:30am.
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2 comments:
Pretty awesome story! I have a similar Amsterdam story, I was on vacation having beer at my former stomping grounds, Cafe Belgique (if you know where that is, it's in a little alley off the beaten path near Dam square, it has the best beer as is a gem) All of a sudden, my friend Isa from Lille(France) came walking by, also on vacation. I hadn't seen her in years! Crazy how small this world can be. I know that when I go back to Holland and I hang around Amsterdam, there is no doubt I will run into my dutch friends. But to run into another on vacation blew my mind!
hey kory, yes belgique is great! and yes, two people running into each other on vacation in some third place is some kind of spooky synchronicity. thanks for stopping by!
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