This is what I did on my girls' day
This is us
My close-knit group of girlfriends consists of seven girls. We are all different and do something different. A will be my dentist, M my general practitioner, I can go to L if I want to talk for a bit, and I go to another M for dinner every day later. Yet another M just moved in with someone, and another A really wants to travel alone again. Everyone has different future plans, everyone has a different time for the alarm to go off, and everyone has different rhythms. It was high time for a girls' day to be scheduled. That had to be planned two months in advance, you understand. You had to keep the whole day free and actually the next day too (due to the hangover) and boys were not allowed.
The day
On Saturday morning, we got on the bus to Volendam. Phones were banned from the very first moment, but of course, I was the only one who didn't stick to that rule.
This wannabe fit girl had stuffed Jillz in her bag, which immediately caused some really disgusted faces to be made, and those bottles were reluctantly drunk.
“Come on, we’re on a school trip, so we have to drink secretly and stuff, right?” I had actually done a 10K run that morning, so don’t worry. M secretly threw the bottle (still completely full) in the trash.
The plan for the day was to take such a dreadful photo in traditional costume, then go up the dike in search of kibbeling, eel, and a bar with a cheerful bartender. After that, back to Amsterdam to eat at bar Wilde Zwijnen.
So, a photo in traditional costume is an incredibly serious matter there. You walk in and immediately get a dress, a necklace, a hat on your head, and clogs that are so warm because a guy just took them off for you. Within a minute, we had all turned into a moeke. Try to hold back your laughter then. “Do you want to be by the fireplace or in front of the stove?” I couldn’t answer the question normally because I was already bursting out laughing. But okay, when we were all finally standing and sitting, our dresses straightened out, and I could somewhat keep my laughter in check, I was handed an accordion. Man, man, man, I should have brought three pairs of clean underwear if I had known this. No, what am I saying, four pairs, because after me, milk cans, coffee grinders, tulips, and baskets of bread were also handed out. Good. Fill it in yourself.
’The Havengat on the dike still had the whole bar free. Behind it stood Martin, who was already shooting shots with his colleagues, so that was good. We started off well with wine, fish, and croquettes on bread, but that quickly turned into Dropshot and cinnamon stuff. “Tomorrow I’ll do 20 kilometers,” crossed my mind once, and then I didn’t think about it anymore.
We only wanted to have lunch there, but suddenly we even had to run for our dinner reservation in Amsterdam. And that was a good thing too, because when I asked bartender Martin for the twentieth time if Jan Smit had ever been here, it almost became too much for him too. Stumbling, we all walked outside, back into the school bus.
Wilde Zwijnen is definitely one of my favorite restaurants because the food there is so incredibly delicious that you can still taste it after two bottles of wine. They recently also opened a food bar (right next door) where you can eat small bites. If you’re with your boy or date, definitely reserve a spot at the bar because eating at a bar is just awesome. We got a table and started with a cocktail. Oh, we had just had a sort of travel break for an hour, so we could manage again. Then came smoked burrata, octopus, longhaas, veal neck, and I believe three times a cheese platter. We were all stuffed, but if it’s there, it gets eaten.
There was chatting as if we hadn’t spoken to each other for weeks. About things we know about each other, but for which we don’t make enough time during the week because that’s just how it goes. Of those 20 kilometers, of course, nothing came of it, and instead, I lounged all day and thought back to the best day of the year. Jan, will you be there next year?
