deity among deals

While walking through downtown Amsterdam with Liz yesterday, we ooh'd and aah'd at all the fun stuff that was to be seen and  bought. The reason we were there was so that I could go through the nerve wrecking process of renewing my American passport at the American Consulate. And so to celebrate that it had gone well, we shopped. We went from American Bookcentre to H&M, from Intertoys to luxurious soap shop, from De Slegte to jewelry store and finally our legs and tummies started to revolt. The golden arches eagerly greated us, and we sat down in their surprisingly comfortable and colourful lounge chairs to indulge in some fries and a honey-mustard wrap, while we rested our weary bones. We were seated on the second floor near a window and enjoyed watching out at the shoppers passing by. We agreed that next time we would forget about shopping altogether, and just people-watch for an entire morning or afternoon. (Though I'm not completely sure we would be able to actually forgo on the shopping :::especially when sales are on::: I am certain that we would have heaps of fun observing, scaling up, and jokingly judging everyone passing us by.) 

Suddenly we looked past the shoppers and noticed what was blatantly staring us in the face without us even realising it: a beautiful, quaint church, situated smack in the middle of all that bustle. Nobody was looking at it or even noticicing it, and nobody seemed to be entering in through its dark doors. We shared a look and agreed that that would be the next place we would visit. We sat and ate, rest, chatted and laughed until we were ready to leave (or rather until we were made ready to leave by the employee with the worst BO ever who kept hovering near our table), and we ventured out with curiosity as to what would await us once inside this little place of worship. The surprise was a happy one. It was nowhere near small on the inside, and the second the doors closed behind us, the noise and chatter from outside was shut out completely and we were greated with silence, and wonderful tranquility. We walked around, admired all the beautiful art and the impressive architecture and took pictures. 

So we found deity among deals, and religion amidst retail, the sacred between the sales. Yep, we felt pretty cool when we resumed our shopping.