How to spend my last days in Amsterdam?

The rain has continued since completing the bike tour but I've kept venturing out & exploring city with my 'I'm a tourist' Amsterdam umbrella! I can honestly say I know my way around now without getting lost & today I even (finally) found an interesting market. I've fitted in a tour of the glamorous palace & the Gunther von Hagen's Bodyworks. I gave up on the Anne Frank house as I toured & paid my respects last trip & the queues has been astronomical! Online purchases are limited & appeared sold out for several weeks.

Last trip, I came across this interesting character at the markets selling his henna painting services. His face lit up when I gave him licence to create whatever pattern he wanted, apparently most tourists want modern & untraditional designs.  He shared his travel stories of how he migrates where it's summer.

Well this time around I took it a step further...Mum before you continue on, I really love you so don't be mad *coming from a 32 year old* How does one spend their last full day in Amsteram???

I got my first tattoo courtesy of Angelique Houtkamp!!!

I've never been interested in getting a tattoo. It's not that I was against them. It's just because I figured I'd get bored of it one day? My wonderful cuz Stirlo had dragged me to  the Outre gallery in Sydney to buy one of Angelique's prints in the past. Well, I ended up walking out with one as well & have since added to the collection. At some point I decided if I was ever going to get a tattoo it had to be by her (part of me didn't believe the opportunity would ever present itself). 

The inside joke was that I had no idea what I wanted & a vague idea of where considering this was going to be permanent. Several emails went back & worth. The one theme I wanted was travel as this was going to be a memento. When Angelique took creative licence & focused her design on my Grandmother's brooch I was apprehensive. I'll admit I did check out her flash cards & one-offs until I decided to trust the artist after all she did design it just for me.

Salon Serpent had the most amazing energy as clients studied & complimented each others projects & the tattooist shared funny banter. The walls were covered in flash cards, one-off designs & vintage rarities. The whole experience was very comfortable.

The image really doesn't do her justice. Angelique skills absolutely are amazing!The talk between tattooist was that the colouring was really outside of her usual style with the softer tones & using purple. Apparently she never uses purple but she wanted to compliment the grape brooch/hairpin. I feel very privileged 

So let me introduced Marie! 

Note to self

- lets keep it at one