Amsterdam II 091For our second trip of shopping in Amsterdam we go to the “Negen Straatjes”: the Nine Streets. An area of old buildings, quaint little shops, lots of little lunch places and (for the time being) hardly any big stores. This is the best fun shopping area in Amsterdam. Which consist, as you probably already have guessed, of 9 little streets. Sometimes when I go there with a friend we can only cover 2 streets as we go from door to door.

Here is the little map of the route we walked. We started at the top, at the corner of Prinsengracht and Reestraat in Koffiehuis De Hoek (Coffeeshop The Corner), to enjoy a lovely cappuccino.

Amsterdam II nine streets map“We” that day, means my friend Helena, who is always game for some shopping. She was wearing a beautiful coral necklace, knowing I would love that. Present from her husband (I am not the only lucky girl). See Helena below:Amsterdam II 006
And here am I, wearing an Ina necklace (green beads with blue lapis lazuli at the bottom), big modern watch (present husband).
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The shopping commenced in Reestraat. Passing a fine Italian restaurant Bussia (it was still a bit too early for luch), we went into Miss Jones, with bags, accessories, clothes and designer shoes from size 34 to 45 (European sizes). Nearly bought a pair of incredibly good booties from a famous Dutch shoe designer: Jan Janssen.

Below: restaurant Bussia at number 28 and Miss Jones at number 26:

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Next stop was Suspence (nice and easy if these shops have an English name; no need for translation) at number 22. As you can see below, Helena was checking out the clothes, while I fell for a faux gold cuff bracelet (seen here) and a yellow necklace. How about these glitter turn-ups on the jeans of the left doll?
Amsterdam II 013At number 18 the shop “Who’s that girl & Wow to go”, with clothes in all colours. Or as they say: “Bright colors, playful prints and a touch of retro”. I love that doll which is always in front of the shop.Amsterdam II 021At the end of Reestraat, near the Keizersgracht you can find beautiful vintage and antique watches at Amsterdam Watch Company. 
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Two years ago I bought this watch there. The dial is hidden:
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Crossing the Keizersgracht, going straight through to Hartenstraat. At number 1: Hesther van Eeghen. If you ever wanted a special bag, gloves or wallet, this is the place to be. Below two pictures of her shop window:Amsterdam II 026

Amsterdam II 027Below: when I saw these loafers in the window of Lock Stock & Barrel (number 26) I thought of Rita, a woman I “met” on 40+Style. I bet she would love them.
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Below: And it is time for lunch at Van Harte, Hartenstraat 24, which we did. To protect their privacy, I blurred the faces of the people.
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Below: at number 22 Hartenstraat is McLennan’s pure silk. Fantastic fabric store. Remember my purple silk jacket? This is the shop where I bought the material. As you can see, they sell scarfs too. Silk of course. The way they displayed it, reminded me of a room in Judiths’ house (Style Crone) with even more scarfs, displayed in the same way. See here.

Of course we had a little look. I cannot remember whether Helena bought a scarf this time, but she did the time we were in the shop before.
Amsterdam II 035And then to my total surprise… at number 16…. Karl Lagerfeld. All in black and white: his favourite, my favourite. Can you see the cut-out of Karls’ face through the doorway? Could not resist going in and finally found the perfect bag to replace my black plastic shopping bag of EURO 2,00 which I had been using for 12 years.
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It embarrasses me to admit I bought this bag. Or do you agree that looking for the right shopping bag for so long to replace a battered plastic one, is a good reason?
The bag is as light as a feather with a great big opening at the top. See pictures below. Never mind the cardigan I am wearing. My husband says it is hideous and after seeing the photos I agree with him. Look at the bag and my cute cat Sophie on the roof in the lower right picture.

Amsterdam II 040Across the road at number 19: Kleikollektief. A shop with great ceramic work. I think the two bowls with Neptune are probably work in cooperation. I know them by their geometrical work.
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Hartenstraat number 7: Fab. (I told you … we go from door to door. So many nice shops.) Fab. is known for their fun bag designs. Have a look at their website. If you cannot visit me in Amsterdam, you can order their stuff as they ship internationally. (Gosh they should really pay me for all this advertising, don’t you think? Alas.. they don’t.)
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At number 5 the clothes shop ML. Here is where I bought my lemon green jacket (LAST year).
I was strong. I resisted the black and white jackets… It hurt, but I made it out the door without spending anything. Looking at these photos, there is still a painful longing….
Amsterdam II 048At the beginning of this post I introduced you to Hester van Eeghen and her fabulous bags. Further down the street, at number 1 she has her shoe shop.
Amsterdam II 052On the corner of Hartenstraat and Herengracht we found Parwan, a shop with original jewellery from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, India, Burma, Nepal and Tibet. Helena wanted a big silver ring to go with her necklace and earrings, and… succeeded. See the rings in the top right picture below. She chose the one on her ring finger, but she wears it on her middle finger.
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Time to look across the canal. Yep Amsterdam is smashing.

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Herengracht 300: Kaldi for perfect coffee and thee. This girl was looking so lovely sitting outside this shop, I had to take her picture. Great hat, great style.
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And onwards around the corner into Huidenstraat, where the feet prints on the street did not tempt us enough ……
But more of that next month. As I said, the 9 Streets hold so many pleasant surprises, you need quite a bit of time to see everything.
Stay tuned my dear visitors.

If you like to see more of the Nine Streets, see my post here. And underneath the tab Amsterdam (top navigation) you will find more reports on Amsterdam areas.
Greetje

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