June 19, 2015
I as woke with my alarm at 7:30 this morning and fell promptly back to sleep. Peter woke me at 8:45 when Bea knocked on the door! We were supposed to meet the Sextoms downstairs at 8:30!
What a day!! We left the hotel at 9 AM and returned at 9 PM (for good, day was over!). For breakfast we went to a traditional Dutch pancake place we'd seen yesterday, for pancakes(more like crepes) with the toppings we desired. I had lemon curd and fresh strawberries an then rolled up the thin pancake. Yum!!
From there we walked to th famous Van Gogh Museum where we waited in line for about a half hour until we could buy our entry tickets (17E, isn't that expensive? Isn't $19.00 a lot for entry to a museum?). Despite the free, the museum was extraordinary! It includes ALL of the Van Gogh family art works. And, if you consider that Vincent sold ONE of his paintings during his life (to his brother Theo), that is a lot of art that has never been available to the general public. Needless to say, I was enthralled. Waiting in line was worth it!!
The day was deteriorating weather-wise. But we plodded on in our quest to see as much as we could! We decided that with the deteriorating weather, we'd do well, at this point, to take a canal cruise in a covered boat. This city is amazing! The architecture is so in tune with the environs of Amsterdam. And the stories and history of the river, dam and canals are history-making. So many canals, so many bridges, so many narrow houses-all connected!! And, before I forget, it's important to be careful of the bicycles. It's hard to know where you are able to walk. And it's a wonder there aren't a lot of accidents! I think there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam. And none of the bicyclists wears helmets! Bea thinks the pedestrians should wear helmets!
After a beer and "coffee" at the Bull Dog Cafe, a coffee shop, we, slowly but surely wended our way to Dubbel, a restaurant recommended by Rick Steves, small, crowded (good sign!). The servers were sooo gracious, gave us a flight of 4 local beers to taste, and tended to us with care! Mostly a local place but probably for a younger crowd. We WERE the only gray hairs, I mean, Peter and Tom were the only gray hairs there. The food was great: bitterballen again for an appetizer (!warmed creamy veal surrounded by a crispy, crunchy deep fried ball of crumbs! Sound delish? Dinner for Tom and I had Dutch steak with fries and salad, Peter had "American" steak and Bea pork with apples and we all had local beer. Good discussion ensued and, before we knew it we were back on the road walking to our hotel and an early evening. After a cordial, we retired for an early bed, meeting at 7 at the desk.
No comments:
Post a Comment