Day 4: Rijksmuseum and canal boats

We weren't sure what we wanted to do our last day in Amsterdam, so originally we just set out wandering because it was Sunday and we weren't sure what was going to be open. We ended up buying tickets on a canal tour boats they have going around the city and then going to the Rijksmuseum, which is in the beautiful old building that is completely covered by scaffolding currently. They have some very famous paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer in this museum along with a lot of Dutch artifacts. The Vermeer painting, The Milkmaid, was so amazing in the detail and the way the painting captured the light.

The rest of the day we took it easy explored a little before having dinner, and then found a nice cafe to drink a bottle of rosé and watch the bicycles go by as night fell.

May 23, 2010

Day 3: Bikes and Windmills

The third day in Amsterdam Cat and I decided to rent bikes and pretend like we were locals with bright red bikes and big red signs on the front that clearly gave us away as tourists.


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From the bike place we found a route that took us north of Amsterdam to the town of Zaanse Schans. The route was about 40 km, which is way further than I've ever ridden a bike before. It first took us up through the town of Landsmeer and through this beautiful park with lots of meadows like these and also along lots of canals.







Our goal was to reach Zaanse Schans, which has 8 windmills for tourists to come and gawk at. We stopped in the main part of town to find some lunch, and ended up in this little place that sold sandwiches and hamburgers and stuff like that. Cat and I are just minding our own business and scarfing down our food because we just rode 20 km. The only other customers in this place are a group of teenage boys sitting a couple booths over from us. Well they get up to leave, and our table is facing the window right where their bikes are parked. We notice they are acting kind of strangely and looking at us a lot, but they all get on their bikes and get ready to leave but one guy. I don't know how they decided, but apparently it was his job to moons us and then they all raced away on their bicycles. Pretty hilarious. It was also a pretty pathetic moon. I kept hoping we would see them again as we rode through town so that we could show them how it's done.

May 22, 2010

Day 2: van Gogh, Anne Frank, and Bacon pancakes!

On our second day in Amsterdam, Cat and I decided to go to the van Gogh museum. The museum is actually setup pretty cool because the curators have accumulated painting by other artists that had an influence on van Gogh's evolution as a painter. These are not what you think of traditionally as van Gogh, but they were my favorite: Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and The Sea at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. I am really a fan of paintings that use colors that are wildly different from the actual color and trick your eye into thinking that it really is that color. To me, that is the only way to capture the subtleties of a very colorful landscape especially if there is water involved.  

In the afternoon, we decided to visit the Anne Frank House, but on our way we just randomly chose a cafe that was along our route. You never know what type of food you find in these types of cafe's, and the one we found was still serving breakfast. I am a fan of breakfast at any time of day, so I ended up ordering... drumroll... bacon pancakes! They were honestly more of a cross between a crepe and a pancake, but seriously delicious. Wish I had thought of that before! My cousins would have been in heaven! ;)

The Anne Frank House was pretty overwhelming honestly, but definitely worth it. It was my favorite museum we visited in Amsterdam. What moved me the most was where the parents had marked the children's heights on the wall as they grew. Anna Frank also pasted all these random pictures all over her room just like any other teenage girl would do. 

Here I am in front of the house.

May 21, 2010

Day 1: Jet lag makes for fuzzy pictures and questionable observations

When Cat and I first arrived in Amsterdam, we forced ourselves out and about even though the jet lag was pretty strong. I only found out how strong when I got back. Most of the pictures I took that day have the wrong settings and the rest are out of focus! 

We didn't really know where to start, so we went on this free walking tour that I'm really glad I didn't pay for. It was very entertaining, but not very informative as I think our tour guide was making it up as we went along. She gave us tour of the central part of Amsterdam and told me a lot of stuff I don't believe, but probably the most entertaining story was about how the locals (very drunk locals) have a game where they throw any bike not locked to something into the canal. I talked about this with a colleague in Amsterdam, who was nice enough to store my camping gear, so that I didn't have to lug it around Europe. She also said there is a canal boat specifically designed to pull bikes out of the canal with a crane arm! 

Near the main train station in Amsterdam there is parking garage that holds about 3000 bicycles that kind of explains the sheer number of bicycles in Amsterdam. People ride on the luggage rack on the back of the bike, which requires a running start that is pretty hilarious to watch. A mom rode by with a toddler on the back and a baby in front. Probably the cutest thing I saw was a couple holding hands as they rode by.

For the rest of the day we wandered through the streets, taking it easy and finally eating dinner at a nice little cafe called Szmulewicz and watched the sun go down.

May 20, 2010