Walk and Tram about in Amsterdam

Amstel Canal

Flowermarket

Had a great night sleep, which was good because what a day!  We began by hiking down to the floating flowermarket which took your breath away with the array of flowers and bulbs available.  There was even a beginner's cannabis kit that one could purchase.  Though tulips, lovely in their own right, have never been a favorite of mine, but there are many other bulbs that are available including calla lillies and crocus.   In amongst the flower market we stopped for breakfast where Rick had a Dutch pancake which is just a huge flat thin pancake that was more doughy and less cakey.  It was served with powdered sugar and molasses.  I helped him finish that off.

Dutch Breakfast

We then hiked on down to the museum district, dodging trams and bicyclists along the way, to check out the Van Gogh Museum.  There are many museums in this area including Hollands premier Rijksmuseum which contains over 7 million works of art.  Museums like that just overwhelm me and I prefer the niche museums which focus on one topic or artist.  The Van Gogh museum was excellent.  For those casually interested in the topic, like myself, one can work through the museum in a couple of hours.  It was well organized and led the visitor through his life and the evolution of his art.  It place his work in historical, cultural, and emotional context which lead to a comprehensive understanding of the artist and his work.  Van Gogh's effort to reach moments of transcendence through his work appealed to me and, I think Rick, particularly given Rick's work in photography.  Both Rick and I are glad that we took the time to visit the museum.

Afterwards we set off to figure out the public transportation which consists of buses, metro, and trams.  It turns out to be pretty easy but only after you figure it out.  To the first-time user it can be pretty darn confusing.  We decided to just hop on a tram that we knew was going to Centraal Station.  As it turned out we could purchase a ticket directly from the conductor which allows us to travel on any bus, metro, or tram for an hour.  When we got to the Centraal Station, we hopped around amongst the many information offices until we found the GVB (don't know what it stands for) which administers the metro, bus, and tram.  There we found a map for 2.50 Euros which showed all the routes and stops.  Then we went to another office where we learned that we could purchase a 48 hour pass which would allow us to travel on all three of these forms of transportation for 11.50 Euros each.  Perfect.  So we picked two of these up and we have been public-transportation-using fools ever since.

A tired me at 1st Class Cafe

The "Python" Pedestrian Bridge

Since we were at the Centraal Station we decided to have lunch at the recommended First Class Cafe which was indeed first class.  Rick had the burger and I the quiche and I learned that bathroom in Dutch is "toiletten".  We then headed off to eastern Amsterdam, using Tram 26, to the constructed spits of Sporenburg and Borneo where there was suppose to be some interesting architecture. 

Interesting single-housing architecture

Wow!  The transportation and building architecture here was all carefully designed to work together in order to great a huge modern art canvas.  The two pedestrian bridges connecting the spits were a photographers dream and Rick and I spent a couple of hours photographing these subjects.  Some of the buildings, given names like pacman and the whale, also were photographically interesting.  Personally, I'm not quite sure what the overall objective of the architects and land use planners was here, I just don't know enough to appreciate their efforts.  But nevertheless, it has peaked my interest in the field and I plan to try to learn more about this area.  It good to get out of central Amsterdam into slightly more wide open spaces and obtain a realistic view of how people live.

We then headed back to Centraal Station, where, for 50 cents each, we used the bathrooms.  You know, I've decided that if paying a few cents keeps the bathroom this neat and clean then I'm all for it.  We decided to walk around for a bit heading in the direction of Dam Square.  On the way, we passed the sex museum and the torture museum.  I like my niche museums but frankly this was a little much.  Dam Square is the site of the Dam on the Amstel River around which the city grew.  I saw no evidence of the dam itself for the Dam Square is now like any other town square comprised of an open plaza surrounded by shops and government buildings.  We were a little disappointed in the area given that the main feature, the Koninklijk Palace was completed covered by scaffolding and protective cover.  We were amused to discover during our walks the presence of "Smart Shops" which sell a host of substances, illegal in the states, including many varieties of mushrooms. We wondered about the origin of the name "Smart". No, we did not purchase any.

We eventually wandered back to our B&B to be greeted our energetic proprietor inquiring as to whether we are enjoying ourselves. "Absolutely" we replied and the then said that he would like to offer us a bottle of wine, white, rose, or red? Of course red which he promptly brought up to us, a Chilean merlot. We invited him to join us but, perhaps, his English was not good enough (though it is leaps and bounds ahead of our Dutch) because he said yes, sure, and then left.

Amsterdam at Twilight

We unwound for a bit and then went out on walkabout before dinner, sightseeing, before ending up at a Country French Restaurant across the street from the Indian restaurant we visited the night before. The meal was >sigh< delcious, me a halibut in a white wine sauce that I could have had by itself, perhaps with a loaf of bread for sopping. Rick had a beef filet in a brandy cream sauce. We sipped on a nice French burgundy. But desert, oh, desert was divine. I ordered the cheese and port plate, where I received five types of cheeses and three ports. Bert, our informative waiter described the ports to me a young ruby and a young tawny and a 10-yr old tawny, and how they are made. The ports with the blue, camembert, and brie cheeses was a dreamy combination. Rick had ordered a nougat parfait, and Bert couldn't bear to seem him without a drink (the wine was all gone) with me surrounded by port, so Bert brought Rick a glass of muscat.

We made our way home in the rain (it has been raining off and on since we arrived) and collapsed into bed at around 11:30. It was a long but fantistic day.