Here we are listening to pop music and drinking a Bavaria in the hostel bar in Amsterdam…a town I've breezed through twice but never spent much time in before now. Yesterday we arrived by train around noon, walked in the glorious sunshine (but still fresh at 16 degrees) from the trainstation. We were careful to skirt the redlight district and had lunch on the way to the Vondelpark, in the Oud Zuid where we're staying (see the picture above of the StayOkay Hostel where we had a room on the top floor). Once we were settled, we did the requisite canal boat tour
and then found a terrace for a drink and snack. Poor D was fading fast since he's still suffering from a cough and cold so on our way back to the hostel we found a drugstore for some decongestant for him and for M and I, found an antique store with gorgeous (but tres cher) Art Nouveau chandeliers in the window and lovely hand painted original and reporduction ceramic tiles in delft and other recognizable styles. Unfortunately, the children started acting up so we cut our losses and dragged them home instead of browsing any further.
The first day's activities began with the in-house breakfast in the hostel then we walked to the Van Gogh Museum where we saw a lovely display of many of different periods of Vincent's work. M is studying Van Gogh in school, so this trip rounded out his education of the man, his life and his art. I have seen many of his paintings in the Kruller Muller Museum near Arnhem, The Netherlands, but was impressed with the audio tour and accompanying animated "letters" of Vincent's to his brother the art dealer, Theo. It brought a deeper level to my understanding of his work and his troubled life.
It was interesting to see that D was inspired to sketch when we stopped for lunch today, and here's a picture of the budding artist hard at work on his still life and portrait techniques. We bought some prints of his work and I got an "irises" umbrella to replace my Art Nouveau CR Mackintosh stained glass window umbrella lost some years ago back in Toronto.
That night we were planning on going out to a real restaurant (instead of the Movenpick style lunch today or the terrace/bar snacks we've so far survived on) and then see how we felt. The Anne Frank house is being renovated, so we'll not make it there this trip. Perhaps just rest up for day two when we'll do something more kid-friendly like go to the Artis Zoo or to Nemo, the science centre, pending on the weather. So far we've been very blessed with almost warm weather day one, and sun until late afternoon.
Noon, Thursday on the train back to Brussels:
Last night's dinner was quite good and well worth the outing. Upon our hostel's recommendation, we went to a place called The Bazar, which features inexpensive medeterreanian food that the locals all enjoy. The portions were very generous, the service actually good (particularly for Amsterdam, which I've read has a reputation for painfully slow service) and the ambiance worth going to see. It is in a renovated building on the Albert Cuyptmarkt street in the "De Pijp" neighbourhood that was once a church then a synagogue and is now a restaurant.
We sat in the balcony and had a great view of the open kitchen, the spectacular coloured Turkish glass and cut metal chandeliers (the size of golf carts, some of them) and the octagonal bar below. I would highly recommend this place to anyone visiting, since Amsterdam (and all of the Netherlands) isn't known for its own cuisine, but rather a collection of other countries' flavours and palates which they do in a fusion style quite well. The best part of the meal for the boys was that their double skewer chicken kabob, wedge fries and fruit salad meal came with a "treasure chest" ice cream treat at the end of the meal.
Inside the box was a false bottom and within, a tattoo for each youngster. this is the second time we've had a kid's meal in Amsterdam and both times, it came with a unique plastic "toy" type bowl that thrilled particularly our youngest. I'm afraid we've set some high expectations for the next Dutch meal he will have!
