Maybe Someday…

Beautiful

Posted on August 27, 2011 by hjones

My goal today was to visit the Van Abbemuseum. I had scoped out the route to the museum the day before, so I confidently set out on my way. As I approached the city center I could tell that something was going on, there was an enticing aroma in the air. I discovered that what was previously an empty plaza had been converted into an open air market place over night. It was like stepping out of Eindhoven and into Marrakesh.

Empty plaza just hours earlier

Dried Fruits

Aromatic roasted nuts

Gorgeous Berries

Cheeeese Gromit!

Look at those carrots! Look at them!

Fresh Breads

They were baking these pastries on site

A large portion of the market place was dedicated to fabrics and notions. I didn’t think people actually sewed anymore, but these ladies were flocked around the booth like seagulls on a french fry!

Don't get between these women and the calico!

Fabrics

Buttons by the million

Glitzy Fabrics

I continued on my journey to the museum through an office park. I don’t advocate graffiti, but when it is this cute….

Giggle, giggle

The Van Abbemuseum is a museum of modern and contemporary art. You enter through in the original building, but most of the exhibits are housed in a new addition that was completed in 2003.

Entrance

Old and new sections

Upon entering you are invited to choose how you would like to tour the exhibits. I didn’t quite understand, but you received a head set and a sticker identifying you as either a Pilgrim, a Tourist, a Flaneur or a Worker; I went with the pilgrim. Here is the description of the pilgrim:

“The Pilgrim focuses on the work of art itself. Often by means of texts, he or she tries to penetrate the work of art, to reach the sublime creative moment when the artist created the work, contemplatively, testing and deepening knowledge in a quest for deeper insights and to attain a changed state of being.”

I chose it because I live near Plymouth, but ok. It seemed a bit convoluted but it wouldn’t be last thing I didn’t get.

The narration led you through the progression of exhibits, I listened somewhat. There were some works from artists that I was familiar with like Mondrian and Andy Warhol. But for the most part I just didn’t get it. I may be naive or just plain simple but when I think of art, I think of beautiful paintings and sculptures. When I see an exhibit that is just a large white room with random items placed about it, and what can only be assumed are jars of urine in various states of evaporation, I just scratch my head.

Jars of pee are thankfully out of sight

Video loop of various people breaking windows with a sling shot

Empty canvasses, hhmmmm..

And I've been looking to the Bible as my moral compass all these years, silly me!

Wood Circle

Is that H.R. Pufnstuf?

Nonsense scrawled on the wall

Oh, THIS yellow thing.

I attempted to look as though I was a thoughtful pilgrim whilst observing a film loop of a naked couple slapping each other in the face over and over, But I don’t know that I pulled it off. Jeff rescued me from my dilemma by sending me a message asking if I would like meet him for lunch. Why yes, yes I would!

On the way to meet him I came across this:

An actual Automat!

I have no clue what selections were, but cool!

We were meeting some friends for dinner so we decided to split a meal. So far we hadn’t really had any Dutch food, except for the Bitter Balls so when we saw traditional dutch lunch on the menu , we went for it.

Don't worry we didn't split the beer, we got two

Dutch Lunch

Good thing we split! Everything was really tasty, I especially liked the sunny side egg with the delightfully crispy edge, yum! There were a couple of different seafood salads, a gazpacho type soup, some sort of meatballs in gravy and a sandwich made out of Bitter Balls.

I don’t believe I achieved a “changed state of being” on my outing, but I did enjoy my experience as the Pilgrim. It’s just that this pilgrim gets more excited about beautiful orange carrots than empty canvasess.

Posted in Dining Review, European Travel | Tagged dining, Eindhoven, Netherlands | Leave a comment

City of Light

Posted on August 22, 2011 by hjones

This was an early workday for Jeff. We had coffee together and after he left I hung around a bit organizing photos. Around eleven o’clock I headed out to get my bearings in this new city. It was a Monday and apparently this is still qualifies as the weekend because pretty much all the stores were still buttoned up tight.

Helloooo!!!

Anyone???

I don’t believe that I’ve mentioned that Jeff works for Philips, and Eindhoven is where the headquarters are located. Eindhoven was pretty much built by Philips so there are many buildings emblazoned with the name.

As you look across the plaza you can see the Witte Dame or "White Lady" Philips building.

I also saw several statues of Philips patriarchs.

Dr. Anton Frederick Philips

Frits Philips

The immensely popular “Mr. Frits” lived to be one hundred years old and has an inspiring biography.

I planned on visiting a modern art museum the next day (it is closed on Mondays just like everything else) so I figured I’d try and find it ahead of time. The museum was surrounded by beautiful prairie style gardens. I think I enjoyed the garden more than the art inside, but that’s for another installment.

Bronze Statue of Rodin (the artist not the winged B movie creature)

I walked through some of the surrounding neighborhoods.

Suburban Eindhoven

There seems to be a lot of house pride here, everyone’s hedges looked as if they were trimmed using a carpenter’s level.

Meticulous Hedges

Maybe I could trim our hedges like that? ...Nah!

By the time I got back around to the center of town, people were finally out and stores were open so I stopped for lunch at an outdoor café.

This must be where the cool people eat

Because this isn’t a typical tourist area, the menus were not as English friendly, so I took a guess at a sandwich I that might enjoy.

My random pointing at the menu yielded Bacon and Brie, yeehaw!

I am pleased to report that the cappuccino in Eidhoven is just as fantastic as in Amsterdam

As I noshed on my sandwich I observed that the people here seemed to have money. There were a lot of “Ladies who lunch” and “teenagers with daddy’s credit card” types.

Ladies in expensive sunglasses

Ritzy Teens

Everyone smokes here too

After lunch I nosed around the shopping centers.

Indoor eating area with fakey tree

Funky suspended planter

Adorable Dutch child struggling to keep up with mum.

It was still pretty early but I decided to head back to the hotel and give that gargantuan bath a try out. Our hotel is in the center of the city not far from the train station. It seems that lots of people commute from here:

Sea of unidentifiable bicycles

In the middle of a plaza there is a huge odd structure called the The Blob .

It is so unique it must have been an architectural feat to create. It reminded me of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris.

What important artwork or historical artifacts did this building house you ask? Jeans- turns out this was just a mall. Bummer…

Right outside entrance to the hotel is this Bronze Statue by Jos van Riemsdijk:

"Lampenmaakstertje"- Little Lamp Maker

This statue is a reminder that Eindhoven is built upon the foundation that Philips workers and innovators laid generations ago.

View from our room

One more day in the City of Light, then home!

Posted in Dining Review, European Travel | Tagged dining, Eindhoven, Netherlands | 1 Comment

Bed, Bath and Beyond

Posted on August 18, 2011 by hjones

We arrived in Eindhoven late in the afternoon. This reminded me more of a typical city, modern office buildings and shopping centers, but it also had its charms. We checked into the The Art Hotel. It had an eclectic, artsy style. Although it was attractive, you could soon see that the designers went with style over function.

Lobby and Bar Area

The funky walls looked great from a distance, but once you got close up you could see large gaps with dry wall showing between the sections.

Overly embellished wall

The front desk situation was just plain silly.

: Silly Flower Desks

Yes, the glass flowers look pretty but how are the hotel receptionists supposed to work on them? It was as if Franck from “Father of the Bride” designed them.

Hotel worker: But where am I going to keep all our files or store the fax machine? How will the guests sign in with no counter to lean on? Where can we put a waste paper basket? How can we work on these things?????

Franck: Don’t worry daaaarling, it will look FAAABULOUS!

The room was absolutely huge, which was perfect for this leg of the journey. There’s not a lot to do around Eindhoven, so I would be spending a lot of time in the room.

Fancy Pants Chair

The size of the bathroom was impressive in it’s own right but especially so after the facilities we had during our week in Amsterdam. If you managed to complete your shower without scalding yourself dealing with the confounding taps, you still had to navigate ice rink slick tile step to get out:

Our former facilities

New Digs

Bubble Bath, here I come!

I was psyched to try out the huge shower with the Rain head, but once again was sidelined by the taps. They looked nice but gave no indication of which was hot or cold. Once that was worked out things were going pretty well until I realized that the glassed in shower was rapidly becoming a fish tank, the water didn’t drain at all. I had no choice but to open the door and let the water whoosh out. Good thing they had lots of fluffy towels and bath robes.

Jeff went down to the lobby and got us set up in a new room while I gathered up our stuff.

On to room number two:

Interesting fact: black lampshades emit very little light!

I WILL have a bath in this tub!

It was pretty late by this time so we decided to just go down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. There was a beautiful and spotless open kitchen with two chefs in whites and hats. This turned out to be a stand out dinner- absolutely fabulous.

Bread Service with butter, olive oil, caponata and olives:

I don't even like olives, but I ate these!

French Onion Soup with Thyme and Gruyere Croutons

The fillet may have been the best I’ve ever had; tender and flavorful, and that red wine reduction sauce- spectacular! The vegetable accompaniments are so fresh and delicious that I could have just eaten the garden peas and asparagus and been happy.

Fillet of Beef along with Frites!

Jeff ordered a coffee and we decided on a dessert.

Coffee service came with truffles!

We decided on Strawberries Romanoff. I watched as the chef meticulously placed every element on to the plate.

Oh my goodness, this was yummy!

Truly one of the best dining experiences I’ve had in recent memory.

After two countries, two rooms, and two glasses of wine, it was time to retire for the evening.

Exploring Eindhoven tomorrow!

Posted in Dining Review, European Travel | Tagged dining, Eindhoven | 3 Comments

MMMmmm…Beer

Posted on August 14, 2011 by hjones

The next morning we set out to find breakfast. Now you would think I would have learned from our dinner escapade the night before, but I didn’t. Even though there was a perfectly lovely restaurant at the hotel, I really wanted find an outdoor café near a canal to have our Belgium waffles. We circled around and around but most of the café’s near the water were only serving beer, yes beer, at ten o’clock in the morning! I was rescued once again by a boutique hotel restaurant situated right next to a picturesque canal.

Breakfast View

The just call them waffles in Belgium

I had crazy eyes so I went ahead and edited them out

Sadly, it was time to check out of the Crown Plaza. We stored our luggage in the car and went back out. We had seen most of the city by then so we decided to take a tour of the Halve Maan Brewery. We got a bit turned around trying to find the place. As we wandered up and down the cobblestone streets I couldn’t help but feel like we were on movie set filming an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel.

Insert bossy director type voice here:

Ok people, we’ve got a hot set here. Let’s set up this shot; camera one ready in the alley?

Wait, wait, we've got tourists in the shot

Ok, that's better

Make sure you pan up to the cats in the window...

Stand by, horse drawn carriages...

Let's get a tight shot of the adorable doggie!

Get some exterior shots of the Gothic Church for the wedding scene

Camera two, let's open the scene in the park

Cue the swans and ACTION!

We arrived at the brewery just before a tour was starting, but we decided to sit in the outdoor café and have a beer to rest our feet for a bit, then take the next tour.

Halve Maan Entry Sign

Perusing the menu while enjoying a Brugse Zot Dark Beer

My daughter says all my vacation pictures are of me drinking beer. Ridiculous!

Two beers and a pile of cheese cubes later we queued up. These tour groups were separated by language, which made things move along nicely. This is a working brewery, but part of it is preserved as a museum.

Modern area of the brewery

The tour was not for the meek, there were tiny steep stairways that we had to navigate. This would be dodgy under the best of circumstances but keep in mind we had just drank two beers.

Two beer smile

Antique brewing tanks

Those are old fashioned bottle caps piled on the floor

Our guide leaning against a vat. She had a two beer smile too.

As we made our way up we were delightfully surprised. We stepped out on the roof for the most breathtaking view of Bruges.

We would have paid the ticket price for this alone!

Move you two, you're blocking the view!

We wound down the stairs and the tour was over, but there was one more thing your ticket got you…a beer. That makes three!

After walking around a bit more (to wear off the beer buzz), it was time to go.

Hey you guys, It's time to go!!!!

We wanted to see the coast before heading back to the Netherlands so we decided to drive an extra hour and head west to the beach at Oodsend. We found a place to park near the water.

The North Sea

The photo proof that we there

We walked on the beach and dipped our feet into the North Sea .

Mission Accomplished

Time to drive on back to the Netherlands to our last stop, Eindhoven.

Posted in Dining Review, European Travel | Tagged Belgium, Bruges, dining, Museums | 5 Comments

Castles

Posted on August 10, 2011 by hjones

It was Saturday morning and Jeff had one more meeting in Amsterdam, after that we had the whole weekend to spend the together. Now, some of you may not be aware of this but I have a slight Walt Disney World obsession (I’m not the Princessey, Mickey Mouse ears wearing type of Disney fan, I’m more of the fine dining, Drinking Around the World in Epcot type of person) so when I realized that we were a mere three hour train ride from Disneyland Paris, I started plotting a way to get there.

I’ll take a park view room, please

I know what you’re thinking, it would be crazy to travel all the way to Paris and go to Disneyland instead seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre! People, that’s just what Disney does to you. But alas, it soon became clear that it would be way too expensive an endeavor for just twenty-four hours in the parks.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle would have to wait for another day. Zut Alors!

I had done so much research on how to get our butts to Disneyland Paris that I really didn’t have a good plan for the weekend. A couple of colleagues of Jeff’s mentioned that Bruges, Belgium was a beautiful place for a romantic get away, so we decided to rent a car and drive on over. I am a bit of a controller type so going on a trip like this without knowing much of anything about our destination was challenging for me.

The drive across the Netherlands into Belgium was quite bucolic, all farms and fields, very peaceful, but as we were nearing our destination in Bruges, I was beginning to regret our flying by the seat of our pants. It looked like a nice suburban town, but nothing to write home about. Then we approached a walled section of the city and drove through an archway to find this:

Tadah!!!

Bruges is a city suspended in medieval times. Picturesque market squares, dreamy canals and old whitewashed houses; It was like driving onto a movie set.

Map of the fortified City of Bruges

: A castle of a different kind

Statue Of Jan Breydel

All around there was a unique din of church bells, voices and the “clip, clop” of horse drawn carriages. Jeff took this Video of the Market Square so you can get a feel of it.

Medievel Catholic Church

Jeff totally sneezed so loud in here! Talk about church giggles.

We walked around a bit and stopped for some Moule Frites and of course, beer.

Mussels and beer, Belgium's national treasures

We sat right next to a hen party (the European version of a bachelorette party)

The rosé wine was flowing

After lunch it was time for our room to be ready so we checked in to the Crown Plaza Hotel. From the outside it just looked like a small bed and breakfast, but once you entered it was actually a full size, modern hotel.

Crown Plaza

View from our room

We took a “disco nap” and then set out to see more of the city. We went on a lovely canal boat ride, just gorgeous views.

Canal Boats

This looks like a good place for a smooch

The language situation in Belgium is fascinating. They speak Dutch, French, German and English. This makes things quite interesting. The canal tour guides have to say the same schpeel in four languages. Our guide was an over achiever because threw in some Spanish too!

This mustard packet illustrates the language insanity

All of the stores and vendors around Bruges must be highly regulated because there were no tacky souvenir shops or grungy street performers like you would see in Amsterdam (no offense Amsterdam, you know I love you). Most of the shops are either chocolatiers or purveyors of fine lace. I did, however, find some very naughty chocolates:

Note the gift suggestion in four languages. Here Dad, I got you a chocolate arse!

Let's not forget about mom!

The only type of street performer we ran across was this pair that made a Living Statue .

Living Statue

In the marketplace there is a whole row of restaurants where we had had our lunch.

Restaurant Row

But for dinner I wanted to go somewhere quiet and romantic. It stays light way past ten o’clock so although it felt early it was actually getting late enough that restaurants were closing down their kitchens. This was becoming a situation here. We finally happened upon a little hotel that had a funky back garden bistro. Just what I was looking for! We had delicious crab cakes over fresh herb salad, a variety of tasty tapas and of course, Frites!

Notice my left hand holding back my right from snagging one of those crispy won ton thingies

We wandered our way back to our hotel but not before we ran into this:

Of course, a marching band .

One of the reasons that I love going to Disney so much is because when you are there, you feel like you are separated from the rest of the world, but spending time in a place like Bruges makes me realize that there is a whole world out there that I want to connect with.

But I’m still keeping my reservations for my next trip to Walt Disney World.

Posted in Dining Review, European Travel | Tagged Belgium, Bruges, dining | 4 Comments

Tot Ziens!

Posted on July 28, 2011 by hjones

The next two weeks will be filled with family, friends and camping up at Soulfest. Because I won’t be anywhere near a shower much less decent WI-FI, it will be a while before my next post.
I’ll leave you with a tidbit of information that I should have shared oh say, in my first post and that is this; you don’t have to know how to speak Dutch to get around in the Netherlands. With few exceptions, everyone speaks English. That is to say, they speak Dutch, but as soon as you reply in English, they respond in kind. It’s a good idea to learn to say please (Alstublieft) and thank you (Dank U wel ) but beyond that it’s really no use learning anything more, otherwise someone will start spouting off thinking you understand them and you will be completely lost. See you soon (Tot Ziens)!

Posted in European Travel | Tagged Amsterdam | Leave a comment

Very Interesting

Posted on July 26, 2011 by hjones

Here we are on our last full day in Amsterdam, but don’t think you’re getting off that easy, we are still only a little more than halfway through the trip! Jeff headed out early, so I got some coffee and set about organizing our suitcases. This took about forty-five minutes, so unless I wanted to watch Sesame Street in Dutch all day, I needed to find an activity.

My Amsterdam Card had long since expired I so was on my own. There’s a Madame Toussauds Wax Museum in Dam Square so I thought about giving that a whirl.

Who the heck are those guys on the sign?

When I arrived I reconsidered this plan. First off, one can visit Madame Toussouds in the states; second the tickets are twenty-one Euros or thirty dollars US, too steep for me; but the clincher was that the line wrapped around the building and was not moving an inch. I will only wait in a line like that to ride Space Mountain.

Right across the plaza I saw some signage exclaiming that the Royal Palace was Now Open! I was intrigued.

The Royal Palace under wraps

Royal Palace uncovered

Apparently the Royal Palace had just finished the second stage of a three-year renovation and had opened up just in time for my arrival, plus the tickets were only six Euro. Decision made.

This turned out to be an amazing take; it was absolutely opulent and beautiful .

Central Hall

One of many Bedrooms

Meeting Room

Each room had a specific marble carving depicting what type business was done there.

Death sentences were carried out here

Outside the palace I navigated around the creepy street performers. These are of a different kind than musicians. They are sort of like the “super-heroes” at the Chinese theater in Los Angeles that lurk about in grungy costumes taking pictures with tourist for tips.

No pictures please...

Unless you're tipping

I believe that these guys must be required by law to stay on their little boxes; I’m good with that.

Even with all the people and activity flooding the streets here, it’s surprisingly clean. Every morning there are scores of cleaning crews that cover the entire city. Small trucks with elaborate vacuum and power washing systems drive up and down the streets sucking up debris. What’s so interesting is that the workers use these Harry Potter type brooms.

They seem antiquated, but I guess that after about a thousand years or so of keeping up after partiers, they know best way to sweep.

I was looking for some food by this point. I saw a shopping center across the plaza and thought for sure that there would be food.

It was quite Grand inside.

I poked around all the floors looking for a snack. Apparently the higher up floors were not getting rented by the usual vendors, they had some avant garde “artistic” displays up there.

Kimonos, nice

Hi! Um, is this a restaurant?

I just want a sandwich!

I started to head back towards the home base by way of some side streets I hadn’t been down (I guess I was trying to see all that I could before we left) when I came across this:

Humina, Humina

The heavenly smells of smoked meats would have made a grown man cry. I stepped in and drooled over the case and asked the young lady behind the counter what she would choose for lunch and she proceeded to make me a most delectable smoked sausage sandwich.

I took my purchase and found a place to plop down near the canal.

The view

This may have been the best thing I ate on the entire trip.

Another remarkable thing is that the only beverage they sold was milk. I think it is interesting that all the things that we consider bad for us in the states (whole fat milk, sun, meats, cigarettes, beer) are staples of living here, yet these folks are all slim, attractive and seemingly healthy. Don’t come after me CDC, this is purely anecdotal.

I was dragging my feet to go back to the room so I lingered a bit at a café with a splendid view:

This night we were meeting up with some friends and colleagues of Jeff’s for dinner. As I looked around the table, everyone was attractive, diverse and interesting. It was almost like being in an episode of “Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentis.”

We had a great evening . It was nice for me to put names with faces of the folks that Jeff talks about all the time. After dinner we took the whole lot to, SURPRISE the pub and had a round of scotch.

Time to head back to the hotel for our last night in Amsterdam, sigh.

Posted in Dining Review, European Travel | Tagged Amsterdam, dining, Museums, Netherlands | 2 Comments

Crowds

Posted on July 23, 2011 by hjones

There was one more museum to be seen and that was the Anne Frank House. I got out early because my understanding was that the line for this could go on for blocks.
I arrived twenty minutes before opening.

The house is set up differently than I had expected. There is no furniture recreating the house at it was. This makes sense because there would simply be no room for visitors to make their way through. Instead, the curators furnished the home, and then took photos, which are hung on the walls of each empty room.

Hidden Staircase to the Secret Annex

Steep Staircase

In each room on different surfaces, are quotes from Anne’s diary. It was incredible how her words breathed such life into these empty spaces.

Black out windows with quotes from Anne Franke

“I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I’m free”

In her bedroom they were able to preserve the magazine cut outs and post cards that she pasted on the walls.

Pictures and postcards on the bedroom wall

And the pencil marks her father made of her and her sister Margot’s growth during those two years.

Lines marking the growth of the Frank sisters

It was overwhelming to be in the place where Anne Frank spent those years in hiding. You experience the physicality of the how small and cramped it was, how stifling it felt in the barely lit the rooms. Her story was remarkable but sadly not unique, so many families lived in that same circumstance. We are blessed to have this precious record of that horrible time.

Pages from the diary

After the museum I went back to the room for a bit. I rested and set out to do some souvenir shopping. Earlier I had spotted a cool Van Gogh shirt for my son Matt so I headed over to the gift shop at Museumplein to pick it up. I was getting hungry so I looked around for something for lunch when I saw this in the park…

Now, I’m not opposed to the good old American hot dog, but there is something about this that is just wrong. Is this the best that the USA can offer?

Sheesh, I’m sorry! Don’t beat yourself up over it.

I wanted to try something I wouldn’t get at home so I stepped up to a “Haring Kart.” A traditional snack in the Netherlands is pickled herring.

Herring trying to disguise itself under chopped onions

I’m pretty sure you have to be indoctrinated from the time you are a wee child to enjoy this.

A picture of not me eating a whole herring

I decided to be only sort of brave and try a sandwich instead. I pointed to a couple of these fishy salads hoped for the best.

"You don't know what it is, but you're eating it?" -Remy

Turns out they weren’t so crazy. One side was salmon and the other tuna with capers. I’m definitely going to put capers in my tuna fish from now on. Thanks, Haring Kart!

Even the Haring Kart has glorious fresh squeezed OJ.

I finished my tasty sandwich just before a tour bus of boisterous senior citizens converged on the place.

Who's in charge here?

I had picked up my Dutch tchotchke but it was still early in the day. My ”I Amsterdam” guidebook mentioned that the P.C. Hoofstraat area was prime for shopping. Who am I to argue? I found said street and soon discovered that this is the Rodeo Drive of Amsterdam.

Here are some of the hoity toity stores found there:

Chanel

Gucci

Louis Vuitton

Tiffany

Even the pastries seemed above me

While I was looking around I had a brush with a semi-celebrity. You know that guy who won season three of Project Runway with the neck tattoo? You know Jeffrey something or other? I totally saw him!

I know this could be anyone, but swear it was THAT Guy!

Back on the street where our hotel was the hustle bustle had already begun. I’m sure the warm weather skewed things, but it didn’t cease to amaze me how the pubs would just spill over with people as early a 3:00pm.

Guess it's quittin' time

Here’s a video I took so you can get the feel of the hustle and the bustle: amsterdamstreets

With all these people out and about it seems that it is prime opportunity for street performers to make a buck (or a Euro).

At first glance it seems charming, but you quickly glean that the business owners do not appreciate this. I witnessed a grumpy waiter shooing away a juggler with disdain while I was at a café. I didn’t have my camera at the ready, so these pics will have to do:

Sustitute picture: the juggler I saw looked like he just rolled out of the youth hostel

Sustitute snooty waiter

The musicians seem harmless, but these performers were rather disruptive. They would stop traffic and do some weird ninja dance routine while others played drums and chanted.

The approach

The Ninja dance

The drumming and chanting

Time to meet up with Jeff. I’m getting a bit self-conscious about our evenings in Amsterdam because we seem to be in a bit of a rut. Let me sum up: walk, tasty dinner, walk, scotch at the pub, goodnight!

Posted in Dining Review, European Travel | Tagged Amsterdam, dining, Museums, Netherlands | Leave a comment

Round And Round

Posted on July 19, 2011 by hjones

I know what you’re thinking, “Wow, she has been navigating this foreign city so adeptly!” It’s true I have been to many sights and attractions so far, but they’ve really all been in the same general area. This day I was heading to a totally different part of the city to see the Hortus Botanicus Botanical Gardens. I had been relying heavily on the GPS on my iPhone. It worked out pretty well, most of the time…

It was a late start due to rain. I headed out towards the Dam Square area. I needed to turn onto a side street to make my way to the gardens.

Dam Square

I thought I was in good shape until I ended up right back where I started, a complete loop. Let’s try this again, back to Dam Square.

Are you guys lost too?

Now where is that street? Oh, of course HERE it is.

What passes for an actual street in Amsterdam

I did get to check out these interesting plaques on one of the buildings on my loop. I’m guessing that they indicated what businesses or people were located there.

As I approached the Hortus Botanicus, I knew I was in for something good.

Sort of Bonsai Olive Trees

Leading into the entrance

Entrance

For the most part touring around by myself has been fun, but this was the first time I really, really, wished that I was with someone that I could elbow and say “would you look at that!”

Here is a small sample of the obnoxious number of photos I took:

Boxwood Maze

I think this was the tree from Poltergeist

Giant Gunnera plant

Victoria Lily

These can get even bigger. You can read more about these lilies and see a baby floating on one by clicking Here.

Herbs in raised beds

Bee keep

You have to be careful around bees

There was a butterfly house too

With these plants and 300 years you too can replicate this garden!

My next stop was the Joodmuseum, a Historical Museum dedicated to Jewish history culture and religion, in Amsterdam and worldwide.

Joodsmuseum

Next, onto to Rembrandt House. I find it hard to believe that out of all the paintings and etchings of Rembrandt, that he would want this to grace his museum:

This etching looks like Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein

Facade

This was awesome. The house is set up just as it was when he lived there. Rembrandt bought the house in 1639, when he was at the height of his fame. In 1656 he went bankrupt. Everything of value was sold at auction. A notary drew up a list of his possessions so they knew exactly how the house was furnished in Rembrandt’s time and recreated it.

Studio

Bedroom (They must keep it cold in there, teehee)

Artwork

Courtyard

Bust of Rembrandt

I had seen all the museums I planned to but It was too nice out to go back to the room. I decided to have a cappucinno at a cafe near the hotel and people watch for a few.

How did you escape my endangered children on bicycles expose?

I took a picture of this guy next to me because I was fascinated by the book title. Here’s what he was reading: http://www.brill.nl/homers-winged-words

I thought he was reading about Homer Simpson!

After my respite, I stopped into a funky shop right across from the hotel.

But first, a warning:

I will NOT touch the Lego

Ok, now I really want to touch that Lego

18% of household accidents occur in the kitchen.

Interesting place

I walked directly through the shop and stepped onto the street around the block. Right infront of me was the Amsterdam Museum. This museum was on my “I Amsterdam Card” but I had dismissed it. The description just seemed kind of boring. Also, when something is just aound the corner you don’t expect it to be awesome, but it was.

Museum Entrance

The displays were so interesting and well done. It was more than just paintings and plaques; it was very interactive and led you through the political and social changes over the past centuries.

Vignette of upper class 18th Century life with ghostly tourist

Display of the history of the "Smart Shop", which sells psychodelics, not pot. I learned so much!

Horrifying propaganda puppets

Courtyard

Replica of the sign on Museumplein

I guess Amsterdam has always been a party town

Jeff and I met up and set out for dinner. We decided to go back to Dante were we had pizza the other night. We tried a local specialty to start.

Bitter Balls

Yes, they are called bitters balls. No, I don’t know what’s in them. They were delicious but I was so hungry I’m not sure if I would take that to the bank.

After dinner we took a walk and both decided we wanted something sweet. We stopped into another Italian place just around the corner, “Caprese”. We ordered canoli and espresso.

Cannoli

The food going by looked so good that we could have eaten dinner again, but the cannoli did hit the spot.

We decided to have a nightcap at our new Favorite Pub “De Konigshut”. We had a different bartender who was really cool. I was asking about some clay bottles on the shelf and he explained that they were Dutch whiskies and proceeded to pour us samples of several of them. They weren’t very good, but they were free!

We met an interesting fellow there too.

Interesting fellow

He had some very politically incorrect views about well, everything.

I don't think everyone agreed with his views

We Talked a little beer, scotch and politics. Good times all around.

Posted in Dining Review, European Travel | Tagged Amsterdam, Museums, Netherlands | Leave a comment

Cappuccino, Croissant, Museum, Repeat

Posted on July 16, 2011 by hjones

There were still more museums to see. We got to sleep in late and enjoy a coffee, orange juice and croissant at a café up the street from the hotel. Let’s take a moment here to discuss these three items.

First, the coffee: every establishment from the kiosk in the train station to the finest restaurant has a kick-butt $5,000+ Cappuccino/Espresso/Coffee machine. The coffee is no foolin’ around; more like an espresso than anything resembling Dunkin Donuts. The espresso is like coffee-zilla and the cappuccino (which is always served with a little cookie) is the stuff I expect to drink in heaven.

Coffee

Espresso

Cappuccino

Cappuccino in a glass

This cappucino came with chocolates!

Mr. Jones utilizing his cookie as a stirrer

You won’t see anyone hustling down the street drinking out of a paper cup either. You actually sit down and enjoy your coffee. I know, crazy right?

Next, the orange juice; it’s always fresh. They have a contraption with a hopper that feeds oranges down to meet with their potential perfection. Most cafés serve it in a wine glass.

Oh my, orange juice. You look lovely in that glass!

Finally, the croissants; there was a shop down the street that baked fresh pastries every morning. I’m tearing up a bit right now just thinking about it. The croissants were so flaky and amazing that they made me realize what a LIE those crescent-shaped bread rolls are from Au Bon Pain!

The coffee, OJ, croissant trifecta

On to the Van Gogh Museum. As I headed to Museumplein it was looking a bit gloomy, then the skies opened.

This ain't lookin good.

I toured around the museum and all the while it was pouring rain. Of course I left my umbrella in the room. I stopped in to the museum café for some fortification and to decide what to do.

Dark beer helps me think

And watched some kids going bananas outside in the rain.

Poorly timed outing

It’s hard to see, but the boys have ripped their shirts off and are spinning them around like barbarians.

It got all "Lord of the Flies"

But alas, just as I finished my beer the sun broke out, crisis averted.

I see skies of blue...

As I headed back towards the hotel, I ducked in to this church for a bit.

I could have heard Mass in two languages I don't understand

When suddenly I became ravenously hungry (I guess dark beer doesn’t have as many nutrients as I thought) so I stopped into a little convenience mart and made bad food choice number one:

I know, I know, a boxed sandwich, really? The yogurt drink was good though.

I wandered back to the room to wait for Jeff, then we went for a walk about and settled on a restaurant that turned out to be bad food choice number 2:

"Ho hum food, at ok prices!"

It looked cool but it was kind of weird. I should have been tipped off by the fixed price three-course menu, which is quite unusual for around here. Granted, I had just hours ago eaten a plastic sandwich from a quickie-mart, so I might not be a good judge, but Jeff agreed everything tasted like “just ok “ catered wedding food.