Amsterdam- Museums and Apple and Vondelpark

We figured out the trams and made our way to the Museum campus. We chose to go inside of the Van Gogh museum. What an amazing intense life experience he had in a short amount of time. Multiple countries, different phases of joy and sorrow, and his paintings are just so beautiful.

We stopped in a cafe nearby which really represented the typical European small cafe. I loved the greenhouse type seating on the street- bright and out of the wind. I got a banana pancake and was feeding the baby. The waiter/owner was standing nearby drawing in customers and keeping an eye on those sitting outside. After a few bites he came over and said "no no, you can't do that...." and I thought maybe there was some special way to eat a banana pancake in Holland. Nope, he was worried about me eating with one hand so he cut my food. Yes, he reached over and cut my pancake for me. Hilarious. It was also our intro to Danish Iced Tea. Con gas if you're speaking spanish- with bubbles in english. Carbonated iced tea! Not my fav but Jorge thought it was great. The banana pancake was great by the way. I also got a taste of itty bitty teeny tiny bathrooms. This cafe had a bathroom upstairs. With one door leading to a 3 foot deep room maybe with a tiny sink and another door leading to the toilet. I had to squish us through there and change baby girl on the toilet. So strange and yet I expected it so life goes on.

The museum campus was interesting. There are a few new buildings under construction so of course we took 100 pictures. One of the buildings had a multi-layered screen system like Jorge's office has been trying to design and keep. It was really neat to see it in person. One of the buildings isn't even done and had already gotten a lot of weathering on the panels. Looks like the weather there is harsh like ours. We got to see the Iamsterdam sign and a neat gift shop for the museums so we camped out there and made some purchases. Baby girl was pretty content until we got into the Diamond Museum. I had seen it online and it was part of our pass, so we decided to give it a try. After a bit of discussion on what to do with the stroller, we parked it in their coat room and carried the baby. The museum was little and pretty and hot so baby girl got upset. But we did manage to see a gorilla skull encrusted in diamonds of all things. Bizarre. The diamond museum was fun and we headed out after that.

One of our adventures was the Apple Store. It's in a neat area near the Heineken plant so we found ourselves here a few times through the trip. It had just opened recently so there were a lot of lookie-loos and we didn't look out of place capturing photos of the spiral stair. They also did not have a changing table in their bathroom even though it was huge, so that was a small nightmare with screaming baby echoes and a cleanup job on my part, not to mention a baby outfit change. Ikes. They did a great job remodeling and we loved chatting with the upbeat employees at some point about the upcoming newest version of the iPad that they were receiving that night.

We ate at a cafe across the street called Cafe Americain I believe. Outside there was plenty of people-watching and a pretty fountain. The ladies in front of us were the most fascinating to me. They were in their 50's I would say and were celebrating something. Lots of photos and they were so happy. There was champaign and fruit and tea sandwiches and everything just looked to pretty and lovely. Jorge and I each got some unusual dishes of monsieur toast and I got an omelette with dutch cheese. Not a huge fan but it was fun to taste. Venice was captivated by the activity and got a few sweet "hello's" from strangers.

Vondelpark! Wow what a place. It's busy, intense, and something along the lines of Central Park in size. Surrounded by mansions, neighborhoods, and different areas, it was the type of place you stop speaking and just take it all in. I later read there was a special market where people would buy their food, everyone seemed to be picnicking on this lovely day. The bridges were picturesque and yes there were definitely some hippies and some smoking. And bikes, bikes, bikes.

We spotted a gentleman with a bag with Intertoys written on it and I asked him where the store was, I had read that was a good store but didn't have the info with us. He pointed the way and it took awhile but we found a shopping area and eventually did make it to Intertoys. Oh what a fun place! It took awhile to pick and choose, but it was fun and we were sufficiently loaded down with "stuff" that it was time to head back to the hotel and relax.

This is a modern example of the beam and hooks you find everywhere. It's a traditional detail and we saw it in use a few times. The staircases and entryways are so steep and narrow through the area that you cannot get furniture or good up and in. So you hoist them in through the windows from the outside, using the beam and hook and some rope. Amazing.

The building details were amazing