friday, April 20: Amsterdam

Our last day in Amsterdam was museum day. We went to the Rijks Museum. Since they are doing a lot of construction the collection is significantly reduced, which, according to my cousin, means that they only have the good stuff out. It took about a half an hour to get in, but I was able to amuse Nina with walks around the beautiful garden and a reading of Madeline. I have never been a big fan of Rembrandt, so those weren't so exciting to me but there were some Vermeers, and I really like his paintings. It was fun to show Nina the paintings and find out what she thought of them. We talked about what was happening in the artwork and Nina had some definite opinions about which ones she liked and why.

Next was the Van Gogh Museum, which was great; Nina liked a lot of the paintings and so did we. We didn't make it all the way through because Nina decided she had enough. We had lunch at a wonderful sandwich cart, which was very filling and delicious. Pluse we had a hot waffle. It was fabulous, the waffles in the Netherlands have what seems like big chunks of sugar in them. It's good cold, but hot...YOWZA!

We got home late, late, late, and fell into bed exhausted.

Just a little note on Amsterdam: I have never seen so many dildos in my entire life, and penis shaped EVERYTHING (including bongs). But here is a pic of my favorite display. They're pretty, no?

The flower market was gorgeous...TULIPS!

I love this whimsical dinghy, if you want any kind of crap shaped like a wooden clog, Amsterdam is the place to go. Though I never saw anyone actually wearing them.

There are a lot of bikes with different child seats on them. But I never saw another with more kids on it than this one.

I really liked The Netherlands, maybe not Amsterdam, per se, but it seemed like a really wonderful place to live. So many silly things that should be legal are there. It is unbelievably bicycle friendly. There are special bicycle roads almost everywhere. I totally would not want to ride in Amsterdam; it seems like it might be as dangerous as driving in a car, and nobody wears helmets. It seems super safe everywhere else, though. I think I could really live here except for one thing: I never saw even a mention of organic food, though I didn't go into a proper grocery store. I have been spoiled by all the organic food here in England (even in convenience stores).