Saturday 24 November 2012

Amsterdam: Part One





1. window display 2. bikes, bikes, everywhere 3. walking to the AMC 4. amazing wallpaper at the Frozen Fountain 5. street patterns

Four beautiful days of crisp mornings and map reading, armed with a Museumkaart and a pair of sturdy walking shoes, getting lost and not caring in one of my favourite cities. We never stopped moving, not wanting to waste a second of our time. With each visit to Amsterdam I fall in love with it all over again: the cats, the art, the wonky canal houses, the stylish Dutch folk multitasking  (kidsdogsumbrellaphone) carelessly on bikes in situations where I would most likely just end up in a heap on the floor.

Our list of adventures includes visiting the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frankhuis, Stedelijk Museum, the Hermitage Amsterdam (where the Van Gogh collection currently resides during renovation of the museum), RembrandthuisFOAM gallery (currently hosting the incredible Diane Arbus exhibition I saw earlier this summer in Berlin and that you NEED to see) and playing with beautiful feline friends at De Poezenboot; not forgetting trawling shops/antique/design centres including Droog Design, Frozen FountainBoekie Woekie (a lovely little shop selling artist books) and Het Grote Avontuur. My highlight of the trip was taking the train to the stunning Vrolik medical collection, where I spent hours staring at rows of skeletons, jars of organs, molar pregnancies and other such oddities whilst marvelling over how wonderful and intricate and vivid our bodies are. Plus there are the amazing meals we ate (Burgermeester do an incredible veggie burger with goats cheese and tomato chutney, oh! and some kind of hazelnut chocolate heaven from Pucinni Bomboni) and tasty Dutch beers.. It almost broke my heart to leave. 

However, as sad as I was to go, I am back in my little house with my fat cat, looking forward to our quilt class and making a dent in my huge pile of library books. I guess things aren't so bad after all here in wet England. More pictures tomorrow, for now, sleep!

1 comment:

  1. I was in Rembrandthuis and I was truly amazed with its art collection and exhibition. Maybe this is related to my adornment of Rembrandt's paintings, but visiting his house was an exceptional sightseeing visit.

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