Finally - Amsterdam

So, some of you may know that I pulled a fast one this fall. Somehow I managed a trip to Amsterdam. My amazing mother agreed to watch the kids. My dear husband didn't say no. And my most amazing of friends (Sharon, duh) handled all of the most important details. And suddenly, I found myself on vacation in the middle of the school year sans kids. Without husband. Just the two of us and no schedule. It was the greatest and laziest of adventures.

Looking out our hotel window. We stayed in the heart of the city called The Centrum. We walked everywhere except to and from the airport and to and from Rotterdam. We walked miles and miles.... well, kilometers and kilometers. We wandered, really. Just wandered.

The black and white building marked a turn for us from the most perfect street containing a bakery and cheese shop (oh, and a minimart that sold very good apples - Sharon LOVES apples- and was run by a Lebanese immigrant who actually stepped between Sharon and I as we "argued" over a Black Eyed Peas song one night).

Bicycles. Really. Every person in Amsterdam has one. And most look to be 50 years old. And many are equipped with child seats. And most seem to be left unlocked. And at the train station, there is a three story bike parking ramp packed with THOUSANDS of bicycles. How do they find theirs? It seemed impossible to us.

These elephants dotted the city. They are to raise funds and awareness for the plight of the African elephant. They were lovely and became a common sight for us.


Some people (Katie) are disappointed that we didn't "DO" anything. We did! We visited the Rijksmuseum and viewed Rembrants and discussed the fact that every still life by any Dutch artist contained exactly the same strange spikey-stemmed glass. We visited the Anne Frank house, and no one who has read the diary should miss this. Honestly. It was heart-rending. We took a canal cruise and... ummm... dozed a little in the sun while we toured the city.

We took the train to Rotterdam to spend the day with my cousin Gloria. She's an incredibly adventurous and fabulous student spending a semester in Middleburg in the southwest of The Netherlands. We went to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and saw all sorts of amazing art (including a not so amazing bright orange metal filing cabinet-type thingy that is not, no matter what anyone tells me, ever going to be art to me). Below is a photo of the courtyard of the museum. There was a group of boys playing soccer inside the cylinder.

Me and Gloria!

Me and Sharon on the train!

Renee's! The cannoli were fabulous. The sandwiches were amazing. The chocolate hedgehogs were delightful. The almond pastry was delicious. The fried cake thingy, not so much. We were here every day. And across the street, a cheese shop that had the yummiest gouda-stuffed-dried apricots.

We had a lot of coffee. A lot. Really. Hours and hours worth of coffee. And see the cream? YEAH, baby. Coffee was our companion as we people-watched. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, you can spend hours sitting, sipping, and staring.

Despite the fact that for weeks ahead of time I'd watched dreary and wet weather reports of Holland. We had excellent weather. No rain after 9 a.m. Not once. And we had sun several days. We loved it. Especially those of us who had a cool new blue coat, Susan!

I'd like to tell you that we tore up the town. I'd like to tell you that we closed bars that never close. But pretty much we were in bed by 9 or 10. I know, Katie. We are disappointments to you.

Vondelpark was lovely. And believe it or not, watching European marathon runners' fashion choices is pretty entertaining.

St. Nicholas Cathedral from the canal cruise. See. Another sunny day! I loved Amsterdam. I loved Rotterdam. I loved riding through the countryside. I loved wandering the streets. I loved The Centrum. Jordaan. The Pijp. The Flowermarket. The museums. The Red Light District. The coffee. The bicycles. The architecture. But most of all, I loved spending a week with my dearest friend. No, thank you.