Sunday, April 28, 2013

Day 2 Amsterdam: Wins and Losses

Day 2 begins a bit late, considering the extreme jetlag and, well, wine and meat consumption the night previous.  Bettie and Trevor headed out for a late breakfast, and wound up with cold cheese slices on a hamburger bun.  Our waitress laments- "but you asked for a cold cheese sandwich!" damn the language barrier, or might it be an accent barrier? Trev also received coffee rather than his usual OJ, and we resolved to have a second breakfast at a much more delicious venue, Goodies.
I like my sugar with coffee and cream, hold the coffee.

Homomonument

 Goodies was delicious and had fantastic peoplewatching. With our bill came two Dutch traditional lollipops that tasted like they were made in Satan's Asshole.
Second Breakfast. Non-psychedelic brownie, mint tea, and goat cheese goodness.
 After Goodies, we took a stroll through Vondelpark. They have beautiful gardens and ponds and tulips were blooming everywhere. There were also a number of playground structures on which children and Trevor liked to climb.
Tulips in Vondelpark

Tulips. Toooooooliipppppps. Tulips.
 After Vondelpark, we walked to the Van Gogh museum, but it was closed. Then we went to the Rijkmuseum, and it was about to close. At this point, we said screw it, let's eat and drink some more.
Rijkmuseum. Pronounced Rake-museum.
 We found Rembrandt Square and stopped there for an early dinner. We sat out on the sidewalk with a couple hundred other people and watched people pass by.
Rembrandt statue, dressed up for Queensday two days early. You'd think such a renowned artist would have better fashion sense

Beer and Dinner at Van Rijk

Left to right: Tuna sashimi. Oyster and shrimp. Crab bisque.  Beef carpaccio. Behind the bisque: Pate. Not a vegetable in sight.
 Our bad luck streak with museums ended when we encountered the torture museum. Bettie could commiserate with the victims as her shoes were sadistic devices of their own sort.
Wish you were here.
 After the torture museum,we swung by the only slightly more upbeat Anne Frank House, where we toured the hiding place of eight Jewish Amsterdamsters.
We tried to get her to sign Bettie's book but she just stood there.

Blogshaustion!

We left Boston at 9pm and arrived in Dublin at 8am dubtime. Despite our best efforts, we failed at obtaining a true Irish Guinness before our flight to Amsterdam. We arrived and had some interesting adventures for day 1:

First lesson: Amsterdamsters drive like jerks.

Second lesson: Parking in Amsterdam is nearly impossible

Third lesson: Once you park, Amsterdam is awesome.


Here are some highlights:

The moon was huge outside our window the whole flight

Edward Gelatohands is now Edward CoffeeAndIceCreamHands

A ramp would drop down at the end of the ferry, and we were hoping this old dude would ramp off it on his moped

Our first view of Amsterdam

Canals!

Racial Stereotypes!

We were accosted by a group of drunk Nederlanders who offered to take our picture on the condition that they pose in the photo with us.

Purdy

This panetone mosaic is in the place where we're staying

We even have a rooftop deck with a nice view

Beer and Cheese at Cafe de Wetering

Public Urinals! Yay!

Tapas at Bocas, a cute little place with raw meat and cheese and bread.